Learn Ansible: Automate your cloud infrastructure, security configuration, and application deployment with Ansible

Learn how to write and run Ansible Playbooks, from the basics to launching complex multi-tier applications across public cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure

Key Features

• Write roles to automate everything, from basic apps to the entire cloud infrastructure
• Leverage Ansible's module ecosystem to streamline tasks across cloud platforms, operating systems, and apps
• Adopt DevOps practices and integrate Ansible with CI/CD platforms to streamline automation workflows
• Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

Are you tired of manually deploying and managing your infrastructure and looking for ways to streamline your deployments, introduce consistency and collaboration, and save time? If so, then Learn Ansible is for you. Written by a DevOps practitioner and system administrator with 30+ years of experience, this book will teach you how to automate repetitive tasks and effortlessly manage several resources from a single code base.

From installing Ansible and writing your first playbook to deploying multi-tier applications across different cloud platforms, this book will take you on an exciting learning journey. By learning the art of defining highly available cloud infrastructure using code, you’ll find it easy to distribute configurations alongside your application. You’ll explore Ansible Galaxy, learn about community-contributed Ansible roles, and discover how to create and share your own roles. Later, the book delves into the capabilities of Ansible AWX and integrating Ansible with your CI/CD pipelines, using Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions. With real-world examples and hands-on tutorials, you’ll build a solid foundation to tackle any automation project.

By the end of this book, you'll be able to confidently implement Ansible in your environment and day-to-day workflows, taking your deployments to the next level.

What you will learn

• Understand how to install and configure Ansible on Linux, macOS, and Windows
• Write Ansible playbooks to automate system configuration and deployment
• Deploy applications such as LAMP stacks and WordPress using Ansible
• Create reusable roles and use Ansible Galaxy for sharing
• Automate infrastructure deployments on cloud platforms such as AWS and Azure
• Execute your Ansible playbooks with GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps
• Scan playbooks for security issues and secure systems using Ansible
• Centralize and manage Ansible deployments using Ansible AWX

Who this book is for

Learn Ansible is for system administrators, developers, and infrastructure engineers who want to implement infrastructure automation and configuration management using Ansible. The hands-on tutorials make this book ideal for both beginners as well as intermediate users looking to take their Ansible skills to the next level. Technology professionals working with public cloud platforms like AWS and Azure will also find valuable insights into automating deployments.

Table of Contents

1. Installing and Running Ansible
2. Exploring Ansible Galaxy
3. The Ansible Commands
4. Deploying a LAMP Stack
5. Deploying WordPress
6. Targeting Multiple Distributions
7. Ansible Windows Modules
8. Ansible Network Modules
9. Moving to the Cloud
10. Building Out a Cloud Network
11. Highly Available Cloud Deployments
12. Building Out a VMware Deployment
13. Scanning Your Ansible Playbooks
14. Hardening Your Servers Using Ansible
15. Using Ansible with GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps
16. Introducing Ansible AWX and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
17. Next Steps with Ansible

Russ McKendrick is an experienced DevOps practitioner and system administrator with a passion for automation and containers. He has been working in IT and related industries for the better part of 30 years. During his career, he has had responsibilities in many different sectors, including first-line, second-line, and senior support in client-facing and internal teams for small and large organizations. He works almost exclusively with Linux, using open source systems and tools across dedicated hardware and virtual machines hosted in public and private clouds at Node4, where he holds the title of practice manager (SRE and DevOps). He also buys way too many records!