The document is an Ansible workshop presentation led by Arie Bregman, aiming to introduce participants to Ansible as an IT automation tool that emphasizes simplicity and ease of use. It covers installation, basic commands, inventory management, writing playbooks, using modules, and executing tasks, culminating in hands-on exercises to reinforce learning. Additionally, it highlights features such as conditionals, loops, ad-hoc commands, and encourages further exploration of advanced topics like Ansible roles and error handling.

1. Ansible Workshop

2. hello!
I am Arie Bregman
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3. What are we going to do today?
● Learn what is Ansible
● Do automation with Ansible
● Ask the instructor many question
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4. What is Ansible?
● IT Automation Tool
● Focuses on simplicity and ease-of-use
● Open Source
○ More than 4,000 contributors
○ More than 40,000 contributions
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5. Why using Ansible?
● “Why not simply use shell scripts?”
● “Why specifically Ansible and not Puppet or Chef or …?”
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6. Let’s install a package with a shell script
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YUM_CMD=$(which yum) # or dnf
APT_GET_CMD=$(which apt-get)
...
if [[ ! -z $YUM_CMD ]]; then
dnf install ntpdate
elif [[ ! -z $APT_GET_CMD ]]; then
apt-get install ntpdate
elif ...
...
else
echo "error can't install package ntpdate"
exit 1;
fi

7. Now let’s install the same package with Ansible
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- name: install ntpdate
package:
name: ntpdate
state: present
● Works on multiple distributions
● Readable
● Describes desired status rather than the action
This is called a
“task” in Ansible

8. Why specifically Ansible?
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● Python & SSH is all you need
● Simple to use
● Agentless
● Over 3300 modules!
● Great community

9. Time to have fun! but first, installation
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# Fedora, RHEL 8, CentOS 8
$ dnf install ansible -y
# For older releases, use yum instead
# Ubuntu
$ apt-get install ansible -y
# Verify you can ssh without using a password to the machine you’ll use
$ ssh x.x.x.x
# No? Then run the following
$ ssh-copy-id <user>@x.x.x.x

11. Inventory
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● The hosts/servers you manage with Ansible
● Types of inventory
○ Static
○ Dynamic
● Default inventory
○ /etc/ansible/hosts
We will define a static inventory

12. Update you inventory
12
[remote]
x.x.x.x
$ sudo vi /etc/ansible/hosts
Let’s test it! :)
ansible remote -m ping
remote | SUCCESS => {
"changed": false,
"ping": "pong"
}
x.x.x.x [remote]
X.x.x.x ansible_user=vagrant
Or Or
Using this, you can
later reference in
Ansible multiple
servers with one
name

13. Write your first Playbook
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- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: Create the file /tmp/x
file:
path: /tmp/x
state: touch
$ vi first_task.yml
* A playbooks is a collection
plays
* A play is a collection of tasks
running on a single or multiple
hosts

14. Run your first Playbook
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PLAY [remote] **************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] *****************************************
ok: [remote]
TASK [Create the file /tmp/x] **********************************
changed: [remote]
PLAY RECAP *****************************************************
remote : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0
$ ansible-playbook first_playbook.yml

15. Multiple Tasks
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- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: Install the package htop
become: yes
package:
name: htop
state: present
- name: install the package python-routes
become: true
package:
name: python-routes
state: present
- hosts: webservers
tasks:
- name: Install the package htop
become: yes
package:
name: htop
state: present
- hosts: dbservers
tasks:
- name: install the package python-routes
become: root
package:
name: python-routes
state: present
Playbook
play
play

16. Exercise #1
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● Write a playbook which will:
○ Create the file /tmp/x
○ Create the file /tmp/y
○ Create the file /tmp/z
- hosts: [host or hosts group name]
tasks:
- name: [task name]
[module name]:
path: ...
state: ...
# Commands
ansible-playbook

17. What modules are there?
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$ ansible-doc <module_name>
$ ansible-doc file
$ ansible-doc -l
● List modules
● Information on specific module

18. ansible-doc format
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Module source code path
Module Description
Single option (Optional)

19. 19
Module Author and support
Examples ==
How to use the
module

20. Variables
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● Used for storing values you can reference multiple times in your
playbook, in different tasks
● It’s common to find them used in conditionals, loops, ...
- hosts: remote
vars:
file_path: /tmp/x
tasks:
- name: Create the file "{{ file_path }}"
file:
name: "{{ file_path }}"
state: touch

21. Loops
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● What if I need to create 10 files or install 30 package?
- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: Create multiple files
file:
name: "{{ item }}"
state: touch
loop:
- /tmp/a
- /tmp/b
- /tmp/c

22. 22
PLAY [remote]
********************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts]
************************************************************************************************
ok: [192.168.33.10]
TASK [add several users]
**************************************************************************************************
changed: [192.168.33.10] => (item=/tmp/a)
changed: [192.168.33.10] => (item=/tmp/b)
changed: [192.168.33.10] => (item=/tmp/c)
PLAY RECAP
************************************************************************************************************
192.168.33.10 : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0

23. Privileges
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● Some tasks can’t be executed by a regular user
○ Installing packages
○ Adding users
● The “become” directive helps with that
- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: Install the package python
become: yes
package:
name: python
state: present
- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: Install the package python
become: yes
become_user: luigi
file:
path: ~/stam_file
state: present

24. Exercise #2
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● Write a playbook which will:
○ Add the users
■ sarah, john, grace
○ Create the directories
■ /tmp/dir1 , /tmp/dir2, /tmp/dir3
# Commands
ansible-playbook
ansible-doc -l
ansible-doc <module_name>
# Directives
loop:
become:
become_user:
- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: blip blop
file:
...
loop:
- ...

25. Facts
25
ansible remote -m setup | less
...
"ansible_user_dir": "/home/vagrant",
"ansible_user_gecos": "",
"ansible_user_gid": 1000,
"ansible_user_id": "vagrant",
"ansible_user_shell": "/bin/bash",
"ansible_user_uid": 1000,
"ansible_userspace_architecture": "x86_64",
"ansible_userspace_bits": "64",
"ansible_virtualization_role": "guest",
"ansible_virtualization_type": "virtualbox",
...

26. Conditionals
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● Run task only when certain condition is met
- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: Install apache httpd
become: yes
apt:
name: apache2
state: present
when: ansible_facts['distribution'] == "Ubuntu"

27. Conditionals: AND
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- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: Install apache httpd
become: yes
apt:
name: apache2
state: present
when:
- ansible_facts['distribution'] in ['CentOS', 'RedHat']
- my_var < 6
- install_apache

28. Conditionals: OR
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- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: Install apache httpd
become: yes
apt:
name: apache2
state: present
when: ansible_facts['distribution'] == "Ubuntu" or ansible_facts['distribution'] == "Suse"

29. 29
{{ [32, 3, 5, 121, 6, 7] | max }}
Filters
● Transformation of data
{{ [32, 3, 5, 121, 6, 7] | min }}
{{ [32, 3, 5, 121, 6, 7] | random }}
{{ some_path | dirname }}
{{ some_string | quote }}

30. 30
- hosts: remote
tasks:
- name: Create multiple files
file:
name: "{{ item }}"
state: touch
loop: “{{ files_list | default([]) }}” What is the result of
the task?
OK? Changed?
Skipped?
● Also useful for dealing with undefined variables

31. Exercise #3
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● Write a playbook which will:
○ Install the package htop only if the major version of the
operating system is 14
○ Install the package netcat only if the major version of the
operating system is 16
○ Add one random user of the following
■ [‘ed’, ‘eddy’, ‘eddie’]
# Commands
ansible-playbook
ansible-doc -l
ansible-doc <module_name>
ansible remote -m setup | less

32. AD-HOC
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● Run tasks without writing playbooks
● For quick and non-repeating changes
ansible [hosts_pattern] -m [module_name] -a “[module options]”

33. AD-HOC Example
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ansible remote -m file -a "name=/tmp/ad-hoc state=touch"
192.168.33.10 | CHANGED => {
"ansible_facts": {
"discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python"
},
"changed": true,
"dest": "/tmp/ad-hoc",
"gid": 1000,
"group": "vagrant",
"mode": "0664",
"owner": "vagrant",
"size": 0,
"state": "file",
"uid": 1000
}

34. Exercise #4
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● Create locally a file with the content
○ “I came here from a far far server”
● Using ad-hoc commands:
○ Add a user called “mario”
○ Run the service “cron” (Ubuntu) or “crond” (RHEL, Fedora)
○ Copy the file you create to the remote server
# Commands
ansible-playbook
ansible-doc -l
ansible-doc <module_name>
ansible remote -m setup | less
ansible remote -m module -a “...”
ansible [hosts_pattern] -m [module_name] -a “[module options]”

35. Command & Shell modules
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● “I want to run a customized script on a remote host”
● “I’m unable to find a module for what I need”
● Solution
○ command or shell module
name: Get blipblop version
become: yes
command: "rpm -q --qf %{VERSION} blipblop"
register: blipblop_rpm_version

36. Register Result
36
● By registering the result of a task we can “connect” between tasks
- name: Get blipblop version
become: yes
command: "rpm -q --qf %{VERSION} blipblop"
register: blipblop_rpm_version
- name: Get blipblop version
become: yes
shell: |
echo “blip blop begin”
ls -l
echo “blip blop end”
when: blipblop_rpm_version.stdout == “1.2.3”

37. Register: Another Example
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● Configure an app and run it only if configuration was successful
- name: configure X app
command: configure
args:
chdir: /x_app
register: x_app_config
- name: run X app
command: run
args:
chdir: /x_app
when: x_app_config.rc == 0

38. Register: One More Example
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● Run until return code is 0
- name: run some_command
command: some_command
register: result
until: result.rc == 0
retries: 5

39. Exercise #5
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● Write the following playbook:
○ Download the file
https://gist.github.com/corysimmons/8b94c08421dec18bbaa4
○ If the download was successful, log the message “I managed to
download file with Ansible. So excited…”
# Commands
ansible-playbook
ansible-doc -l
ansible-doc <module_name>
ansible remote -m setup | less
ansible remote -m module -a “...”
# Directives
loop:
when:
become: become_user:
args:
until:
# Variables
{{ x }}
{{ x | default(“”) }}

40. Summary
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# Commands
ansible-playbook
ansible-doc -l
ansible-doc <module_name>
ansible remote -m setup | less
ansible remote -m module -a “...”
# Variables
{{ x }}
{{ x | default(“”) }}
# Directives
loop:
when:
become:
become_user
args:
until:

41. Next Steps (Suggestion)
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● Blocks
● Ansible Roles
● Dynamic Inventory
● Error Handling
● Tests

42. thanks!
Any questions?
You can contact me at
linkedin@abregman
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43. Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and released
these awesome resources for free:
✘ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
✘ Photographs by Unsplash
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