Ansible – 6 bite-sized Project ideas

These mini-projects are designed to be bite-sized. Focus on core Ansible concepts before tackling larger scenarios.

Prerequisites:

• Basic understanding of Linux (for most projects).
• Some knowledge of networking may be required for projects 4 and 6.
• Access to target systems you want to manage. These could be local VMs, cloud instances, or a lab environment.

Ansible Modules: For each project, explore the available Ansible modules that are specifically designed to interact with the resources you will target. The Ansible documentation is a great place to search.

Project 1: Automated Web Server Deployment

• Requirement: Provision and configure a web server (Apache or Nginx) to serve a basic website.
• Quick Summary:
  • Create Ansible playbooks for installing the web server.
  • Configure required settings (port, document root, etc.).
  • Deploy a simple HTML webpage.

Project 2: Centralized User Management

• Requirement: Manage users and groups across multiple Linux servers from a central Ansible control node.
• Quick Summary:
  • Use Ansible’s user and group modules to create, remove, and modify users.
  • Employ variables to standardize user settings across environments.
  • Control user permissions and SSH key access.

Project 3: Package Management Automation

• Requirement: Ensure certain packages are installed and updated on target machines across diverse Linux distributions.
• Quick Summary:
  • Handle package updates using distribution-specific Ansible modules (e.g., apt for Debian/Ubuntu, yum for RedHat/CentOS).
  • Define lists of required packages in separate inventory files for different OS families.

Project 4: System Configuration Standardization

• Requirement: Enforce consistent configurations across network devices (switches, routers). Many support vendor-specific Ansible modules.
• Quick Summary:
  • Research modules for the target network devices (like ios_config for Cisco devices).
  • Create playbooks to set standard VLAN configurations, port security rules, device banners, etc.

Project 5: Docker Container Deployment

• Requirement: Deploy and manage a simple application within a Docker container.
• Quick Summary:
  • Use the docker_container module to pull images, start/stop containers, and control settings.
  • Create a playbook to orchestrate a full deployment from image acquisition to service exposure.

Project 6: Cloud Instance Orchestration

• Requirement: Set up and tear down cloud instances (e.g., on AWS EC2, Azure VMs, Google Cloud Compute Instances).
• Quick Summary:
  • Work with the cloud provider’s supported Ansible modules (e.g., ec2 for AWS).
  • Automate the provisioning of instances with defined sizes, security groups, and startup scripts.