WEBVTT 1 00:00.000 --> 00:04.200 So friends, let's talk a little bit about what Ansible actually is. 2 00:04.200 --> 00:09.120 Well quite simply, at its most basic level, Ansible is an automation tool that 3 00:09.120 --> 00:09.580 has been 4 00:09.580 --> 00:11.720 developed by Red Hat. 5 00:11.720 --> 00:15.320 So think about the tasks that you would do as a Linux administrator. 6 00:15.320 --> 00:19.740 Perhaps you're managing 1000 servers and you want to go in and maybe modify the 7 00:19.740 --> 00:20.000 DNS 8 00:20.000 --> 00:24.960 settings, as opposed to having to log in to each device one by one by one. 9 00:24.960 --> 00:29.510 To manually make those configuration changes yourself, utilising a tool such as 10 00:29.510 --> 00:30.120 Ansible, WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 10 00:29.510 --> 00:30.120 Ansible, 11 00:30.120 --> 00:34.710 you can have that change be automated all at once and have the system updated 12 00:34.710 --> 00:35.120 in the 13 00:35.120 --> 00:36.120 blink of an eye. 14 00:36.120 --> 00:40.400 Now the way Ansible operates, it uses something known as a push model. 15 00:40.400 --> 00:42.080 Let me just describe what that looks like. 16 00:42.080 --> 00:44.960 So imagine over here we had a Red Hat based system. 17 00:44.960 --> 00:49.900 This could just be a virtual machine and on that system you happen to install 18 00:49.900 --> 00:50.280 Ansible 19 00:50.280 --> 00:51.280 Looker. 20 00:51.280 --> 00:54.680 Here is going to be the machine that is going to manage all of the devices in 21 00:54.680 --> 00:55.400 the network. 22 00:55.400 --> 00:58.740 To say for example you had a whole ton of different servers that you're 23 00:58.740 --> 00:59.520 managing. 24 00:59.520 --> 01:03.110 One could be an Ubuntu machine, one could have it be Red Hat enterprise Linux WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 24 00:59.520 --> 01:03.110 One could be an Ubuntu machine, one could have it be Red Hat enterprise Linux 25 01:03.110 --> 01:03.680 as well, 26 01:03.680 --> 01:06.800 one could be Fedora, one could be Kali Linux, it doesn't actually matter. 27 01:06.800 --> 01:10.290 The point is if you happen to be a system administrator responsible for 28 01:10.290 --> 01:11.000 managing all 29 01:11.000 --> 01:15.490 these devices, having Ansible installed on one particular control mode will 30 01:15.490 --> 01:16.120 allow you 31 01:16.120 --> 01:21.160 to connect all of these devices at the same time and push out those updates. 32 01:21.160 --> 01:24.450 Now the reason why we refer to Ansible as using a push model to make its 33 01:24.450 --> 01:25.320 configuration 34 01:25.320 --> 01:28.860 changes is if you happen to have let's maybe say two machines over here that 35 01:28.860 --> 01:30.040 you're managing, WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 35 01:28.860 --> 01:30.040 you're managing, 36 01:30.040 --> 01:34.280 the cool thing is that these devices here that happen to be managed by Ansible, 37 01:34.280 --> 01:34.320 this 38 01:34.320 --> 01:39.130 device here, these machines do not have to install any particular software you 39 01:39.130 --> 01:39.520 don't 40 01:39.520 --> 01:42.280 have to install Ansible here or here. 41 01:42.280 --> 01:46.460 You simply install Ansible on the device that is going to be performing the 42 01:46.460 --> 01:47.240 automation 43 01:47.240 --> 01:51.800 in that Ansible enabled device simply pushes out those changes to these 44 01:51.800 --> 01:53.080 different nodes. 45 01:53.080 --> 01:56.670 So all happens from here and is pushed outward towards the network, that is 46 01:56.670 --> 01:57.440 what we're referring 47 01:57.440 --> 01:58.440 to. 48 01:58.440 --> 02:00.720 Now as we move through this particular course there's going to be a strong WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 48 01:58.440 --> 02:00.720 Now as we move through this particular course there's going to be a strong 49 02:00.720 --> 02:01.360 emphasis on 50 02:01.360 --> 02:05.440 something known as YAML, pretty much this is a file format that is designed to 51 02:05.440 --> 02:06.000 be very 52 02:06.000 --> 02:10.700 human readable but it allows us to actually utilise programmatic logic, just 53 02:10.700 --> 02:11.120 like you 54 02:11.120 --> 02:15.600 can do so with say for example Python code except this time the code that we're 55 02:15.600 --> 02:16.160 writing 56 02:16.160 --> 02:20.670 quote unquote really doesn't look like code, it is very very easy on the eyes, 57 02:20.670 --> 02:20.920 really 58 02:20.920 --> 02:24.920 really easy for system administrators to look at and understand. 59 02:24.920 --> 02:28.510 Now with respect to Ansible the actual architecture can be broken down into 60 02:28.510 --> 02:30.080 four core components. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 60 02:28.510 --> 02:30.080 four core components. 61 02:30.080 --> 02:34.040 The first component is the configuration file, typically this is going to be 62 02:34.040 --> 02:36.840 called Ansible.cfg 63 02:36.840 --> 02:41.300 and using this particular file you can specify global system settings, we'll 64 02:41.300 --> 02:41.920 get to see 65 02:41.920 --> 02:44.200 what this looks like in the very next video. 66 02:44.200 --> 02:48.500 Crucially though within the configuration file we can also specify where abouts 67 02:48.500 --> 02:49.560 we can find 68 02:49.560 --> 02:54.100 the next component of the Ansible architecture and that is the Ansible 69 02:54.100 --> 02:55.080 inventory. 70 02:55.080 --> 02:59.920 Now the inventory basically tells Ansible what devices should be managed. 71 02:59.920 --> 03:03.160 Now in our lab environment we have created two particular machines that are WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 71 02:59.920 --> 03:03.160 Now in our lab environment we have created two particular machines that are 72 03:03.160 --> 03:03.600 going to 73 03:03.600 --> 03:07.740 be managed by Ansible so in order to let Ansible know about this we would 74 03:07.740 --> 03:08.960 specify information 75 03:08.960 --> 03:12.830 about those devices in the Ansible inventory so that could include things like 76 03:12.830 --> 03:13.680 the IP addresses 77 03:13.680 --> 03:17.580 of those particular devices or maybe their host names, that's how Ansible knows 78 03:17.580 --> 03:17.920 which 79 03:17.920 --> 03:20.560 devices it should actually be connecting to. 80 03:20.560 --> 03:22.830 Now as you progress throughout this course we're going to learn that the 81 03:22.830 --> 03:23.560 inventory can 82 03:23.560 --> 03:27.970 be really really valuable, it can use things such as groups as well as by the 83 03:27.970 --> 03:28.680 way groups 84 03:28.680 --> 03:33.090 within groups otherwise known as nested groups but for now as our introduction WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 84 03:28.680 --> 03:33.090 within groups otherwise known as nested groups but for now as our introduction 85 03:33.090 --> 03:33.640 we don't 86 03:33.640 --> 03:37.310 have to worry about that quite just yet, just understand that as a part of the 87 03:37.310 --> 03:37.840 Ansible 88 03:37.840 --> 03:41.440 inventory and it's one of the reasons why Ansible is so powerful. 89 03:41.440 --> 03:45.800 Now the third component I want to talk to you about, this is something known as 90 03:45.800 --> 03:46.600 variables, 91 03:46.600 --> 03:50.710 this is a very well known concept within programming because when we happen to 92 03:50.710 --> 03:52.080 be automating things 93 03:52.080 --> 03:55.390 whilst a lot of the information might be very repetitive we can just 94 03:55.390 --> 03:56.280 effectively have the 95 03:56.280 --> 04:01.010 automation system push out the same changes to all devices, we understand that WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 95 03:56.280 --> 04:01.010 automation system push out the same changes to all devices, we understand that 96 04:01.010 --> 04:01.600 with respect 97 04:01.600 --> 04:06.020 to particular configurations on particular systems we have a requirement for 98 04:06.020 --> 04:07.080 some configurations 99 04:07.080 --> 04:10.300 to be unique, basically they're not going to be the same, they're actually 100 04:10.300 --> 04:11.040 going to be 101 04:11.040 --> 04:14.320 varied depending on the device we are connecting to. 102 04:14.320 --> 04:17.580 So say for example we're managing two devices right here, let's just call it 103 04:17.580 --> 04:18.080 device one 104 04:18.080 --> 04:21.500 and device two and let's just say this is our Ansible machine right here that 105 04:21.500 --> 04:22.080 can connect 106 04:22.080 --> 04:23.080 to these devices. 107 04:23.080 --> 04:26.180 Now some things may be very common perhaps we're going to push out the same 108 04:26.180 --> 04:26.680 change to 109 04:26.680 --> 04:30.570 both devices, maybe that'd be safe for example some DNS server information WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 109 04:26.680 --> 04:30.570 both devices, maybe that'd be safe for example some DNS server information 110 04:30.570 --> 04:31.160 perhaps they're 111 04:31.160 --> 04:36.960 both going to be updated to use the server 8.8.8.8 that is absolutely fine, 112 04:36.960 --> 04:37.720 however maybe 113 04:37.720 --> 04:42.040 at the same time whilst we're giving both devices the same DNS we want to 114 04:42.040 --> 04:42.960 update their 115 04:42.960 --> 04:47.310 IP address information and the IP addresses on these devices actually have to 116 04:47.310 --> 04:47.920 be unique 117 04:47.920 --> 04:51.450 we can't give the same IP address to both devices, as you're going to see the 118 04:51.450 --> 04:51.800 way we 119 04:51.800 --> 04:55.930 solve for this particular problem is via the use of these variables now we can 120 04:55.930 --> 04:56.560 have things 121 04:56.560 --> 05:01.110 known as host variables which are variable values unique to a particular host WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 121 04:56.560 --> 05:01.110 known as host variables which are variable values unique to a particular host 122 05:01.110 --> 05:01.480 in the 123 05:01.480 --> 05:05.910 inventory but we can also have group variables these could be values unique to 124 05:05.910 --> 05:06.760 a particular 125 05:06.760 --> 05:11.300 group of devices perhaps we happen to have four devices in the UK and all of 126 05:11.300 --> 05:11.920 those UK 127 05:11.920 --> 05:16.350 devices have to get a particular NTP server that is different from all of the 128 05:16.350 --> 05:16.920 servers 129 05:16.920 --> 05:22.040 in the United States we can specify those UK unique values as a group variable 130 05:22.040 --> 05:22.760 and target 131 05:22.760 --> 05:25.840 all of the UK devices in the inventory. 132 05:25.840 --> 05:29.660 Once again we'll get to see this in more detail later on as we progress now the 133 05:29.660 --> 05:30.200 fourth and WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 133 05:29.660 --> 05:30.200 fourth and 134 05:30.200 --> 05:34.380 final component here this is known as the playbook and really this is how we 135 05:34.380 --> 05:35.400 tie everything 136 05:35.400 --> 05:40.460 together it is inside the Ansible playbook which happens to be written in YAML 137 05:40.460 --> 05:40.640 where 138 05:40.640 --> 05:45.070 we actually tell Ansible what it is we want it to do this is where we write our 139 05:45.070 --> 05:46.040 instructions 140 05:46.040 --> 05:49.490 you know like go and configure a DNS server go and update the NTP 141 05:49.490 --> 05:50.840 configurations go and 142 05:50.840 --> 05:54.500 create a whole bunch of new users on all of these devices so now we have a 143 05:54.500 --> 05:55.040 rough idea 144 05:55.040 --> 05:58.910 about what Ansible is and what it can do what we want to now do is to begin 145 05:58.910 --> 05:59.840 setting up our 146 05:59.840 --> 06:04.570 system so that we can then slowly begin automating tasks across our managed WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 146 05:59.840 --> 06:04.570 system so that we can then slowly begin automating tasks across our managed 147 06:04.570 --> 06:05.840 devices now in this 148 06:05.840 --> 06:09.410 particular skill we're not going to be looking at playbooks quite just yet or 149 06:09.410 --> 06:10.160 the concept 150 06:10.160 --> 06:13.670 of variable values but in the very next video we're going to be talking about 151 06:13.670 --> 06:14.360 the creation 152 06:14.360 --> 06:19.160 of that Ansible configuration file as well as the construction of our Ansible 153 06:19.160 --> 06:20.360 inventory 154 06:20.360 --> 06:24.570 once we have done that we will run Ansible against those devices to test for 155 06:24.570 --> 06:26.040 basic connectivity 156 06:26.040 --> 06:29.860 and that will have our lab up and running and put us in a really good place to 157 06:29.860 --> 06:30.480 continue WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000 157 06:29.860 --> 06:30.480 continue 158 06:30.480 --> 06:34.680 on this journey throughout this course when we will begin using these playbooks 159 06:34.680 --> 06:35.240 to automate 160 06:35.240 --> 06:39.920 a whole bunch of really cool and useful tasks so with that said let's get going 161 06:39.920 --> 06:39.920 .