DevOps Ansible Tutorial for Beginners

Configuration management, application deployment, task automation, and IT orchestration are the main uses for the open-source automation tool Ansible. It is renowned for its cross-platform compatibility, agentless architecture, and ease of use. In this Ansible tutorial for beginners, you will learn core concepts, installation steps, and other important things. Explore our DevOps Ansible course syllabus. 

Getting Started with DevOps Ansible

Ansible is a strong automation tool that makes job automation, application deployment, and configuration management easier. We will cover the following in this Ansible tutorial.

• Core Concepts of Ansible
• Installation and Setup Ansible
• Inventory Configuration
• Basic Ansible Playbook
• Running Ansible Playbook
• Key Modules of Ansible
• Variables and Roles of Ansible
• Ansible Best Practices
• Importance of Learning Ansible

Core Concepts of Ansible

Ansible is an open-source solution for IT automation that facilitates the configuration, management, and automation of IT infrastructure. DevOps uses it a lot.  

Ansible helps guarantee system compliance and minimize downtime, simplifies the deployment and maintenance of systems and applications, streamlines and harmonizes application and infrastructure administration, and helps in incorporating apps created internally into programs.

Here are the advantages of Ansible:

• Agentless Architecture: Ansible does not require the managed servers to have agents installed. It communicates via WinRM or SSH.
• Simple and Intuitive: Its playbooks are written in YAML, which makes them easy to learn and human-readable.
• Strong: Able to automate intricate processes on several systems.
• Idempotent: To avoid unwanted changes, Ansible makes sure that a job is only carried out when necessary.
• Cross-Platform Support: Compatible with network devices, Windows, Linux, and more.
• Modular Design: It is easy to expand and has a large library of components.

Recommended: Ansible Online Training Program.

Ansible Core Concepts 

Here are the core concepts of Ansible:

Control Node: The computer on which Ansible is installed and playbooks are executed.

Managed Nodes: The servers or gadgets you wish to control (targets).

Inventory: A file that groups and lists the nodes you administer.

• Identifies the target nodes or hosts that need to be controlled.
• Usually an INI-formatted file, but it can also be created dynamically.

Example:

[webservers]

web1.example.com

web2.example.com

[dbservers]

db1.example.com

db2.example.com

Playbooks: YAML files called playbooks specify the actions that must be taken on the managed nodes.

• YAML-formatted scripts for automation.
• It includes one or more plays, each of which specifies a collection of target hosts and duties.

Example:

– hosts: webservers

  tasks:

    – name: Ensure Apache is installed

      apt:

        name: apache2

        state: present

Tasks: Specific operations carried out by Ansible.

• The playbook’s lowest unit of execution.
• A module with particular parameters is called by each task.

Example:

– name: Ensure Apache is running

  service:

    name: apache2

    state: started

Modules: They are pre-written code segments that carry out particular functions.

• Ansible’s fundamental execution unit.
• Every module carries out a distinct function, such launching services, managing files, or installing software.

Common modules include apt, yum, copy, service, file, and so on.

Roles: A method for classifying and reusing playbooks and associated documents.

• Playbooks and tasks using a directory structure.
• It contains subdirectories for files, tasks, handlers, and templates.
• It encourages sharing and reusing.

Handler: Task-triggered events are frequently used for configuration reloads or service restarts.

Example:

– name: Restart Apache

  service:

    name: apache2

    state: restarted

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Installation and Setup Ansible

We will install Ansible on a number of operating systems here, including Windows, MacOS, RHEL, Ubuntu, and CentOS.

Installing Ansible with pip

The installer for Python packages is called Pip. Pip, which is incredibly easy to use and install any other Python package using, may be used to install Ansible. Additionally, this guarantees the installation of all Python dependencies.

#Install python3 and pip on CentOS:

Sudo yum install epel-release

Sudo yum install python3-pip

#Install python3 and pip on RHEL:

sudo dnf install –assumeyes python3-pip

#Install python3 and pip on MacOS:

/bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)”

brew install python

#Install python3 and pip on Ubuntu:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install python3-pip

#Install python3 and pip on Windows: 

Run the Python installer for Windows and select “Add Python 3.x to PATH”, this will ensure pip is callable from cmd.

#Validate you have python and pip installed:

Python3 —version

pip —version

#Install Ansible using pip:

pip install ansible

#Validate Ansible

Ansible —version

Installing Ansible on Ubuntu

Ubuntu installs apps using the APT package management. To install Ansible on any Ubuntu Linux computer, use the following commands:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt install software-properties-common

sudo add-apt-repository –yes –update ppa:ansible/ansible

#Install Ansible

sudo apt install ansible -y

#Validate Ansible:

ansible —version 

Installing Ansible on RHEL

Ansible is included in the software repository of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), a subscription-based product that guarantees enterprise-level reliability and support.

To install Ansible on RHEL run:

sudo yum update -y

sudo dnf install -y ansible-core

#Validate Ansible:

ansible —version 

Installing Ansible on CentOS

Ansible can be installed straight from the EPEL repository, and CentOS also makes use of the YUM package manager:

sudo yum update -y

sudo yum install epel-release

sudo yum install ansible

#Validate Ansible:

ansible —version

Installing Ansible on macOS

As MacOS has a built-in package management, all you need to do is execute the following command:

brew update

brew install ansible

#Validate Ansible:

ansible —version 

Installing Ansible on Windows OS

When compared to all the Unix-like distributions, Windows is a little more complicated.

Step 1: To enable WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), launch Powershell as Administrator and do the following commands. Ubuntu will be installed as your Linux distribution by default. 

wsl –install

Step 2: The following commands can be used to install a different Linux distribution: 

#To view available distributions for Linux:

wsl —-list 

wsl –install -d Debian

Step 3: You will be asked to establish a user account and password after installing the Linux distribution.

Step 4: Following this, your WSL Linux Box ought to be able to execute commands.

In this example, we installed Ansible by running the following commands after installing the Ubuntu Linux distribution:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

sudo apt install ansible -y

#Validate Ansible installation

ansible –version

Inventory Configuration

Start by creating an inventory file, such as inventory.ini. To the file, add your managed nodes:

[webservers]

web1 ansible_host=192.168.1.10

web2 ansible_host=192.168.1.11

[database]

db1 ansible_host=192.168.1.20

This can also be set in the inventory file if your distant computers use a different username or don’t utilize normal SSH ports.

web1 ansible_host=192.168.1.10 ansible_user=remoteuser ansible_port=2222

Basic Usage of Ansible

Check Host Connectivity: ansible all -m ping

Run Ad-Hoc Commands:

Example: Check disk space on all hosts.

ansible all -a “df -h”

Execute a Playbook:

ansible-playbook playbook.yml

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Basic Ansible Playbook

Make a playbook file (webserver.yml, for example).

Include the following content:

—

– name: Ensure Apache is installed and running

  hosts: webservers

  become: true # For privilege escalation (sudo)

  tasks:

    – name: Install Apache

      ansible.builtin.package:

        name: apache2

        state: present

    – name: Start Apache

      ansible.builtin.service:

        name: apache2

        state: started

        enabled: true

Explanation:

• —: Denotes that a YAML document has begun.
• name: An evocative term for the work or playbook.
• hosts: Indicates which hosts are the target (from the inventory).
• become: true: Permits privilege escalation, allowing tasks to be executed as root.
• tasks: A list of things that need to be done.
• ansible.builtin.package: Installs software by using the package module.
• ansible.builtin.service: Manages services using the service module.
• state: present: Verifies the installation of the package.
• state: started: Verifies the operation of the service.
• enabled: true: Assures that the service launches upon bootup.

Running the Playbook

Use the ansible-playbook command:

ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini webserver.yml

The inventory file is specified by the -i option.

Checking Connectivity

You can check connectivity to your managed nodes prior to executing a playbook:

ansible -i inventory.ini all -m ping

This determines whether the hosts are reachable by using the ping program.

Example Playbook

This is a straightforward strategy for setting up and launching Apache on target hosts: 

– hosts: webservers

  become: yes

  tasks:

    – name: Ensure Apache is installed

      apt:

        name: apache2

        state: present

    – name: Ensure Apache is running

      service:

        name: apache2

        state: started

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Key Modules of Ansible

Numerous modules offered by Ansible act as the fundamental units for automation tasks. These modules are made to carry out particular tasks, such handling files, packages, services, users, and more. Ansible’s main modules are listed below, arranged according to their functions:

Package Management Modules

Target systems’ software packages are managed by the following modules:

Example:

– name: Install Apache on Ubuntu

  apt:

    name: apache2

    state: present

File Management Modules

File and directory operations are managed by the following modules:

Example:

– name: Ensure a file exists with specific content

  copy:

    dest: /etc/example.conf

    content: “This is a sample configuration file.”

Service Management Modules

System services are managed by the following modules. 

Example:

– name: Ensure Apache is running and enabled

  service:

    name: apache2

    state: started

    enabled: yes

User and Group Management Modules

On target systems, these modules control users and groups.

Example:

– name: Create a user

  user:

    name: john

    state: present

    shell: /bin/bash

Cloud Modules

These modules communicate with cloud computing systems.

Example:

– name: Launch an EC2 instance

  ec2:

    key_name: mykey

    instance_type: t2.micro

    image: ami-0abcdef1234567890

    count: 1

    region: us-east-1

Network Modules

These modules control network setups and devices.

Example:

– name: Configure a Cisco IOS device

  ios_config:

    lines:

      – interface GigabitEthernet0/1

      – ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0

System and Command Modules

These modules oversee system-level operations and carry out directives.

Example:

– name: Run a shell command

  shell: echo “Hello, World!” >> /tmp/hello.txt

Database Modules

These modules communicate with databases.

Example:

– name: Create a MySQL database

  mysql_db:

    name: mydb

    state: present

Notification Modules

These modules issue warnings or notifications.

Example:

– name: Send a Slack notification

  slack:

    token: “xoxb-1234567890”

    msg: “Deployment completed successfully!”

Advanced Modules

These modules offer advanced features.

Example:

– name: Wait for a web server to start

  wait_for:

    port: 80

    timeout: 60

Listing all modules: ansible-doc -l

View Module Documentation: ansible-doc <module_name>

Example:

ansible-doc apt

Ansible is a strong tool for automating a variety of operations because of its large library of modules. 

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Variables and Roles of Ansible

Variables

Variables can be defined in your playbooks or inventory.

Example in Inventory:

Ini, TOML

[webservers]

web1 ansible_host=192.168.1.10 apache_port=8080

Example in playbook:

YAML

– name: Configure Apache port

  hosts: webservers

  become: true

  tasks:

    – name: Modify Apache port

      ansible.builtin.lineinfile:

        path: /etc/apache2/ports.conf

        regexp: ‘^Listen ‘

        line: “Listen {{ apache_port }}”

      notify: restart_apache

  handlers:

    – name: restart_apache

      ansible.builtin.service:

        name: apache2

        state: restarted

Roles

Playbooks and related files are arranged according to roles.

• Make a roles directory with the command mkdir roles.
• Make a role directory inside the roles directory by running mkdir roles/webserver.
• Make directories like tasks, handlers, vars, templates, etc. inside the role directory.

Example:

The role can then be included in your playbook in the following manner:

—

– name: configure webservers

  hosts: webservers

  become: true

  roles:

    – webserver

Ansible Best Practices

Following best practices is essential when using Ansible to create secure, dependable, and maintainable automation. Key Ansible best practices are as follows:

• Use a version control system like Git to keep track of all your Ansible playbooks, roles, inventory files, and variable files.
• Follow organized structure to give your Ansible projects a logical and consistent directory structure. 

Example:

playbooks/

roles/

inventory/

group_vars/

host_vars/

• To divide your automation tasks into reusable parts, use Ansible roles. Roles encourage organization and modularity. 
• Use variables effectively and make use of descriptive and unambiguous variable names. This makes the playbook much easier to read.
• Never keep private information in plain text, such as API keys or passwords. To encrypt sensitive information, use Ansible Vault. 
• Idempotence, or the ability to execute repeatedly without altering the system state beyond the desired result, is a need for Ansible tasks.
• Keep playbooks simple, use descriptive task names, use tags to categorize tasks, and use handlers for tasks in playbook and task design.
• For effective inventory management, use dynamic inventories for automated updates and use separate inventory files for development.
• For testing, use Ansible Lint, use Ansible’s check mode, and use Molecule to test roles.
• To clarify the function and purpose of your roles and playbooks, use comments.
• Instead of using shell commands, use Ansible’s built-in modules whenever you can.

You can build dependable, maintainable, and secure Ansible automation by adhering to these best practices.

Related Training: Docker Training in Chennai.

Importance of Learning Ansible

In today’s IT environment, where automation is becoming more and more important, learning Ansible is quite beneficial. This is a summary of its significance:

• Increased Efficiency and Productivity: Automation of Repetitive Tasks and Faster Deployments.
• Enhanced Dependability and Consistency: Management of Configurations and Idempotency.
• Increased Flexibility and Scalability: Versatile Automation and Scalable Infrastructure Management.
• IT Operations Made Simpler: Human-Readable Language and Agentless Architecture.
• Cloud Integration with DevOps: Cloud Automation and DevOps Workflows.
• Professional Growth: In the IT sector, Ansible skills are highly sought after, making them an invaluable tool for professional growth.
• Broad Applicability: Numerous businesses and industries use Ansible, offering a wide range of job options.

Ansible is an essential talent in the contemporary IT world since it essentially enables IT professionals to increase reliability, optimize processes, and boost efficiency.

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Conclusion

This Ansible tutorial has given you a basic understanding of how to use this effective automation technology. The fundamental concepts have been discussed, including installation, inventory control, the creation of simple playbooks, and the significance of roles and variables. Gain expertise with the DevOps process through our Ansible training in Chennai.