Learning Ansible 2, 2nd Edition

Ansible is an open source automation platform that assists organizations with tasks such as configuration management, application deployment, orchestration, and task automation. Basically complex tasks can be handled by the easy-to-use Ansible. This update to Learning Ansible is based on the latest version, Ansible 2. In this book, you will learn about the fundamentals and practical aspects of Ansible 2 by deep diving into topics such as installation (Linux, BSD, and Windows Support), playbooks, modules, various testing strategies, provisioning, deployment, and orchestration. In this book, you will get accustomed with the new features of Ansible 2 such as cleaner architecture, task blocks, playbook parsing, new execution strategy plugins, and modules. You will also learn how to integrate Ansible 2 with cloud platforms such as AWS. The book ends with the enterprise version of Ansible, Ansible Tower and Ansible Galaxy, where you will learn to interact Ansible with different OSs to speedup your work with Ansible Tower and Ansible Galaxy. By the end of the book, youll able to leverage the Ansible parameters to create expeditious tasks for your organization by implementing the Ansible 2 techniques and paradigms. What you will learn Set up Ansible 2 and an Ansible 2 project in a future-proof way Perform basic operations with Ansible 2 such as creating, copying, moving, changing, and deleting files, and creating and deleting users) Deploy complete cloud environments using Ansible 2 on Amazon Web Services and DigitalOcean Explore complex operations with Ansible 2 (Ansible vault, e-mails, and Nagios) Develop and test Ansible playbooks Write a custom module and test it Learn everything you need to manage and handle your systems with ease with Ansible 2 using this comprehensive guideAbout This Book Simplify the automation of applications and systems using the newest version of Ansible Get acquainted with fundamentals of Ansible such as playbooks, modules, and various testing strategies A comprehensive, learning guide that provides you with great skills to automate your organization's infrastructure using Ansible 2Who This Book Is For The book is for sys admins who want to automate their organization's infrastructure using Ansible 2. No prior knowledge of Ansible is required. What You Will Learn Set up Ansible 2 and an Ansible 2 project in a future-proof way Perform basic operations with Ansible 2 such as creating, copying, moving, changing, and deleting files, and creating and deleting users Deploy complete cloud environments using Ansible 2 on AWS and DigitalOcean Explore complex operations with Ansible 2 (Ansible vault, e-mails, and Nagios) Develop and test Ansible playbooks Write a custom module and test itIn Detail Ansible is an open source automation platform that assists organizations with tasks such as configuration management, application deployment, orchestration, and task automation. With Ansible, even complex tasks can be handled easier than before. In this book, you will learn about the fundamentals and practical aspects of Ansible 2 by diving deeply into topics such as installation (Linux, BSD, and Windows Support), playbooks, modules, various testing strategies, provisioning, deployment, and orchestration. In this book, you will get accustomed with the new features of Ansible 2 such as cleaner architecture, task blocks, playbook parsing, new execution strategy plugins, and modules. You will also learn how to integrate Ansible with cloud platforms such as AWS. The book ends with the enterprise versions of Ansible, Ansible Tower and Ansible Galaxy, where you will learn to interact Ansible with different OSes to speed up your work to previously unseen levels By the end of the book, you'll able to leverage the Ansible parameters to create expeditious tasks for your organization by implementing the Ansible 2 techniques and paradigms. Style and approach This book is a step-by-step learning guide on the all new Ansible 2, which is an ideal configuration management tool Cover -- Copyright -- Credits -- About the Author -- About the Reviewer -- www.PacktPub.com -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1: Getting Started with Ansible -- IT automation -- The history of IT automation -- Advantages of IT automation -- Disadvantages of IT automation -- Limiting the possible damages of an error propagation -- Types of IT automation -- Agent-based systems -- Agent-less systems -- Agent-based versus Agent-less systems -- What is Ansible? -- Secure Shell (SSH) -- Why Ansible? -- Installing Ansible -- Installing Ansible using the system's package manager -- Installing via Yum -- Installing via Apt -- Installing via Homebrew -- Installing via pip -- Installing Ansible from source -- Creating a test environment with QEMU and KVM -- Version control system -- Using Ansible with Git -- Summary -- Chapter 2: Automating Simple Tasks -- YAML -- Hello Ansible -- Working with playbooks -- Studying the anatomy of a playbook -- Running a playbook -- Ansible verbosity -- Variables in playbooks -- Creating the Ansible user -- Configuring a basic server -- Enabling EPEL -- Installing Python bindings for SELinux -- Upgrading all installed packages -- Ensuring that NTP is installed, configured, and running -- Ensuring that FirewallD is present and enabled -- Adding a customized MOTD -- Changing the hostname -- Reviewing and running the playbook -- Installing and configuring a web server -- Publishing a website -- Jinja2 templates -- Variables -- Filters -- Conditionals -- Cycles -- Summary -- Chapter 3: Scaling to Multiple Hosts -- Working with inventory files -- The basic inventory file -- Groups in an inventory file -- Regular expressions in the inventory file -- Working with variables -- Host variables -- Group variables -- Variable files -- Overriding configuration parameters with an inventory file -- Working with dynamic inventory