AN INTRO TO THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE OF DEVOPS, CAPABLE OF HANDLING MANY POWERFUL AUTOMATION TASKS.

1. ANSIBLE AUTOMATION BEST PRACTICES
FROM STARTUPS TO ENTERPRISES
AN INTRO TO THE SWISS ARMY KNIFE OF
DEVOPS, CAPABLE OF HANDLING MANY
POWERFUL AUTOMATION TASKS.
Keith Resar
@KeithResar

2. @KeithResar
Keith Resar: Bio
Wear many hats
Keith.Resar@RedHat.com
Coder
Open Source Contributor and Advocate
Infrastructure Architect
@KeithResar

3. WHAT IS ANSIBLE
It’s a simple automation language that
can perfectly describe an IT application
infrastructure in Ansible Playbooks.
It’s an automation engine that runs
Ansible Playbooks.
Ansible Tower is an enterprise
framework for controlling, securing
and managing your Ansible
automation with a UI and restful API.

4. SIMPLE POWERFUL AGENTLESS
Human readable automation
No special coding skills needed
Tasks executed in order
Get productive quickly
App deployment
Configuration management
Workflow orchestration
Orchestrate the app lifecycle
Agentless architecture
Uses OpenSSH & WinRM
No agents to exploit or update
More efficient & more secure
@KeithResar

5. HOW ANSIBLE WORKS
ANSIBLE’S AUTOMATION ENGINE
ANSIBLE
PLAYBOOK
PUBLIC / PRIVATE
CLOUD
CMDB
USERS
INVENTORY
HOSTS
NETWORKING
PLUGINS
API
MODULES

6. HOW ANSIBLE WORKS
ANSIBLE
PLAYBOOK
PLAYBOOKS ARE WRITTEN IN YAML
Tasks are executed
sequentially Invokes Ansible
modules

7. HOW ANSIBLE WORKS
MODULES
MODULES ARE “TOOLS IN THE TOOLKIT”
Python, Powershell, or any language
Extend Ansible simplicity to entire stack

8. HOW ANSIBLE WORKS
INVENTORY
[web]
webserver1.example.com
webserver2.example.com
[db]
dbserver1.example.com

9. HOW ANSIBLE WORKS
CMDB
CLOUD:
OpenStack, VMware, EC2, Rackspace, GCE,
Azure, Spacewalk, Hanlon, Cobbler
CUSTOM CMDB

10. PLAYBOOK EXAMPLE
---
- name: install and start apache
hosts: all
vars:
http_port: 80
max_clients: 200
remote_user: root
tasks:
- name: install httpd
yum: pkg=httpd state=latest
- name: write the apache config file
template: src=/srv/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd.conf
- name: start httpd
service: name=httpd state=running

11. PLAYBOOK EXAMPLE
---
- name: install and start apache
hosts: all
vars:
http_port: 80
max_clients: 200
remote_user: root
tasks:
- name: install httpd
yum: pkg=httpd state=latest
- name: write the apache config file
template: src=/srv/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd.conf
- name: start httpd
service: name=httpd state=running

12. PLAYBOOK EXAMPLE
---
- name: install and start apache
hosts: all
vars:
http_port: 80
max_clients: 200
remote_user: root
tasks:
- name: install httpd
yum: pkg=httpd state=latest
- name: write the apache config file
template: src=/srv/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd.conf
- name: start httpd
service: name=httpd state=running

13. PLAYBOOK EXAMPLE
---
- name: install and start apache
hosts: all
vars:
http_port: 80
max_clients: 200
remote_user: root
tasks:
- name: install httpd
yum: pkg=httpd state=latest
- name: write the apache config file
template: src=/srv/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd.conf
- name: start httpd
service: name=httpd state=running

14. PLAYBOOK EXAMPLE
---
- name: install and start apache
hosts: all
vars:
http_port: 80
max_clients: 200
remote_user: root
tasks:
- name: install httpd
yum: pkg=httpd state=latest
- name: write the apache config file
template: src=/srv/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd.conf
- name: start httpd
service: name=httpd state=running

15. PLAYBOOK EXAMPLE
---
- name: install and start apache
hosts: all
vars:
http_port: 80
max_clients: 200
remote_user: root
tasks:
- name: install httpd
yum: pkg=httpd state=latest
- name: write the apache config file
template: src=/srv/httpd.j2 dest=/etc/httpd.conf
- name: start httpd
service: name=httpd state=running

16. ● 22,000+ stars & 7,100+ forks on GitHub
● 2600+ GitHub Contributors
● Over 1000 modules shipped with Ansible
● New contributors added every day
● 1400+ users on IRC channel
● Top 10 open source projects in 2014
● World-wide meetups taking monthly
● Ansible Galaxy: over 7,000 Roles
● 250,000+ downloads a month
● AnsibleFests in NYC, SF, London
COMMUNITY

17. MODULES

18. > ansible -m setup
> ansible -m ping
> ansible -m command -a ‘rm -rf /var/tmp/session’
> ansible -m copy -a ‘src=foo dest=/foo/bar’
AD-HOC COMMANDS

19. ● Static inventory
○ Ini-style syntax
● Dynamic inventory
○ Real-time pull of all assets from selected source
ASSET INVENTORY

20. LOOKING AT THAT HELLO WORLD PLAYBOOK

21. MODULARITY USING ROLES
While it is possible to write a playbook in one very large file (and you might
start out learning playbooks this way), eventually you’ll want to reuse files
and start to organize things.
At a basic level, including task files allows you to break up bits of
configuration policy into smaller files. Task includes pull in tasks from
other files. Since handlers are tasks too, you can also include handler files
from the ‘handler’ section.
Roles in Ansible build on the idea of include files and combine them to form
clean, reusable abstractions – they allow you to focus more on the big
picture and only dive down into the details when needed.

22. CROSS PLATFORM – Linux, Windows, UNIX
Agentless support for all major OS variants, physical, virtual, cloud and network
HUMAN READABLE – YAML
Perfectly describe and document every aspect of your application environment
PERFECT DESCRIPTION OF APPLICATION
Every change can be made by playbooks, ensuring everyone is on the same page
VERSION CONTROLLED
Playbooks are plain-text. Treat them like code in your existing version control.
DYNAMIC INVENTORIES
Capture all the servers 100% of the time, regardless of infrastructure, location, etc.
ORCHESTRATION THAT PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Homogenize existing environments by leveraging current toolsets
THE ANSIBLE WAY

23. RESOURCES
Getting Started with Ansible
https://www.ansible.com/get-started
Ansible Essentials: Technical Overview
https://redhat.com/.../do007-ansible-essentials
Ansible Minneapolis Meetup
https://www.meetup.com/Ansible-Minneapolis/

24. @KeithResar
@KeithResar
THANKS!