Ansible Learning Project

Project Overview

This repository documents my journey in learning Ansible, an open-source automation tool. As a self-learner, I'm using this project to understand and apply Ansible concepts for infrastructure automation and configuration management.

Project Structure

The project currently includes:

1. Ansible configuration file (ansible.cfg)
2. Ansible playbook for system updates and web server setup
3. Inventory file

Key Components

Ansible Configuration (ansible.cfg)

[default]
inventory = inventory
private_key_file = ~/.ssh/ansible

This configuration file sets up the following defaults:

• The inventory file is named inventory and is expected to be in the same directory as the ansible.cfg file.
• The private SSH key for connecting to managed nodes is located at ~/.ssh/ansible.

Ansible Playbook

---
- hosts: all
  become: true
  tasks:
  - name: install updates (Ubuntu)
    apt:
      upgrade: dist
      update_cache: yes
    when: ansible_distribution_version == "Ubuntu"

- hosts: web_servers
  become: true
  tasks:
  - name: install apache and php for Ubuntu servers
    apt:
      name:
        - apache2
        - libapache2-mod-php
      state: latest
    when: ansible_distribution == "Ubuntu"

This playbook does the following:

1. Updates all Ubuntu systems in the inventory.
2. Installs Apache web server and PHP on hosts in the web_servers group, but only for Ubuntu distributions.

Inventory File

[web_servers]
192.168.51.247
192.168.51.248

[file_servers]
192.168.51.249

This inventory file defines two groups of servers:

• web_servers: Contains two servers (192.168.51.247 and 192.168.51.248)
• file_servers: Contains one server (192.168.51.249)

Learning Objectives

• Understanding Ansible configuration basics
• Managing inventory in Ansible
• Secure connection to managed nodes using SSH keys
• Writing and structuring Ansible playbooks
• Using conditionals in Ansible tasks
• Managing system updates with Ansible
• Installing and configuring web servers
• Organizing hosts into groups for targeted automation

Usage

1. Ensure you have Ansible installed on your control node.
2. Place the ansible.cfg file in your project's root directory.
3. Create the inventory file in the same directory with the provided content.
4. Ensure you have the appropriate SSH key at ~/.ssh/ansible.
5. Create a playbook file (e.g., site.yml) with the provided playbook content.
6. Run the playbook using the command:

   ansible-playbook site.yml
   

Next Steps

• Expand the playbook to include tasks for file_servers
• Implement role-based access control for different server groups
• Explore Ansible modules for file management and other server configurations
• Learn about Ansible roles for better organization of tasks
• Implement error handling and logging in playbooks
• Explore Ansible Vault for managing sensitive data

Challenges and Learnings

• Understanding the structure of Ansible playbooks
• Learning to use conditionals to target specific distributions
• Figuring out how to manage different tasks for different host groups
• Organizing and managing inventory for different server roles

Resources

• Ansible Documentation
• Ansible Configuration File
• Ansible Playbook Best Practices
• Ansible Inventory

Note

This is a learning project and may not reflect best practices for production environments. Always refer to official documentation and security best practices when working on real-world projects.