Ansible Curriculum Overview

About Ansible

Agentless configuration management, playbooks, roles, inventory & secrets.

Architecture & Workflow

Diagram

Key Benefits for Modern DevOps

Automation: Eliminates repetitive manual procedures through codified configuration.
Reliability & Consistency: Reduces configuration drift across development, staging, and production environments.
High Observability: Provides deep telemetry into application and infrastructure health.

Complete Curriculum Roadmap

This comprehensive handbook covers the entire Ansible engineering lifecycle across 19 structured modules:

Module 1: Introduction to Ansible

What is Ansible: What Is Ansible, Ansible Use Cases, Ansible In Devops, Ansible Vs Other Tools
Ansible Architecture: Architecture Overview, Control Node, Managed Nodes, Agentless Architecture, Ssh Based Communication, Winrm Communication

→ Explore Introduction to Ansible

Module 2: Installation & Setup

Installing Ansible: Install Linux, Install Mac, Install With Pip, Install With Pipx, Ansible Versions
Ansible Configuration: Ansible Cfg Overview, Configuration Precedence, Common Configuration Options, Environment Variables, Ansible Directory Structure
SSH Setup for Ansible: Ssh Key Generation, Ssh Key Distribution, Ssh Agent Setup, Passwordless Ssh, Ssh Config File

→ Explore Installation & Setup

Module 3: Inventory

Inventory Basics: What Is Inventory, Static Inventory, Ini Format Inventory, Yaml Format Inventory, Default Inventory
Inventory Groups: Host Groups, Nested Groups, Group Variables, Host Variables, All Group
Dynamic Inventory: Dynamic Inventory Overview, Aws Dynamic Inventory, Gcp Dynamic Inventory, Azure Dynamic Inventory, Custom Dynamic Inventory
Inventory Best Practices: Inventory Organization, Multiple Inventory Sources, Inventory For Environments, Inventory Plugins

→ Explore Inventory

Module 4: Ad Hoc Commands

Ad Hoc Command Basics: What Are Adhoc Commands, Adhoc Command Syntax, Running First Adhoc Command, Adhoc Vs Playbooks
Common Ad Hoc Commands: Ping Module, Command Module, Shell Module, Copy Module Adhoc, File Module Adhoc, Package Management Adhoc, Service Management Adhoc

→ Explore Ad Hoc Commands

Module 5: Playbooks

Playbook Basics: What Is A Playbook, Playbook Structure, Plays And Tasks, Running Playbooks, Playbook Yaml Syntax
Tasks: Task Structure, Task Names, Task Execution Order, Multiple Tasks, Task Delegation, Task Timeouts
Playbook Options: Hosts Directive, Become Directive, Gather Facts, Serial Execution, Max Fail Percentage, Run Once
Playbook Control Flow: When Conditions, Loops, Loop With Items, Loop With Dict, Until Loops, Block Rescue Always

→ Explore Playbooks

Module 6: Modules

Understanding Modules: What Are Modules, Module Categories, Finding Modules, Module Documentation, Idempotency In Modules
File Modules: Copy Module, File Module, Template Module, Fetch Module, Lineinfile Module, Blockinfile Module, Stat Module, Find Module
Package Modules: Apt Module, Yum Module, Dnf Module, Pip Module, Package Module, Snap Module
Service Modules: Service Module, Systemd Module, Cron Module
Command Modules: Command Module, Shell Module, Raw Module, Script Module, Expect Module
User and Group Modules: User Module, Group Module, Authorized Key Module, Sudoers Module
Network Modules: Uri Module, Get Url Module, Hostname Module, Firewalld Module, Ufw Module, Iptables Module
Cloud Modules: Aws Modules Overview, Ec2 Instance Module, S3 Module, Security Group Module, Gcp Modules Overview, Azure Modules Overview
Database Modules: Mysql Module, Postgresql Module, Mongodb Module, Redis Module

→ Explore Modules

Module 7: Variables

Variable Basics: What Are Variables, Defining Variables, Variable Types, Variable Precedence
Variable Sources: Playbook Variables, Inventory Variables, Host Vars, Group Vars, Extra Vars, Registered Variables, Set Fact Module
Variable Usage: Variable Interpolation, Variable In Tasks, Variable In Templates, List Variables, Dictionary Variables, Magic Variables

→ Explore Variables

Module 8: Facts

Ansible Facts: What Are Facts, Gathering Facts, Fact Caching, Disabling Facts, Fact Subsets
Using Facts: Common Facts, Network Facts, Os Facts, Hardware Facts, Custom Facts, Facts In Conditions

→ Explore Facts

Module 9: Templates

Jinja2 Templating: What Is Jinja2, Jinja2 Syntax, Variables In Templates, Filters In Jinja2, Tests In Jinja2
Template Module: Template Module Overview, Creating Templates, Template Conditionals, Template Loops, Template Macros, Template Includes
Real World Templates: Nginx Config Template, Application Config Template, Systemd Service Template, Hosts File Template, Cron Job Template

→ Explore Templates

Module 10: Roles

Role Basics: What Is A Role, Role Directory Structure, Creating Roles, Using Roles In Playbooks, Role Defaults
Role Components: Tasks In Roles, Handlers In Roles, Templates In Roles, Files In Roles, Vars In Roles, Meta In Roles
Advanced Roles: Role Dependencies, Role Includes, Role Imports, Role Tags, Parameterized Roles
Ansible Galaxy: What Is Ansible Galaxy, Installing Roles From Galaxy, Creating Galaxy Roles, Publishing To Galaxy, Requirements Yml

→ Explore Roles

Module 11: Handlers and Notifications

Handlers: What Are Handlers, Creating Handlers, Notifying Handlers, Handler Execution Order, Listen Directive, Force Handlers, Handlers In Roles

→ Explore Handlers and Notifications

Module 12: Tags

Using Tags: What Are Tags, Adding Tags To Tasks, Adding Tags To Plays, Running Specific Tags, Skipping Tags, Always And Never Tags, Tag Best Practices

→ Explore Tags

Module 13: Ansible Vault

Vault Basics: What Is Ansible Vault, Encrypting Files, Decrypting Files, Editing Encrypted Files, Vault Passwords
Vault in Practice: Encrypting Variables, Vault In Playbooks, Vault In Roles, Multiple Vault Passwords, Vault Password Files, Vault In Cicd

→ Explore Ansible Vault

Module 14: Error Handling

Handling Errors: Error Handling Overview, Ignore Errors, Failed When, Changed When, Any Errors Fatal
Blocks for Error Handling: Block Overview, Rescue Block, Always Block, Block With When, Block Error Handling Patterns

→ Explore Error Handling

Module 15: Includes and Imports

Includes vs Imports: Include Vs Import, Static Vs Dynamic, When To Use Each
Task Includes and Imports: Include Tasks, Import Tasks, Passing Variables, Conditional Includes
Playbook Includes and Imports: Include Playbook, Import Playbook, Role Includes, Dynamic Includes Pattern

→ Explore Includes and Imports

Module 16: Ansible for CI CD

Ansible in CI CD Pipelines: Ansible In Cicd Overview, Ansible With Jenkins, Ansible With Github Actions, Ansible With Gitlab Ci, Testing Playbooks In Cicd
Ansible Testing: Testing Overview, Ansible Lint, Molecule Overview, Molecule Installation, Writing Molecule Tests, Testinfra

→ Explore Ansible for CI CD

Module 17: Ansible for Cloud

Ansible with AWS: Ansible Aws Overview, Boto3 Setup, Provisioning Ec2, Managing S3, Managing Security Groups, Managing Rds, Dynamic Inventory Aws
Ansible with Docker: Ansible Docker Overview, Managing Containers, Managing Images, Docker Compose With Ansible, Building Images With Ansible
Ansible with Kubernetes: Ansible Kubernetes Overview, K8s Module, Managing Deployments, Managing Services, Helm With Ansible

→ Explore Ansible for Cloud

Module 18: Ansible Tower and AWX

AWX and Ansible Tower: What Is Awx, Awx Vs Ansible Tower, Installing Awx, Awx Architecture
AWX Configuration: Organizations And Teams, Credentials In Awx, Inventories In Awx, Projects In Awx, Job Templates, Workflows
AWX Operations: Scheduling Jobs, Notifications In Awx, Rbac In Awx, Api In Awx, Awx Best Practices

→ Explore Ansible Tower and AWX

Module 19: Best Practices

Playbook Best Practices: Playbook Organization, Naming Conventions, Idempotency Best Practices, Performance Optimization, Dry Principles In Ansible
Security Best Practices: Least Privilege Ansible, Secrets Management, Ssh Hardening, Become Best Practices, Audit Logging
Production Best Practices: Inventory Management, Version Control For Ansible, Documentation Standards, Rollback Strategies, Ansible In Large Teams, Production Checklist

→ Explore Best Practices