To get the most out of this book

To follow the examples provided in this book, you will need access to a computer platform capable of running Ansible. Currently, Ansible can be run on any machine with Python 2.7 or Python 3 (versions 3.5 and higher) installed (Windows is supported for the control machine, but only through a Linux distribution running in the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) layer available on newer versions—see Chapter 3, Ansible and Windows - Not Just for Linux, for details). Supported operating systems include (but are not limited to) Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, macOS, and FreeBSD.

This book uses the Ansible 2.7.x.x series release. Ansible installation instructions can be found at https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/intro_installation.html.

Some examples use Docker version 1.13.1. Docker installation instructions can be found at https://docs.docker.com/install/.

A handful of examples in this book make use of accounts on both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. More information about these services may be found at https://aws.amazon.com and https://azure.microsoft.com respectively. We also delve into management of OpenStack with Ansible, and the examples in this book were tested against a single "all-in-one" instance of Devstack, as per the instructions found here: https://docs.openstack.org/devstack/latest/.

Finally, the chapter on network device management makes use of Cumulus VX, version 3.7.3, in the example code—please see here for more information: https://cumulusnetworks.com/products/cumulus-vx/.

Download the example code files

You can download the example code files for this book from your account at www.packt.com. If you purchased this book elsewhere, you can visit www.packt.com/support and register to have the files emailed directly to you.

You can download the code files by following these steps:

1. Log in or register at www.packt.com.
2. Select the SUPPORT tab.
3. Click on Code Downloads & Errata.
4. Enter the name of the book in the Search box and follow the onscreen instructions.

Once the file is downloaded, please make sure that you unzip or extract the folder using the latest version of:

• WinRAR/7-Zip for Windows
• Zipeg/iZip/UnRarX for Mac
• 7-Zip/PeaZip for Linux

The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Mastering-Ansible-Third-Edition. In case there's an update to the code, it will be updated on the existing GitHub repository.

We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots/diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/9781789951547_ColorImages.pdf.

Code in Action

Visit the following link to check out videos of the code being run:
http://bit.ly/2HCcfRE

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

CodeInText: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: "Also, note that Ansible requires the winrm Python module installed to connect successfully."

A block of code is set as follows:

---
- name: Linux file example playbook
  hosts: all
  gather_facts: false

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

sudo yum install python2-winrm

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For example, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in the text like this. Here is an example: "Now, note the buttons along the top of the Inventories pane—DETAILS, PERMISSIONS, GROUPS, HOSTS, SOURCES, and COMPLETED JOBS."

Warnings or important notes appear like this.

Tips and tricks appear like this.