Basic steps to using Ansible Automation

• The basics of starting an automation

• Red Hat account

Within the Ansible user interface, there are simplified dashboards and commands to create and deploy Ansible automations. This makes it particularly easy for users that are not deeply entrenched in information technology operations, but would like to familiarize themselves with Ansible functionalities. While there is nuance to setting up Ansible depending on your role, the basic process to using it is as follows: 

1. Sign into the Ansible Automation Platform within the Red Hat console. 
2. Write an Ansible playbook 
3. Create an automation project.
4. Build an inventory. 
5. Create variables.
6. Run your playbook in your given execution environment.

For more detailed instructions, please refer to Red Hat Documentation. 

Once your Ansible environment is ready, you can choose the type of automation you want to deploy. As we have learned in previous resources, this is accomplished through Playbooks.

Within the Automation Execution area of the Ansible UI there are Projects. These Projects are used to import Ansible Playbooks into the automation controller and then run them later using a functionality called Job Templates.

For example, one particular way to use Ansible would be to use a Project that imports a Github repository with pre-made Apache Playbooks. The Playbook would then install Apache, start the service, and install the index file automatically with a few clicks. To explore this example and several others, please see our expanded developers learning path.

This is just one of the many ways Ansible Automation can be applied to enact actions with minimal manual input. To get a more in-depth look at this exercise and expand on it, please visit our lab lesson.

Try the hands-on lab

• Troubleshoot with Red Hat support