This document discusses infrastructure automation using tools like Ansible and Docker to help startups boost their infrastructure. It provides an introduction to concepts like infrastructure as code, DevOps, configuration management tools including Ansible, containers and Docker. It then dives deeper into explaining Ansible architecture, modules, inventory, roles and playbooks. Finally, it covers Docker architecture, the build-ship-run model and provides a simple "Hello World" example of running a Docker container. The presenter is introduced as an expert in these topics working to promote open source adoption.

1. - 1 -
Infrastructure
as-a-Code
How can DevOps automation help you
boosting your startup
By : Ahmed Mekkawy

2. - 2 -
The presenter
● Ahmed Mekkawy AKA linuxawy.
● CEO | Founder of Spirula Systems.
● Co-founder of OpenEgypt.
● Free Software Foundation (FSF) member.
● Independent consultant at MCIT.
● Advisory board member at Mushtarak.
● One of the authors of the Egyptian government's FOSS
adoption strategy.
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Who is this for ?
● Entrepreneur with a technical background, to take wise
decision.
● Developers, to get closer to operations and DevOps.
● SysAdmins/SysOps, to get closer to developers and
DevOps.
● Entry level DevOps.
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4. - 4 -
prerequisites
● A background of development or system administration.
● Linux systems awareness.
● Familiarity with Linux command line.
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Infrastructure as a code
● Definition
● Unlocked potentials :
● Dynamic infrastructure
● Minimizing cycle
● Environment versioning – through source control
● Testing your code/environment
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Devops ?
● DevOps (a clipped compound of "development" and
"operations") is a culture, movement or practice that
emphasizes the collaboration and communication of both
software developers and other information-technology (IT)
professionals while automating the process of software
delivery and infrastructure changes. It aims at establishing
a culture and environment where building, testing, and
releasing software, can happen rapidly, frequently, and
more reliably. - Wikipedia
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DevOps Culture
● The opposite of DevOps is despair — Gene Kim
● Technology has became more reliable than our
management and our process.
● People > Process > Tools.
● DevOps is not a job title, nor a product, but rather a culture
and practices.
● It's an extension to « You operate what you build » to «
everyone's involved ». Everyone includes more than devs
and SysOps. Business guys are in, too.
● Everyone involved knows how the entire system works, and
is clear about the underlying business value they bring to
the table. Availability becomes the problem for the entire
organization, not just for the SysOps.
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DevOps Culture
● DevOps is not a technology problem. DevOps is a business
problem.
● Waterfall
● Complete isolation between Devs, SysOps, Business
department.
● Each new release has destabilizing influence.
● DevOps
● Devs and Ops are a single team.
● « us » instead of « them ».
● Emphasizing people and process over tools.
● Allows tight alignment of operations with business needs
and thus with customer needs.
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DevOps Automation
● Why automation?
● SysAdmin POV :
● Handle growing scale
● Counter increasing failures
● Ensuring servers consistency
● Stop repeating tasks
● Design for failure
● No more server documentation (yaaay!)
● Developers POV :
● Automation is fun
● Environment versioning
● You understand how production environment impact your
code, hence you write more efficient code.
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DevOps Automation
● Entrepreneur POV :
● Decrease operation overhead with scale
● Move among infrastructure providers
● Be agile on the infrastructure level
● Disaster Recovery
● Rapid Growth
● Slashdot Effect / Reddit Hug of Death
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DevOps Automation
● Why not ?
● Oopses here are bad, really bad.
● It can be tempting to do risky things.
● Knowing how to automate doesn't mean that you know
what to automate.
● Knowing what to operate doesn't mean that you know
how to automate.
● With great power comes great responsibility.
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I. backgroundIntro
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Cloud
● On-demand computing: (I|P|S)aaS, the aaS part is what
matters.
● Why? Too late to ask that now.
● Its impact from the infrastructure POV: resulting IT systems
become more complex and scalable
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Configuration management
● Concept
● Since when
● Push vs. Pull
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conf. Management tools
● Ansible
● Chef
● Puppet
● Saltstack
● Fabric
● CFEngine
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Containers
● OS level virtualization
● Containers vs. Virtualization
● Most known container engines:
● FreeBSD jails
● Solaris Zones
● Virtuozzo / OpenVZ
● LXC
● Docker
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Microservices
● A software architecture style
● Application is broken down to lots of tiny services.
● The service does a single function.
● Each service is elastic, resilient, composable, minimal,
and complete.
● Services can be implemented using different
programming langages and environments.
● Services communicate using APIs
● Unix philosophy : Do one thing and do it well.
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II. ansible
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What is ansible ?
● named after the fictional
instantaneous hyperspace communication system
featured in Ender's Game.
● Feb 2012, Michael DeHaan – author of cobbler -
started Ansible project, after working in puppet labs.
● Design goals:
● Minimal
● Consistent
● Secure
● Highly reliable
● Low learning curve
● Commercially supported (Ansible Tower - GUI).
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Why ansible ?
● Agentless : uses plain SSH.
● Idempotent : safe to re-run.
● Modular : large number of contributed modules.
● Simple
● Easy to use :
● YAML syntax
● JSON output
● It's python :)
● FOSS, naturally.
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First look : ad-hoc command
● pip install ansible
● Echo “localhost” > hosts
● ansible all -i hosts -m ping
● ansible all -i hosts -m setup
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Modules
● ansible all -i hosts -s -m shell -a 'apt-
get install nginx'
● ansible all -i hosts -s -m apt -a
'pkg=nginx state=installed
update_cache=true'
● Note : 'state' not 'change'
● You can write your own on any language, but please
use python.
● https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/modules_by_category.html
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task
● The basic unit of ansible code
● Playbook => roles => tasks
tasks:
- name: Install Nginx
apt: pkg=nginx state=installed
update_cache=true
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Inventory file
● Usually named « hosts »
[loadbalancers]
lb1 server_role= « lb »
ansible_ssh_port=22
ansible_ssh_host=xx.xx.xx.xx
[app:children]
user_app
admin_app
[user_app]
app1 server_role « app »
ansible_ssh_port=22 ansible_ssh_host=xxxx
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Dynamic InvEntory
● Getting the inventory file from another system :
● LDAP
● Cobbler
● OpenStack
● EC2
● … etc
● https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/intro_dynamic_inventory.html
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roles
● Organized set of tasks with their needs
rolename
- defaults
- files
- handlers
- meta
- templates
- tasks
- vars
● Each of those directories include main.yml, except files
and templates.
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Files
● Files to be copied to the servers as is.
● No main.yml here.
● Example : startup scripts.
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Templates
● Files to be copied to the server after substituting the
variables, or doing some minor logic (i.e. loops)
● Python's Jinja2 template engine.
● No main.yml here too.
● Simple use :
echo {{ ip_forward }} >
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
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Templates
● Adbanced use :
{% for service in outgoing %}
{{'##'|e }} {{ service.name }}
{{'##'|e }} {{'=' * service.name|length }}
iptables -A OUTPUT -p {{ service.protocol |
default('tcp') }} {{ '-d '+service.destination if
service.destination is defined else '' }} --dport
{{ service.port }} -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p {{ service.protocol |
default('tcp') }} {{ '-s '+service.destination if
service.destination is defined else '' }} --sport
{{ service.port }} {{ '' if service.protocol is
defined and service.protocol == 'udp' else '! --syn
' }} -j ACCEPT
{% endfor %}
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handler
● Just as a task, but triggered from within another task.
● Notifiers are only run if the Task is run. Think Event
tasks:
- name: Install Nginx
apt: pkg=nginx state=installed
update_cache=true
notify:
- Start Nginx
handlers:
- name: Start Nginx
service: name=nginx state=started
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Meta
● Role meta data, including dependencies on other roles.
---
author: your name
description: what this role does
company: your_company
licence: GPLv2
min_ansible_version: 1.2
dependencies:
- { role: ssl }
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playbook
● A complete project
playbook
- group_vars
- group1.yml
- all.yml
- hosts
- playbook.yml
- roles
- role1
- role2
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variables
● declaration (in override order):
● command line
● playbook file
● group_vars
● role (vars)
● role (defaults)
● facts.
● https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/playbooks_variables.html
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Spirula's practices
● Treat your CM code as code :
● Use version control.
● Comment on commits.
● Code reuse.
● Have a testing procedure.
● Keep your /etc/ansible/hosts empty, so you have to
define inventory file on each run.
● Keep your variable definition clean:
● Don't define vars in playbook file.
● Keep your project vars in playbook's group_vars, in
all.yml, or in the group if needed.
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Ansible Galaxy
● Community hub for contributing, downloading, and reviewing
ansible roles.
ansible-galaxy install Spirula.common
● https://galaxy.ansible.com
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III. dockerIntro
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Docker Architecture
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Containerization soln
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Build Ship Run
● Build images using Dockerfiles.
● Ship images to different environments (testing, staging,
production).
● Run and scale your containers on different platform.
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Docker 'Hello world'
● Install Docker engine on your Linux platform.
● Run :
$ docker run -it ubuntu:14.04 /bin/bash
● Docker will run a /bin/bash process inside a container and
give you control of this process.
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Discussion

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Resources
● Ansible:
● https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/
● https://serversforhackers.com/an-ansible-tutorial
● http://slash4.net/blog/deployment-automation/howto-use-ansible-to
● https://www.spirulasystems.com/blog/tech
● Book : Ansible for DevOps
● Book: The Practice of Cloud System Administration
● Docker
● https://the.binbashtheory.com/before-you-start-with-lxc-and-docke
● https://serversforhackers.com/getting-started-with-docker

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Thank you
Ahmed Mekkawy
mekkawy@spiru.la
www.spirulasystems.com