I'm coming from a network engineering background and I've worked on playbooks for network devices, especially with F5. Recently, I was approached for an Ansible job, and I'm looking to bolster my CV with more system or DevOps projects. Can anyone share what kind of tasks or projects they are doing in production that I could replicate? Also, would obtaining an Ansible certification be beneficial, considering I already have some foundational knowledge?
4 Answers
Just a heads-up, you really need a solid grasp of Linux to use Ansible effectively. If you don't, it can be pretty overwhelming.
You can start with simple tasks like running ad-hoc scripts for maintenance, checking configurations for things like certificates, and making sure the right directories are set up. For cloud-related projects, consider managing Azure images with Ansible, like patching them based on specific releases. In SRE roles, we often check log folders and file sizes, and implement small automations.
Ansible is great for tasks that need to be executed across many servers. You could do things like create files on multiple machines, check password quality with the `chage` command, run systemctl commands, copy files, and create users. It's also useful for server patching and app upgrades, so there's plenty you can include on your CV.
Check out a production deployment that my team has been maintaining: [Ansible Collection RKE2](https://github.com/pokerops/ansible-collection-rke2). It's a good example that might inspire ideas for your CV.
I'm currently preparing for the RHCSA, so I'm getting there with my Linux skills. Do you think that's enough to get started with Ansible?