Managing Enterprise Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform Training Course

 Installation of Ansible Automation Platform

• Distinguishing the functions of the platform gateway, automation controller, private automation hub, and the Event-Driven Ansible controller.
• Integrating execution environments and automation mesh within the broader platform architecture.
• Comparing deployment methodologies and enterprise topologies, including containerized, RPM-based, and OpenShift Operator-based approaches.
• Preparation of the installer inventory and completion of the setup process for the chosen deployment strategy.
• Establishing initial platform access, configuring subscription details, and navigating the unified user interface.

Administration of Users and Access Permissions

• Establishing organizational structures, teams, and user accounts.
• Implementing local accounts and centralized authentication mechanisms, such as LDAP.
• Applying built-in roles, defining resource permissions, and understanding permission inheritance models.
• Regulating access rights to platform resources and content within the private automation hub.

Management of Inventories and Machine Credentials

• Construction of static inventories, including the definition of hosts, groups, and associated variables.
• Configuration of machine credentials utilizing SSH keys, passwords, and privilege escalation parameters.
• Comprehending credential types and their application during job execution cycles.
• Controlling administrative and usage permissions for inventories and credentials.
• Verifying connectivity to managed hosts via ad hoc commands.

Project Management and Job Execution

• Linking projects to Git repositories and establishing source control credentials.
• Selecting branches and managing project updates, including the update-on-launch behavior.
• Leveraging execution environments and content delivered via the private automation hub.
• Development of job templates and execution of playbooks against managed hosts.
• Analyzing job outputs, execution events, and the activity stream.

Utilization of Advanced Job Template Capabilities

• Inputting job parameters via extra variables, launch prompts, and surveys.
• Optimizing execution through host limits, fork settings, verbosity levels, job slicing, and fact caching.
• Scheduling automated jobs for recurring or time-specific tasks.
• Configuring notification alerts for job initiation, completion, and failure states.

Construction of Automation Workflows

• Building workflow job templates using the visual workflow editor.
• Orchestrating job sequences using success, failure, and always-triggered branches.
• Implementing converging paths and recovery steps for failed operations.
• Incorporating approval nodes and configuring timeout settings for approvals.
• Initiating and scheduling workflows, alongside the setup of workflow notifications.

Advanced Inventory Management

• Importing inventory data from projects hosted in Git repositories.
• Integrating dynamic inventory sources via inventory plug-ins.
• Scheduling inventory synchronization and refreshing data sources prior to execution.
• Generating constructed inventories by aggregating existing sources and filtering hosts using variables and patterns.

Automation of Platform Configuration

• Implementing configuration as code using platform content collections, such as ansible.controller, ansible.platform, and ansible.hub.
• Interacting with REST APIs, managing authentication tokens, and executing API calls from playbooks.
• Automating the provisioning and configuration of organizations, projects, and job templates.
• Storing configuration playbooks in Git and triggering automated updates through webhooks.

Platform Maintenance and Troubleshooting

• Overseeing platform services and identifying relevant logs based on the deployment method.
• Diagnosing common failures related to platform stability and job execution.
• Utilizing management jobs to prune job history and activity stream data.
• Planning and executing backup and restoration workflows.
• Evaluating upgrade strategies and subscription management protocols.

Scalable Deployments via Automation Mesh

• Analyzing the roles of control, execution, and hop nodes, including hybrid-node behaviors relevant to specific deployment models.
• Establishing node connectivity through Receptor and designing mesh routes for remote or segmented network environments.
• Administering instance groups, container groups, and overall execution capacity.
• Applying high-availability principles to platform components, databases, and load balancing strategies.
• Evaluating the impact of node or service failures on automation execution and recovery processes.

Comprehensive Platform Administration Review

• Configuring private automation hub content in accordance with specified requirements.
• Establishing an organizational structure encompassing users, teams, inventories, credentials, and Git projects.
• Developing job templates and workflows that satisfy defined operational mandates.
• Auditing access permissions, content availability, and automation execution integrity across the configured environment.