Ansible Projects and Use Cases

According to 6Sense, Ansible is an IT orchestration tool with a major market share among its competitors. Industries like software development, DevOps, machine learning, cloud computing, etc extensively use Ansible.

So, if you develop your prowess on Ansible software, getting a job with a competitive salary is not a big deal.   Ansible projects will be more helpful in upgrading your skills. This blog discusses various Ansible projects, skills you will develop, and much more.

Let’s get on board!

Table of Contents:

• What Is Ansible?
• Ansible Projects – Why?
• Prerequisites
• Skills
• Ansible Projects
  • Beginners
  • Intermediate
  • Experienced
• Real-Time
• Summary
• FAQs

What is Ansible?

Ansible is essentially an open-source, robust IT infrastructure orchestration software. It is an automation tool written in the Python language. Ansible is a cutting-edge tool with which you can configure IT resources, deploy applications, design complex workflows, and many more.

The good news about Ansible is that it is a simple and go-to tool for users. Ansible is an agentless software that eliminates the burden of managing agents. Above all, Ansible provides high security and reliability to applications and resources.

Well! Let’s jump into the section that briefs the importance of Ansible projects.

The trend of Ansible Projects has been growing uncontainably with organizations actively looking for professionals possessing Ansible Certification Training and a sound knowledge of these Ansible commands will give you the needed expertise.

Ansible Projects – Why?

According to Glassdoor, the average salary of Ansible developers in India is around 8.5 LPA. They can earn an average salary of around 99k USD annually in the USA. These figures indicate that making a career in Ansible is a good choice and future-proof.

Now, the big question is, how do you seize an ansible job quickly?

The answer is simple. No matter how much ansible knowledge you have gathered – that is not crucial. The main thing is that you must have excellent hands-on skills. So, Working on Ansible projects is extremely important to become a competent Ansible professional and seize your Ansible job. It will help to stand out in a crowd.

All right! Let’s dive into the section that lists the requirements to learn Ansible projects seamlessly.

[ Learn Ansible Tower Tutorial ]

Prerequisites to learn Ansible Projects:

Learning ansible projects is an effortless process if you acquire the basic requirements below before you start.

Let’s list the requirements!

• Programming knowledge of YAML and Python
• Basic knowledge of system administration and the Linux operating system
• Familiar with Red Hat administration
• Exposure to VIM text editor and creating Vimrc files.
• Knowledge of DevOps best practices
• Exposure to network administration and servers
• Good communication and interpersonal skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

Okay! What skills will I acquire by working on ansible projects?

No worries! The next section will answer you.

Skills that you will develop:

Below are the critical skills you will earn by working on Ansible projects.

Let’s outline the skills!

• Expertise in designing and implementing IT infrastructure automation
• Sound exposure to Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution
• Intense knowledge of DevOps tools and CI/CD deployment
• Proficiency in performing unit, regression, and system tests
• Deep understanding of Infrastructure-as-a-Code (IaaS) concepts
• Proficiency in working with version control systems
• Solid exposure to cloud platforms like GCP, Azure, and AWS
• Excellent collaboration and time management skills

Yes! You will become a competent Ansible professional once you gain all the above-mentioned skills. Now you are job-ready and unstoppable.

All right! It’s time to dive deep into Ansible projects to improve your practical skills on Ansible.

Ansible Projects:

This section will provide a rich set of ansible projects for beginners, intermediate-level, and advanced learners. So, no matter what your expertise level is in Ansible software – you can upgrade your Ansible practical knowledge with the help of the Ansible projects discussed here.

Ansible projects for beginners:

This section unveils a few beginner-friendly Ansible projects that will strengthen your fundamental knowledge of Ansible and IT infrastructure automation.

Let’s have a look!

1.  Upgrading Dotfiles

The goal of this project is to automate personal workstations. In this project, you will automate software installation, manage dotfiles and configurations, and more. If you perform re-installation, you can complete that with minimum steps.

This project will teach you to configure a desktop environment on a new machine quickly. It is possible to get expertise in automating dotfiles, making shell configurations, and so on. You will get to know how to automate default settings for fonts, themes, and extensions through this project.

2. Constructing a custom Ansible framework

This project aims to develop a custom ansible framework from scratch. You will use Ansible playbooks to construct a custom Ansible framework. You will use the ansible variables, task control, and facts to develop the framework.

Practicing this project will familiarize you with Python and HTML programming. It is easy to get solid exposure to Ansible ad-hoc commands and modules. Besides, you will learn to create a custom ansible module by doing this project.

[ Related Articles How to Install Ansible on Windows ]

3. Ansible Skeleton

The ultimate goal of this project is to create a folder structure for a new Ansible project. In this project, you will use Ansible playbooks to construct folder structures. Ansible skeleton is a template that helps to start Ansible quickly.

Completing this project will give you expertise with folder structures and placeholder files. You will get exposure to inventories for multiple environments. Additionally, you will learn to organize variables, hosts, and groups through this project.

4. Homelab

This project aims to create ansible playbooks for home-lab provisioning. In this project, you will develop an ansible role for every server configuration. You will create a playbook that will run that role against hosts. The hosts are usually defined in the inventory.

Completing this project will familiarize you with languages such as Shell, Jinja, and Vim script. It is possible to learn to manage secrets through scripts. Besides, you will get expertise in creating inventory files with proper structures.

Nice! You have gone through the super-friendly Ansible projects. You must have gained some idea of Ansible playbooks, ansible commands and modules, and Shell and Jinja languages.

Next, we will dive into the Ansible projects that will heighten your expertise in Ansible.

Ansible projects for Intermediate learners:

In this section, you will go through noteworthy Ansible projects to help raise your hard skills from basics to advanced.

Let’s face it!

5. Ansible-playbook Perfsonar

This project aims to create a master ansible playbook for configuring and deploying Perfsonar infrastructure. In this project, you will set up an inventory and add connection variables.

Learning this project will familiarize you with YAML and shell programming. You will learn to set up Perfsonar variables as well as individual host variables in this project. It is easy to get proficiency in Ansible commands for managing the environment. For example, you will get to know how to use Ansible commands for managing and displaying PWA users.

6. VMware vSphere Ansible

The project goal is to deploy a new VMware vSphere Virtual machine. In this project, you will create an ansible playbook to automate configuring and deploying Virtual Machines. You will install pyVmomi or the Python SDK for the VMWare vSphere API to manage the ESXi hypervisor, ESX virtualization tool, and vCenter server.

Working on this project will teach you to run Virtual Machines in the VMware vSphere platform. It is possible to get proficient with Python and YAML programming by doing this project. More importantly, you will learn how to use the vmware_guest module to deploy a virtual machine from templates.

7. Kubernetes cluster set up using Ansible

This project aims to build an Ansible playbook to set up a Kubernetes cluster on AWS. In this project, you will set up a three-node cluster with one manager and N workers. The manager node will have at least two vCPU and four GiB RAM.

Practicing this project will familiarize you with Kubernetes clusters and the AWS platform. You will learn to add the AWS instances IPs as well as SSH key paths to AWS host files. You will get exposure to using join commands to connect worker nodes with the master node.

[ Click here to learn Ansible vs Kubernetes ]

8. Starter kit DevOps

The main goal of this project is to build post windows installation playbooks. You can use the playbooks for multiple Windows environments. In this project, you will use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to work with UNIX machines and Chocolatey. Here, Chocolatey is a Windows package manager.

By working on this project, you will gain proficiency in Python programming. You will learn to construct a host where you can run playbooks. You will also prepare a Windows host so that you can apply the recipe from WSL. Finally, you will test and run the playbooks.

Great! You have completed learning the crucial ansible projects in this section.

Coming up is the section that offers more critical Ansible projects to concretize your hard skills in Ansible.

Ansible projects for experienced learners:

This section uncovers some amazing Ansible projects to elevate your Ansible practical skills to the master level.

Let’s explore them in the way ahead!

9. Backup Webhost

This project aims to create a backup web host to back up the contents of a home directory. The significant thing is that you will back up content from a web hosting company’s server and MySQL database in this project.

By practicing this project, you will gain expertise in Shell and Python languages. You will become proficient in working with Ubuntu and Linux operating systems. Plus, you will learn to work with an SSH server with user shell access and MySQL database.

10. User Management

This project aims to develop an ansible playbook to add sudo users in Linux. Not only that, you can provide sudo access to the users. In this project, you will craft a playbook to create prompts to enter the username. The playbook also creates a prompt for adding groups to the users.

By working on this project, you will get exposure to HTML programming. You will learn how to make SSH connections between the master node and other host nodes. Besides, you will get to know how to use role variables in this project.

[ Click here to get frequently asked Ansible Interview Questions ]

11. Ansible harbor Docker cache

The ultimate goal of this project is to have two components, dev_inventory and prod_inventory. The components can be a Docker hub caching layer and a harbor instance. This project uses fewer hardware components, such as one core and 2GB RAM.

By practicing this project, you will master HTML and Python programming. You will learn to configure local environments effectively by doing this project. What’s more! You will get proficiency in hosting SSL and SSL termination.

12. Ansible orchestrated Apache web hosting on AWS

This project aims to host an Apache server on several Ubuntu servers. In this project, you will set up and configure a multi-server environment on AWS. You will launch four Ubuntu EC2 instances on AWS. All the instances will be launched with the same configuration, key pair, and security group.

By completing this project, anyone can learn to enhance the scalability of ansible tool. Not only that, but it is also possible to learn to reduce manual configuration efforts drastically using Ansible. You will get exposure to access the master server using SSH and install Ansible on the master server. You will be trained to configure inventory files, SSH access, and playbooks.

Congrats! You have completed learning advanced ansible projects. Now you are job-ready.

What next? You will go through some real-time ansible project ideas in the coming section. They will help groom your Ansible skills significantly further.

Real-time Ansible project ideas:

Here is the list of a few real-time ansible project ideas for practice. They will level up your hands-on skills to greater heights.

1. Ansible WordPress
2. Ansible role
3. Vagrant Ansible
4. RPI cluster ansible configs
5. Flash to Kubernetes on Raspi
6. Metanook 2018 ansible-playbook
7. Ansible provisioning using vagrant file
8. Windows and Ansible integration
9. Ansible Mediaserver project
10. Harbor deployment

That’s it! As you know, the more you polish your skills, the more it will shine. So, keep working on more Ansible projects to advance your career.

Summary:

• Ansible is an open-source IT resource orchestration tool
• It is an automation tool that simplifies IT infrastructure configuration, provisioning, and maintenance
• Ansible projects help to enhance learners' hands-on experience and prepare them to face real-time challenges
• learners will get familiar with Linux and Ubuntu operating systems
• By working on Ansible projects, learners will become proficient in Python and YAML languages.

Ansible FAQs:

1. Is Ansible easy to learn?

Yes, anyone can learn Ansible quickly. If they have a solid desire to upskill and are ready to devote their time, then learning Ansible is a cakewalk.

2. Is Ansible free? 

Yes, Ansible is an open-source tool.

3. Is Ansible a good career?

Obviously! Making a career in Ansible is promising. Ansible professionals can get jobs in top companies with fabulous salaries.

4. What is Ansible used for?

Ansible software is used for configuration management, building complex workflows, application deployment, and more. Ansible automates repetitive and mundane tasks, simplifying the DevOps processes.

5. What are ansible playbooks?

Ansible playbooks are written in the YAML language. You can reuse playbooks for configuration management, orchestrate manual processes on multiple systems, and more.

Conclusion:

It’s a wrap! Ansible is a powerful tool that simplifies IT infrastructure management. If you want to excel in ansible tool, you must hone your hard skills. Ansible projects are the best way to sharpen anyone’s hands-on skills in Ansible. However, if you undergo professional training, it will undoubtedly take your skills to the next level.

MindMajix is a pioneer eLearning provider that offers power-packed Ansible courses for all learners. You can check out an ansible course and charge up your ansible skills. You will work on exciting real-time projects and learn from current industry use cases. Eventually, you will stay ahead of the curve and maximize the chances of getting hired by top companies.