Ansible Training for Beginners
Hi, I’m Roger Perkin, a Network DevOps Engineer based in the UK.
I provide hands on Ansible training courses for anyone who wants to learn Ansible. If you are a network engineer who wants to transition into a DevOps world, a Cloud Engineer or Server Engineer who wants to automate some of your daily tasks, Ansible is a great tool that can do it.
Learn the Ansible skills needed to successfully automate, configure, and provision your IT infrastructure in just a few hours with my Ansible course for beginners.
Videos are available as soon as you sign up!
Ansible Training
What is Ansible? What is it used for
Ansible is an open-source automation tool used for configuring, managing, and deploying applications and systems. It uses a simple yet powerful language to define tasks, playbooks, and roles that can be executed on multiple servers simultaneously.
If you are looking for the best Ansible training you might be thinking who am I to teach you Ansible. I have been using Ansible for the past 4 years to automate network configurations and pretty much use it every day. I have taken everything I have learnt and put it into a concise 4 hour training course.
I have been a network engineer for over 20 years and am CCIE #50038
Ansible is an open source tool that was purchased by Red Hat in October 2015 who are now owned by IBM. Ansible remains open source, but if you want an enterprise tool, then you need to look at Ansible Automation Platform (AAP)
Ansible is the perfect tool for automation of network devices, servers and all areas of cloud computing.
Ansible is one of the most popular tools in 2023 for software provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment, and learning Ansible is great skill for progressing your career.
Most of my Ansible training courses are online training but please get in touch if you are looking for instructor-led in person training.
My target audience is anyone who wants to learn more about Ansible and how to use it to make their life easier whilst automation their IT infrastructure!
Quick Enquiry
Ansible Training for Network Engineers
Network Automation with Ansible is becoming more and more popular in the new world of Network Programmability. Network Engineers need to learn Ansible in 2024!
I use predominantly hands-on learning where you get to see Ansible in use with practical examples from the start.
Network automation, Netops, NetDevops, continuous delivery, or whatever you want to call it is using automation or provision and manage network infrastructure. Ansible is one of the most popular tools to automate network devices today, primarily because it is easy to use, is agentless and is free and is a great skill to have in your toolbelt.
If you don’t like reading and just want to watch some videos, this course is for you!
| Ansible Training Courses | Cost |
| Ansible Basics – Introduction to Ansible | FREE |
| Ansible for Network Engineers | £97 |
| Ansible AWX Basics | £57 |
| Advanced Ansible | £197 |
| Ansible Training Package – all courses | £295 |
All training is performed on either Ubuntu or Red Hat Enterprise Linux
How to get Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Free
Ansible for Configuration Management
Ansible AWX Training Course
Ansible AWX is the open source upstream version of Ansible Tower, which is now part of a bigger product called Ansible Automation Platform. With Ansible AWX you can try out the features that the platform has to offer for free.
Ansible Automation Platform Training
Is Ansible easy to learn?
Getting started with Ansible is very easy, you can be up and running in under an hour, it’s then up to you as to what you want to use Ansible for? Check out my Ansible learning paths with focus on Ansible Basics, Ansible for Network Engineers or Ansible for Configuration Management.
My courses start from Free, Basic and Premium learning depending on where you are on your journey.
How can I help?
If you are looking for Ansible training for a specific requirement or you would like some in person training please get in touch as I can tailor something specific for you or your company
Ansible Training Free
There are a lot of free resources available on redhat.com
https://www.ansible.com/products/training-certification
https://www.ansible.com/
https://connect.redhat.com/
https://access.redhat.com/
Ansible Training Course UK
Learn Ansible for DevOps in under an hour
Ansible is very easy to get started with. You can pick up the basics in under an hour and can be automating your infrastructure and provisioning servers. Please be advised it is not recommended to start your automation journey with live servers, rather try this in a lab environment first and prove your playbooks are working correctly!
Get started learning DevOps today with one of the easiest and most powerful tools available!
Ansible Certification from Red Hat
Red Hat do have a few certifications that you can take to demonstrate your knowledge of Ansible
Red Hat Certification Program
Ansible Basics: Automation Technical Overview (DO007)
Ansible for Network Automation (DO457)
https://www.redhat.com/en/services/training/do457-ansible-network-automation
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Automation with Ansible (RH294)
https://www.redhat.com/en/services/training/rh294-red-hat-linux-automation-with-ansible
Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) (EX294)
The Red Hat Certified Engineer Exam tests your ability to manage
Developing Advanced Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform (DO374)
Red Hat Certified Specialist in Developing Automation with Ansible Automation Platform exam (EX374)
Managing Enterprise Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform (DO467)
Ansible Instructor-Led Training UK
Ansible Course for Beginners
This Ansible training course for beginners will take you from the very first step, installing Ansible to running your first playbook.
Writing your first Playbook
An Ansible Playbook is a YAML file that defines a series of tasks and commands that are executed on one or more remote machines.
Ansible Course for Network Automation
Netops or NetDevOps or just Ansible Network Automation all basically mean the same thing, using Ansible for configuration management and network device management.
Network Automation Basics: First Playbook
Ansible Course Syllabus
What are the prerequisites for taking this Ansible Course?
Learning Ansible from Home
Where can I learn Ansible for Free?
Red Hat Training and Certification provides a free course titled D0007 Ansible Basics – this course consists of 15 videos introducing you to Ansible Automation Platform.
Introduction to Ansible
Course materials
What topics will be covered in this Ansible Training Course?
- What is Ansible and why is it useful?
- Key features and capabilities of Ansible
- How Ansible differs from other IT automation tools
Getting Started with Ansible
- Installing Ansible
- Basic Linux commands
- Setting up an inventory
- Writing and running your first Ansible commands
Ansible Playbooks
- Understanding the structure of Ansible playbooks
- Writing and running playbooks to automate tasks
- Using variables, loops, and conditionals in playbooks
Managing Remote Servers with Ansible
- Setting up SSH keys for passwordless authentication
- Running Ansible commands and playbooks on remote servers
- Using Ansible modules to manage different types of servers and services
Advanced Ansible Techniques
- Using Ansible roles to organize and reuse code
- Using Ansible Vault to securely store sensitive information
- Using Ansible Tower or AWX to manage and orchestrate larger Ansible deployments
- Using Jenkins in a CI/CD pipeline
Ansible for Cloud Computing
Troubleshooting and Best Practices
- Common issues and solutions when using Ansible
- Best practices for writing and organising Ansible code
- Resources for further learning and development with Ansible.
Learning Ansible to Future Proof your Career
Learning these skills will future proof your career as solid automation skills using Ansible will stand you in good stead for so many roles especially if you want to get into DevOps.
Ansible for Configuration Management
Ansible for DevOps Training
Ansible Books
Learning Automation & DevOps is not hard – get started now!
If you want to get into DevOps or Reliability Engineering, Ansible is a great place to start. If you just want to configure a few servers or an entire data center. If you are working in a home lab or managing large production environments.
More Training & Development
GitOps & Event Driven Ansible online course
Network Automation Basics Backup Cisco Router Playbook
Ansible Best Practices
More Ansible Playbooks
Ansible for Cloud Computing
Red Hat Ansible
Data Center Automation with Ansible
Other Ansible Training options
There are many other training providers with Ansible online courses including Pluralsight, Knowledgehut, Linkedin Learning, Udemy. All of them have there good and bad points, some are cheaper, some are far more expensive, you have to decide on your style of learning and your budget and which appeals to you the most. Some offers subscription options whilst others are a one of purchase of a course.
Training can be delivered via a virtual classroom or on demand lessons.
Pluralsight
Pluralsight is one of the premium IT training providers in the marketplace offering a free 10 day trial and then monthly or yearly pricing options from individual to teams with individual pricing starting at £24 per month and premium £36 a month
Try a Free 10 day trial now
What skills will I be learning in this Ansible Course?
Starting the the basics, we will install Ansible, setup the inventory and then write your first playbook. You will learn about Roles, Variables, and ad-hoc commands. If you prefer instructor-led training I can offer in person training, but most people prefer my self-paced courses where you can learn at your own pace.
What is Ansible?
Ansible is an open source automation platform which was purchased by Red Hat in October 2015. It is used heavily by the server admin community for application deployment and to administer and deploy updates and patches to Linux servers.
In the last few years it has gained a great following from the network community who are now using it to administer and automate network operations and configuration management across a wide variety of platforms.
Ansible works by connecting to nodes using SSH, pushing a desired state configuration and dis-connecting. Ansible is agentless.
Related Topics
Devops
DevOps is a software development philosophy that emphasizes collaboration and communication between development and operations teams. The goal of DevOps is to improve the speed and reliability of software releases by bringing development and operations teams together, breaking down silos, and automating processes. This can include practices such as continuous integration, continuous delivery, and infrastructure as code. DevOps also focuses on using data and metrics to make decisions and improve processes, and on building a culture of experimentation, learning, and improvement. By implementing DevOps practices, organizations can reduce time-to-market, improve quality, and increase efficiency.
Check out my Devops Tutorial
Configuration Management
Configuration management is the process of managing and maintaining the consistency and integrity of a system’s configuration over its entire lifecycle. It involves identifying, organizing, and controlling the many components that make up a system, including hardware, software, and documentation. The goal of configuration management is to ensure that the system is in a known, stable state and can be easily recovered or rebuilt if necessary.
Configuration management is often used in IT operations, and it is closely related to IT service management and IT operations management. It is used to track and manage changes to IT infrastructure, and also to ensure that the infrastructure is compliant with security and regulatory standards. Configuration management is achieved through the use of specific tools and methodologies, such as version control systems, automation tools, and change management processes. These tools and methodologies help organizations to maintain an accurate and up-to-date inventory of all IT assets, automate the deployment and configuration of software and systems, and track changes to the infrastructure over time. Ansible is a great tool for configuration management.
Ansible
Ansible is an open-source software tool that automates software provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment. It uses a simple, human-readable language called YAML, to describe the desired state of a system, and then uses that description to configure the system. Ansible can be used to manage a wide range of systems, including servers, network devices, and cloud infrastructure.
Ansible is designed to be easy to use, with a simple and intuitive syntax that does not require extensive programming knowledge. It is also highly extensible, allowing users to create custom modules and plugins to suit their specific needs.Ansible uses a push-based architecture, which means that it connects to the target systems and executes commands directly on those systems. This eliminates the need for a separate management server or agent to be installed on the target systems. Ansible also supports parallel execution, which allows it to manage multiple systems at the same time, making it well suited for large-scale deployments.Ansible is often used in conjunction with other tools, such as Jenkins, for continuous integration and delivery, and also integrate with cloud providers like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and more. It can also be used for security automation, network automation, and application deployment automation, making it a versatile tool for IT operations and DevOps teams.Ansible was (and still is open source software) it was purchased by Red Hat in October 2015 which is now owned by IBM Getting Ansible trained is a great way to set yourself apart from others and prove your worth with valuable automation skills.
Ansible Playbook
Ansible Playbooks are a way to organize and manage Ansible tasks. They are written in YAML, the same language used for Ansible configuration, and allow for more complex automation scenarios. Playbooks consist of a series of instructions, called plays, that describe the desired state of the systems being managed. Each play defines a set of tasks to be executed on a specific group of hosts, called the play’s target.
Ansible Playbooks can be used to automate a wide range of tasks, such as configuring a web server, deploying an application, or setting up a database. They can also be used to automate the provisioning and configuration of cloud infrastructure, such as creating and configuring virtual machines in a cloud environment.
Ansible Playbooks can be executed directly from the command line, or they can be called from other playbooks or scripts. They can also be integrated with other automation tools, such as Jenkins, for continuous integration and delivery.
One of the key advantages of Ansible Playbooks is that they are idempotent, which means that they will only make the necessary changes to bring the system to the desired state and do not make unnecessary changes. This makes it easy to run playbooks multiple times, ensuring that the system is always in the desired state, and also reduces the risk of errors.
Ansible Playbooks can be version controlled, making it easy to track changes to the automation configuration over time, and also making it easy to roll back to a previous version if necessary.
Provisioning
Provisioning within Ansible automation refers to the process of automatically setting up and configuring systems, including servers, network devices, and cloud infrastructure. Ansible, being an automation tool, can be used to automate the provisioning process by describing the desired state of the system in a playbook and then executing that playbook on the target systems.
Provisioning with Ansible typically includes tasks such as installing software, configuring services, and setting up users and permissions. It can also include tasks such as creating virtual machines or containers, and configuring networking and storage.
Ansible’s provisioning capabilities are built on top of its core automation capabilities, so it can use the same simple and human-readable language (YAML) to describe the desired state of the systems, whether it is a small scale or a large scale deployment.
Ansible also has a wide range of provisioning modules that can be used to automate specific provisioning tasks, such as creating and managing virtual machines on cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, and also on-premises virtualization platforms like VMWare and Openstack.
Ansible provisioning can be integrated with other automation tools such as Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline, which allows for automated and repeatable deployment, scaling, and management of infrastructure and applications. This can greatly reduce the time and effort required to provision and configure systems, and also improve the consistency and reliability of the systems being managed.
Ansible can also be used for business process management, infrastructure as code, managing cloud infrastructures, both physical and virtualized.
Other Training Options
There are many other Ansible training vendors that you might want consider including Pluralsight, Simplilearn, Linkedin Learning, CBT Nuggets. You could also consider a bootcamp on Gitlab wtih a full curriculum all delivered by experts in their field.
The time is now to learn new skills and future proof your career.