Key Features

• Learn how to extend Ansible with custom modules, plugins, and inventory sources
• Utilize advanced Ansible features to orchestrate rolling updates with little to no service disruptions
• An up-to-date book that brings to light the newly added features in Ansible 2.x

Book Description

This book provides you with the knowledge you need to understand how Ansible 2.1 works at a fundamental level and leverage its advanced capabilities. You'll learn how to encrypt Ansible content at rest and decrypt data at runtime. You will master the advanced features and capabilities required to tackle the complex automation challenges of today and beyond.

You will gain detailed knowledge of Ansible workflows, explore use cases for advanced features, craft well thought out orchestrations, troubleshoot unexpected behaviour, and extend Ansible through customizations. Finally, you will discover the methods used to examine and debug Ansible operations, helping you to understand and resolve issues.

By the end of the book, the readers will be able to unlock the true power of the Ansible automation engine and will tackle complex real world actions with ease.

What you will learn

• Gain an in-depth understanding of how Ansible works under the covers
• Fully automate the Ansible playbook executions with encrypted data
• Access and manipulate variable data within playbooks
• Use Blocks to construct failure recovery or cleanup
• Explore the Playbook debugger and Ansible Console
• Troubleshoot unexpected behavior effectively
• Work with cloud infrastructure providers and container systems
• Develop custom modules, plugins, and dynamic inventory sources

About the Author

Jesse Keating is an accomplished Ansible user, contributor, and presenter. He has been an active member of the Linux and open source community for over fifteen years. He has first-hand experience with a variety of IT activities, software development, and large-scale system administration. He has presented at numerous conferences and meet-ups, and has written many articles on a variety of topics.

Table of Contents

1. System Architecture and Design of Ansible
2. Protecting Your Secrets with Ansible
3. Unlocking the Power of Jinja2 Templates
4. Controlling Task Conditions
5. Composing Reusable Ansible Content with Roles
6. Minimizing Downtime with Rolling Deployments
7. Troubleshooting Ansible
8. Extending Ansible
9. Infrastructure Provisioning