Speaker 1: Okay, So we're diving into this ansable Automation steady guide today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, specifically geared towards the Red Hat Certified Engineer Exam.
Speaker 1: The RCE exactly. This is going to be kind of
Speaker 1: like your express lane, not just to passing the exam,
Speaker 1: but to becoming a true answerable whiz. I like that.
Speaker 1: I like that too. Answable whiz so ansable automation.
Speaker 2: It's a it's an interesting way that they tackle automation.
Speaker 2: So it's an open source tool, okay, which means anybody
Speaker 2: can use it, anybody can contribute to it, and it
Speaker 2: lets you manage a whole bunch of servers or network
Speaker 2: devices from one central command point.
Speaker 1: So that's pretty powerful, very powerful, that one central command point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, are there any security risks to having all
Speaker 1: your eggs in one basket like that? Oh?
Speaker 2: That's a that's a great question. Yeah. While that central
Speaker 2: control node does offer amazing control and efficiency, you also
Speaker 2: have to think about redundancy. If that goes down, your
Speaker 2: automation is is halted, at LEAs temporarily, right. So, in
Speaker 2: production environments, it's very common to have a backup control
Speaker 2: node or some kind of high availability setup but for
Speaker 2: learning and practicing ansable, yeah, a single node is more
Speaker 2: than enough.
Speaker 1: So for our purposes in this deep dive, yeah, we're good.
Speaker 1: We're good with one absolutely so ansable itself. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: study guide focuses on using it with Redhead Enterprise Linux.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is this is very common.
Speaker 1: But I'm guessing it's not limited to that.
Speaker 2: You are absolutely right, Okay. Ansable is very versatile. It
Speaker 2: can be used across a wide range of Linux distros
Speaker 2: and even some other operating systems.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2: So for this deep dive, we're going to be using
Speaker 2: Sentos eight okay, which is a freely available version of
Speaker 2: red Hat Enterprise Linux. Okay, and Ubuntu eighteen point zero four,
Speaker 2: just to show you how adaptable it is.
Speaker 1: Perfect. Yeah, so before we unleash the magic, Okay, what
Speaker 1: kind of setup do we need to get started with ansable?
Speaker 2: So, before you can start automating, you need to say
Speaker 2: up your ansible environment, and the core of this is
Speaker 2: the ansible configuration file antsable dot cfg.
Speaker 1: Gotcha.
Speaker 2: This is where you can tweak all sorts of settings
Speaker 2: to customize how ansable behaves.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so it's like fine tuning the engine before
Speaker 1: a race.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, and then you have the ansible inventory Okay.
Speaker 2: This is essentially a list of all the systems that
Speaker 2: you want to manage. You can think of it as
Speaker 2: a map of your IT kingdom.
Speaker 1: Okay, so it knows exactly what to manage, what it
Speaker 1: has authority over.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And there's a couple different ways to create this inventory.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: You can use a statting list, which is good for smaller,
Speaker 2: unchanging environments, but for larger or more dynamic setups, okay,
Speaker 2: you might want to explore dynamic inventory. And that's where
Speaker 2: ansable actually discovers the hosts for you, cool using network
Speaker 2: scanning okay techniques.
Speaker 1: So for bigger dynamic setups where you have like servers
Speaker 1: coming and going all the time.
Speaker 2: Yes, very common in the cloud. And to kind of
Speaker 2: keep track of all these servers, you can group servers
Speaker 2: together in the inventory, so you might have a group
Speaker 2: for web servers, a group for database servers, and so on.
Speaker 2: And then to add another layer of customization, you can
Speaker 2: use variables, and these allow you to define values that
Speaker 2: can be used throughout your answable code, which makes your playbooks,
Speaker 2: which we'll get to later, much more adaptable.
Speaker 1: Oh, very cool. Yeah, okay, so we've got our control node,
Speaker 1: we've got our inventory, our variables all set. How do
Speaker 1: we actually start automating things with ansable.
Speaker 2: There are two main ways to interact with antsable. You
Speaker 2: can either use ad hoc commands or you can use playbooks.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Ad hoc commands are kind of like quick one time
Speaker 2: instructions that you give to antsable. They're great for simple
Speaker 2: tasks or just testing the waters when you're first starting.
Speaker 1: Out, so like a quick command line instruction exactly.
Speaker 2: For example, you can use an ad hoc command to
Speaker 2: see if ansable can even connect to your managed hosts,
Speaker 2: and that's done using the ping module. Ping module, But
Speaker 2: don't confuse this with the network ping command. It's not
Speaker 2: the same thing. It's more of a hair you alive?
Speaker 2: Are you listening to me? Check for your servers?
Speaker 1: Makes sense?
Speaker 2: You can also use it to manage user accounts, which
Speaker 2: is a very common task for any sissigmin So you
Speaker 2: can create users, set passwords, grant pseudo privileges, all with
Speaker 2: just a single command.
Speaker 1: That sounds much faster than having to log in, way
Speaker 1: faster to each server individually.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and to make these commands even more powerful. Ansable
Speaker 2: uses modules. You can think of modules as the building
Speaker 2: blocks of ansable. Each module is designed to carry out
Speaker 2: a specific task. So for managing users, you'd use the
Speaker 2: user module. What copy files to multiple servers, You've got
Speaker 2: the copy module.
Speaker 1: Makes sense?
Speaker 2: And for managing SSH keys, you've got the authorized key module. Okay,
Speaker 2: and those are just to name a few.
Speaker 1: I'm starting to see how these modules can be really useful. Yes,
Speaker 1: and powerful, very much so. But it seems like these
Speaker 1: ad hoc commands are only good for those one off tasks,
Speaker 1: you got it? What if you want to automate a
Speaker 1: whole series of actions.
Speaker 2: That's where playbooks come in. Okay, that's when things get
Speaker 2: really exciting.
Speaker 1: All right, let's hear about these playbooks. Yeah, what makes
Speaker 1: them so special? So?
Speaker 2: Playbooks are like the heart and soul of antsable.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: They allow you to define a series of tasks that
Speaker 2: ansable will execute in order, giving you a repeatable and
Speaker 2: predictable way to automate complex workflows. Instead of typing individual commands,
Speaker 2: you write a playbook once, right, and ansable does the rest.
Speaker 1: So that can save a ton of time and effort.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, What do these playbooks actually look like.
Speaker 2: Okay. So playbooks are written in YAML yea yemol, which
Speaker 2: stands for or yamel ain't markup language.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: It's a human readable data serialization language.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So it's designed to be easy for both humans and
Speaker 2: machines to understand.
Speaker 1: Okay, So no need to be a coding guru to
Speaker 1: work with these, not at all. That's good. Yeah.
Speaker 2: YAMIL uses indentation and a simple structure to define the
Speaker 2: tasks and their order.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So your first playbook could be as simple as installing
Speaker 2: a certain software package on a group of servers, and
Speaker 2: you would define the servers, the package to install, and
Speaker 2: any other necessary parameters, all in this YAMAL format.
Speaker 1: And so I just define the steps and it goes
Speaker 1: off you got it, and does them. That's the beauty
Speaker 1: of it on all the servers that specify.
Speaker 2: Okay. And to make your playbooks even smarter, ansable has
Speaker 2: this neat feature called facts facts.
Speaker 1: Facts like it's doing its own research. You got it, okay.
Speaker 2: So Ansible facts are pieces of information about each managed
Speaker 2: host that ansable gathers automatically, things like the operating system,
Speaker 2: the amount of RAM, the IP address.
Speaker 1: Oh cool, and so on, So it can actually make decisions.
Speaker 2: Based on exactly Yeah. So you can create playbooks that
Speaker 2: are adaptable, that can handle different server configurations without you
Speaker 2: having to manually adjust them every time.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. Okay, Yeah, this is getting really interesting, it is.
Speaker 1: We're only scratching the surface here. Yeah, and I can
Speaker 1: already see how powerful this is. Yeah, and we're just
Speaker 1: getting started.
Speaker 2: And believe me, we're just getting started. There's so much
Speaker 2: more to explore with playbooks.
Speaker 1: Well, let's dive deeper into this antsible world. Sounds good,
Speaker 1: and move on to some of those more advanced topics.
Speaker 2: Let's do it now. Let's shift gears a little bit, okay,
Speaker 2: and talk about managing users like a pro. Okay, remember
Speaker 2: those user modules that we talked about earlier with ad
Speaker 2: hoc commands, Well, when you combine those with the power
Speaker 2: of playbooks.
Speaker 1: You unlock a whole new level of user management capabilities.
Speaker 2: Okay, So what can you do with users and playbooks? Yeah,
Speaker 2: that you can't do with the ad hoc commands.
Speaker 1: So playbooks let you create these intricate workflows for managing users.
Speaker 1: Think about creating, deleting, and modifying user accounts across dozens
Speaker 1: or even hundreds of servers, all with a few lines
Speaker 1: of Yamel code.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would be a huge time saver. Huge But
Speaker 2: doesn't that mean writing the same code over and over?
Speaker 1: No, not at all. Answable has this great feature called loops.
Speaker 1: With loops, you can define a set of tasks to
Speaker 1: be repeated multiple times, making your playbooks much more efficient
Speaker 1: and a lot less repetitive.
Speaker 2: So if I needed to create like ten new users exactly,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have to write it ten times exactly.
Speaker 1: You would just use a loop to iterate through a
Speaker 1: list of user names gotcha, and have answerble create each
Speaker 1: account automatically. That's pretty cool. But what if you needed
Speaker 1: to apply different rules for different users, like some users
Speaker 1: need Zudo access some users don't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question. Yeah, that's where conditional statements
Speaker 2: come in. Ansiple uses when statements in playbooks to add
Speaker 2: logic and decision making to your automation.
Speaker 1: So it's not just blindly executing, right, it can adapt.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you can tell antsple, hey, only execute this
Speaker 2: task if this condition is true. Okay, So in your example,
Speaker 2: you could have a playbook that creates a user account
Speaker 2: and then only grants pseudo privileges if the username is
Speaker 2: in a specific list.
Speaker 1: Okay. Cool, So it's a lot smarter than I initially thought.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, smarter. What about handling sensitive information like
Speaker 1: user passwords?
Speaker 2: That's a great question. Yeah, security is paramount when dealing
Speaker 2: with passwords.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want those just stored in plain text. No,
Speaker 1: absolutely not in my playbooks.
Speaker 2: That's where ansple vault comes in.
Speaker 1: Okay, Ansible Vault. Ansible Vault so like a digital lock
Speaker 1: box for my passwords exactly. Okay.
Speaker 2: Ansple Vault uses strong encryption to protect variables and files,
Speaker 2: so you can encrypt sensitive information like passwords, API keys,
Speaker 2: or any other data that you don't want just sitting
Speaker 2: out in plain text.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: And then when you run your playbooks, you provide the
Speaker 2: vault password gosh, and ansable decrypts the data on the fly.
Speaker 1: So even if someone got a hold of my playbook,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't be able to get to those.
Speaker 2: Passes exactly, they wouldn't be able to use it without
Speaker 2: the vault password, without the vault past.
Speaker 1: Okay, that definitely eases my security concerns. Speaking of real
Speaker 1: world applications, this study guide mentions using ansable to deploy
Speaker 1: an Apache web server. Yeah, now that sounds like a
Speaker 1: pretty complex task.
Speaker 2: It can be.
Speaker 1: It can ansable really handle all of that absolutely.
Speaker 2: Deploying a web server involves multiple steps, right from installing
Speaker 2: the web server software to configuring virtual hosts, setting up security,
Speaker 2: and even handling the website content.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine doing all that manually.
Speaker 2: Oh it would be a.
Speaker 1: Nightmare logging into each server running commands exactly.
Speaker 2: But with antsable, you define all those steps in a
Speaker 2: playbook and it takes care of their Wow. Okay, So
Speaker 2: imagine you have a group of servers that are designated
Speaker 2: as your web servers. Your ansable playbook would first make
Speaker 2: sure that the Apache web server software, which is often
Speaker 2: called HDTPD on red Hat systems and Apache two on
Speaker 2: Debian based systems, is installed on each server. After installing
Speaker 2: the web server software, the playbook would then move on
Speaker 2: to configuring the server itself. So you might use the
Speaker 2: line and file module to modify directives within the main
Speaker 2: Apache configuration file, like setting the server name for each
Speaker 2: virtual host.
Speaker 1: So that's the server configuration. What about the actual website content?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's where the copy and template modules come in.
Speaker 2: For simple static websites, you can use the copy module
Speaker 2: to transfer files from a central location to your web servers.
Speaker 2: Ok But if you need more dynamic content, like files
Speaker 2: that need to be tailored for each server, then you'd
Speaker 2: use the template module. Gotcha, and ansable uses a powerful
Speaker 2: templating engine called Jinga two for this, Okay, gingit tooo.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I could have a template for like a
Speaker 1: configuration file right that automatically inserts exactly like the correct
Speaker 1: server name yes, or IP address.
Speaker 2: And you can even embed variables, logic, and even loops
Speaker 2: within your template files, making them really flexible and adaptive.
Speaker 1: So I could create one template right and it would
Speaker 1: work across all my different servers exactly. Okay, that's powerful,
Speaker 1: very powerful. But what about security? Good point, especially with web.
Speaker 2: Servers, right, security is crucial, right, and ansable provides a
Speaker 2: variety of modules to help you lock down your web
Speaker 2: servers okay. For instance, you can use the firewalled module
Speaker 2: to configure firewall rules ensuring that only the necessary ports
Speaker 2: are open. Okay, you know, like port eighty for HTTP
Speaker 2: traffic or four forty three for HTTPS traffic.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: You can also use the Apple module to manage file permissions,
Speaker 2: making sure that sensitive files and directories are only accessible
Speaker 2: to authorized users and processes.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you can actually enforce those security best practices.
Speaker 1: You got it from the beginning.
Speaker 2: From the get go. Cool, and often a web server
Speaker 2: isn't just a standalone entity. It's part of a larger ecosystem,
Speaker 2: often involving databases and server side scripting languages. For example,
Speaker 2: the LMP stack, which stands for Linux, Apache, Mysuquel, and PHP,
Speaker 2: is a very common combination for web applications.
Speaker 1: Can Ansible handle setting up all of that?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? In fact, Ansable excels at managing complex, multi layered
Speaker 2: systems like the LMP stack. Oh wow, And this is
Speaker 2: where ansable roles really shine. Remember how we talked about
Speaker 2: grouping servers and the inventory, Well, roles take that concept
Speaker 2: a step further and they allow you to group tasks
Speaker 2: and configurations together, making your playbooks even more modular and reusable.
Speaker 1: So instead of having one giant playbook that does every thing,
Speaker 1: I can have like smaller ones.
Speaker 2: You can break it down into these smaller, more manageable roles.
Speaker 2: You could have a role for Apache, a role for
Speaker 2: my sequel, a role for a PHP and so on
Speaker 2: and each role would contain all the tasks and configurations
Speaker 2: specific to that component.
Speaker 1: Okay, and then you could.
Speaker 2: Just include those roles in your main playbook like building blocks,
Speaker 2: exactly like building blocks.
Speaker 1: But what if I don't want to write all those
Speaker 1: roles myself?
Speaker 2: Ah, good question. Yeah, that's where ansable galaxy comes in.
Speaker 1: Answable Galany ansable Galaxy.
Speaker 2: It's a public repository of pre built ansable roles created
Speaker 2: and shared by the ansable community.
Speaker 1: Cool.
Speaker 2: Think of it like an app store for automation.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 2: So you can search for a role that installs and
Speaker 2: configures my sequel, for example, and just use that instead
Speaker 2: of writing it yourself.
Speaker 1: Yeah. That would be a huge time saver. Huge if
Speaker 1: you can find a role that already does what you
Speaker 1: needed to do exactly.
Speaker 2: And antsable galaxy has this vast collection of roles okay
Speaker 2: for all sorts of tasks, from setting up web servers
Speaker 2: to configuring databases to managing firewalls.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: And the beauty of it is that these roles are
Speaker 2: often well documented and maintained by experienced ansable users.
Speaker 1: That makes me feel better about using it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so you can be confident in their quality
Speaker 2: and reliability.
Speaker 1: This is amazing. It sounds like ansable can take a
Speaker 1: lot of the hard work out of system administration. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: but what about managing other aspects of my infrastructure like storage?
Speaker 2: Ansable can do that too. If not limited to just
Speaker 2: managing software and services, it can also automate storage related
Speaker 2: tasks okay, which is often a critical part of any.
Speaker 1: IT infrastructure storage tasks. That sounds pretty specialized. It is
Speaker 1: what kind of things can ansable do?
Speaker 2: So the study guide actually goes over a range of
Speaker 2: storage related modules. You can use the parted module to
Speaker 2: partition discs okay, which is often the first step in
Speaker 2: preparing storage device right. And then there's the filesystem module,
Speaker 2: which lets you create filesystems on those newly created partitions,
Speaker 2: allowing you to format them with different filesystems like XT
Speaker 2: four xfs.
Speaker 1: Okay. So it handles like the basic setup of storage devices. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but what a more advanced storage concepts like logical volumes.
Speaker 2: Ancable can handle that too, Okay. It provides modules for
Speaker 2: managing logical volumes using LVM. LVM LVM which stands for
Speaker 2: a Logical Volume Manager, and LVM is a very powerful technology.
Speaker 2: It allows you to create these flexible and resizable storage volumes.
Speaker 2: Oh cool, abstracting away the underlying physical discs.
Speaker 1: So I could use ansable to create or re size,
Speaker 1: or even delete logical volumes on the fly.
Speaker 2: You got it?
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 2: Okay, The LVG and LVALL modules give you very fine
Speaker 2: grained control over your logical volumes.
Speaker 1: This is pretty impressive. It seems like ansable can handle
Speaker 1: just about any storage task. But what about storage efficiency? Ah?
Speaker 2: Good question. As our data grows, storage can become a
Speaker 2: real bottleneck.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: The study guide goes into using the veto module, the
Speaker 2: vito veto module, which manages video volumes. Video stands for
Speaker 2: virtual data Optimizer virtual data optimizer, and it's a technology
Speaker 2: that enhances storage efficiency through techniques like compression and data deduplication.
Speaker 1: So it's like squeezing more data in the same amount
Speaker 1: of space exactly.
Speaker 2: Video can significantly reduce your storage footprint. Cool, especially for
Speaker 2: workloads that involve a lot of redundant data. That makes
Speaker 2: sense and answerable gives you the tools to create, manage,
Speaker 2: and monitor video volumes.
Speaker 1: Awesome. This is all incredibly powerful, But sometimes storage tasks
Speaker 1: require like a very specific order of operations. What if
Speaker 1: I need to make sure that certain tasks are executed
Speaker 1: and a precise sequence.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you're dealing with sensitive operations like storage management,
Speaker 1: the order of tasks can be critical, and ansable provides
Speaker 1: a mechanism called serial execution to.
Speaker 2: Address that serial execution.
Speaker 1: Serial execution. With serial execution, you can define the exact
Speaker 1: order in which tasks are run on different hosts.
Speaker 2: Gotcha. Yeah, so if one task depends on another one completing, right,
Speaker 2: I can use serial execution, you got it to enforce that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. This level of control is essential Okay for ensuring
Speaker 1: the integrity and consistency of your infrastructure.
Speaker 2: Right, especially with storage.
Speaker 1: Especially with storage. Okay, when dealing with critical components.
Speaker 2: Wow, we've covered a lot of ground here. We have
Speaker 2: gone from basic user management to deploying web servers to
Speaker 2: managing complex storage systems. Yeah, it seems like ansable can
Speaker 2: really automate just about anything.
Speaker 1: It's true. Ansable is a remarkably versatile tool, and we've
Speaker 1: only scratched the surface of what it can do.
Speaker 2: But the key takeaway here is that it empowers you
Speaker 2: to take control of your infrastructure, automate those repetitive tasks,
Speaker 2: and free up your time to focus on more strategic initiatives.
Speaker 1: That sounds like the dream for any busy sissemen, it is,
Speaker 1: it is, all right, Well, I'm eager to learn even
Speaker 1: more about what ansable can do. Okay, we've really explored
Speaker 1: the power and versatility of antsable for automation. But even
Speaker 1: with a study guide like this, prepping for a certification exam. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like the r EFCE can feel a little overwhelming. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what are some of the key insights from this study
Speaker 1: guide that would help someone actually tackle the RCE.
Speaker 2: So one thing that's interesting about the RHC exam, okay,
Speaker 2: is that it's not your typical multiple choice memory tests. Okay,
Speaker 2: it's a very hands on, practical exam.
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
Speaker 2: That puts you in the driver's seat of a real
Speaker 2: world scenario. So you're actually going to be task with
Speaker 2: managing a set of Linux systems using ansable, just like
Speaker 2: you would on the job.
Speaker 1: So it's more like a simulation than a traditional exam exact, Okay,
Speaker 1: that sounds pretty intessee. It is, But it's also incredibly valuable,
Speaker 1: oh absolutely, because it tests your ability to apply your.
Speaker 2: Knowledge, yes, in a practical setting, right in a real
Speaker 2: world setting. And the good news is that the exam
Speaker 2: objectives are very clearly defined, okay, outlining the specific skills
Speaker 2: and knowledge that you need to demonstrate.
Speaker 1: That's good, that's reassuring to know.
Speaker 2: Yes, so you can focus your study efforts effectively.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want to waste time studying something right that's
Speaker 1: not going to be on there exactly. So what are
Speaker 1: some of the key areas that the exam focuses on.
Speaker 2: So one of the most important skills that the RHCEE
Speaker 2: exam emphasizes, okay, is the ability to troubleshoot and debug
Speaker 2: ansable playbooks.
Speaker 1: Because in the real world, exact things don't always work out.
Speaker 1: They don't the way they're supposed to you, got it,
Speaker 1: So being able to fix those issues right is important.
Speaker 2: So how does the study guide help with those debugging skills?
Speaker 2: So the study guide provides a number of helpful debugging techniques.
Speaker 2: For example, it covers using the ung V flag with
Speaker 2: the ansable playbook command, and this gives you more verbose output,
Speaker 2: which can help you pinpoint exactly where things are going wrong.
Speaker 1: Gotcha.
Speaker 2: It also introduces the debug module, which allows you to
Speaker 2: inspect variables and the state of your system at various
Speaker 2: points in your playbook execution.
Speaker 1: So it's like giving you tools exactly to kind of
Speaker 1: understand what's happening under the hood. Are there any other
Speaker 1: essential concepts that the study guide highlights.
Speaker 2: One concept that's crucial for the RHCE and for good
Speaker 2: automation practice in general is idempotency, idemptencdempotency.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's a mouthful, it is. What does that mean? Yeah?
Speaker 2: So idempotency means that you can run your answable place
Speaker 2: books multiple times without causing unintended side effects changes. So
Speaker 2: it's like, in other words, if a task has already
Speaker 2: been completed, antsable won't try to do it again unnecessarily.
Speaker 1: So apply only if needed exactly.
Speaker 2: So, imagine you have a playbook that installs a softer package.
Speaker 2: If you run that playbook multiple times on a server
Speaker 2: where the package is already installed, an idempatent playbook would
Speaker 2: recognize that and skip the installation step.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: This prevents unnecessary changes and potential conflicts.
Speaker 1: So it's all about ensuring that your automation.
Speaker 2: Is predictable exactly, okay, and that it doesn't introduce instability
Speaker 2: into your systems.
Speaker 1: Right, So, how do you actually write a tempatent playbooks.
Speaker 2: So the study guide provides practical examples of how to
Speaker 2: achieve idempotency in your playbooks. This often involves using conditional
Speaker 2: statements like when to check if a certain condition is
Speaker 2: met before executing a task.
Speaker 1: Gotcha.
Speaker 2: It might also involve using modules that are designed to
Speaker 2: be idempatent. For example, the package module, which is used
Speaker 2: to install software packages, can be configured to only install
Speaker 2: a package if it's not already present.
Speaker 1: So you're basically building in those checks and balances exactly
Speaker 1: to make sure everything's running smoothly. What about ansable modules?
Speaker 2: Yes, ansable modules I.
Speaker 1: Soalked about them before. Yes, but how important are they?
Speaker 2: They're essential for the RHCE exam. The exam expects you
Speaker 2: to have a solid understanding of a wide range of
Speaker 2: modules and their specific use cases. That think of modules
Speaker 2: as the tools in your ansible toolbox. Each module is
Speaker 2: designed to perform a particular task, and knowing which module
Speaker 2: to use for the job is crucial.
Speaker 1: So it's not enough to just know that they exist.
Speaker 1: You actually need to know how to use them exactly.
Speaker 2: You need to know this speci of each one and
Speaker 2: how to use them effectively.
Speaker 1: So the study guide provides a comprehensive overview it does
Speaker 1: of those commonly used modules.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it covers things like the user module, the group module,
Speaker 2: the copy module, the file module, the service moduleum APT,
Speaker 2: and many others. It explains their purpose, their syntax, and
Speaker 2: the various options and parameters that you can use to
Speaker 2: fine tune their behavior.
Speaker 1: So it's like a dictionary of Ansible tools exact. Any
Speaker 1: other advice from the study guide.
Speaker 2: One of the most important pieces of advice okay that
Speaker 2: the study Guide emphasizes is the importance of hands on practice. Okay,
Speaker 2: you can't just read about ansable, you need to actually
Speaker 2: use it to really solidify your understanding.
Speaker 1: Yeah, practice makes perfect exactly. So how does the study
Speaker 1: guide suggest getting that hands on experience?
Speaker 2: So the study Guide strongly recommends setting up your own
Speaker 2: virtual lab environment. Can use tools like virtual box or
Speaker 2: Vagrant to create virtual machines that you can then manage
Speaker 2: with antsable. Okay, yeah, so this gives you a safe
Speaker 2: and controlled environment.
Speaker 1: Right, I'm not going to break anything exactly for my
Speaker 1: production environment.
Speaker 2: And the study guide even provides sample playbooks oh cool,
Speaker 2: and configurations that you can use as starting points for
Speaker 2: your lab exercises.
Speaker 1: Oh that's great.
Speaker 2: It gives you that foundation to build on. It helps
Speaker 2: you get up and running quickly.
Speaker 1: So the key takeaway here is really just.
Speaker 2: Yeah, roll up your sleeves, roll up my sleeves, get
Speaker 2: your hands dirty.
Speaker 1: And get my hands dirty with ansable ansable exactly. The
Speaker 1: more I practice, the more comfortable you'll become. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: if we kind of connect all this back to the
Speaker 1: bigger picture. Okay, this deep dive has really highlighted the
Speaker 1: value of antsible absolutely, not just as like a powerful
Speaker 1: automation tool, but as a stepping stone to a successful
Speaker 1: career in it. Absolutely because it's such an in demand skill.
Speaker 2: It's a very in demand skill.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, ansible skills are in high demand across a wide
Speaker 2: range of industries, and as more organizations are adopting DevOps
Speaker 2: practices and embrace automation, ANSABLE expertise is becoming increasingly valuable and.
Speaker 1: The race certification is really respected. It is. So it's
Speaker 1: a good thing, very much so to have on your resume.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it validates your skills to potential employers.
Speaker 1: Okay, So learning ANSABLE and pursuing the certification, it's really
Speaker 1: a smart investment in your future.
Speaker 2: It is, and As automation continues to play a more
Speaker 2: central role in the IT landscape, those ansible skills are
Speaker 2: only going to become more sought after.
Speaker 1: It's only going to become more.
Speaker 2: Valuable, exactly.
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, Well, I think we've given you a really
Speaker 1: solid overview I think so of ansable and how it
Speaker 1: can be used for everything from basic system administration to
Speaker 1: complex deployments. Absolutely, and we've explored some valuable insights from
Speaker 1: the study guide that will hopefully help you prepare for
Speaker 1: the race exam. Yes, and maybe even launch a successful
Speaker 1: career I hope so in IT automation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've covered a lot of ground.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have.
Speaker 2: Hopefully this deep dive has parked your curiosity, ark your
Speaker 2: curiosity and inspired you to dive deeper.
Speaker 1: Dive deeper into the world of antsable. I think so.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's all the time we have for today's deep
Speaker 2: dive into ansable. We hope you found it informative and engaging.
Speaker 2: If you're ready to take your ansible skills to the
Speaker 2: next level, we highly recommend checking out the study guide
Speaker 2: we discussed today, and don't forget to explore the vast
Speaker 2: resources available on ansable galaxy until next time, happy automating