Course Agenda

Day 1: Ansible Fundamentals

• Module 1: Introduction to Ansible
  • What Ansible is and its benefits
  • Ansible architecture and examples of manageable systems
  • Installation and initial setup steps
• Module 2: Ansible Features and Usage
  • Agentless architecture, performance, and security
  • Inventory files (INI and YAML), configuration file, and dynamic inventory
  • Ad-hoc commands, module arguments, and authentication methods
• Module 3: Ansible Playbooks and Basics
  • YAML basics, playbook structure, and task results (OK, changed, failed)
  • Idempotent tasks, handlers, and tags
  • Running playbooks with "ansible-playbook" syntax

Day 2: Advanced Ansible and Chef Introduction

• Module 4: Ansible Advanced Topics
  • Facts, custom facts, and variables
  • Loops, conditionals, and combining them
  • Templates with Jinja2, filters, and module parameters
• Module 5: Ansible Security and Roles
  • Ansible Vault usage, commands, and multi-vault playbooks
  • Role advantages, directory structure, and application
  • Lookups, ansible-pull, and Ansible Galaxy usage
• Module 6: Ansible Integration and Best Practices
  • Docker_service module and Kubernetes Jinja filters
  • Execution strategies, debugger, pipelining, task delegation, and abort conditions

Day 3: Chef Fundamentals and Operations

• Module 7: Chef Overview and Architecture
  • Chef as a DevOps tool and its CI/CD role
  • Chef components, architecture, and communication flow
  • Recipes, common resources, and cookbook components
• Module 8: Chef Management and Security
  • Chef client run steps, idempotency, and debugging
  • Run lists, execution order, and setup
  • Chef Server purpose, Knife tool, and bootstrapping process
• Module 9: Chef Advanced Features
  • Client.pem, validator.pem, and sudo usage
  • Permissions for Chef Server management
  • Chef Kitchen purpose, configuration, and commands
• Final Lab: Full Automation Setup
  • Configure Ansible playbooks and Chef recipes
  • Integrate with Docker and Kubernetes
  • Test automation workflows and security measures

Please note that the agenda above is indicative and may be adjusted depending on the trainer assigned to the course.

Recommended Next Course

• Certified Ansible & Chef Professional Artisan

Certification Program

This course is aligned with the Certified Ansible & Chef Associate Artisan certification, which validates foundational skills in automating systems using Ansible and Chef.

Prerequisites

• Basic knowledge of Linux system administration
• Familiarity with the command line and YAML configuration files
• Some experience with DevOps processes is an advantage, but not required
• Access to a PC/laptop with a stable internet connection