#Ansible GUI

[probablyasocialecologist]

Despite the 48 intervening years, the novella still comes easily and disagreeably. Davidson in particularly is frighteningly familiar, a white supremacist assured of his moral certitude, convinced that he has both the right and duty to murder creechies after they rise up from forced servitude and destroy a logging camp, killing some 200 Terrans. Following an interdict from Earth—a member of the new League of Worlds—that the Terran colonists of New Tahiti leave the Athsheans alone pending the League’s audit of the colony’s impact on the indigenous humans (an intervention pushed by Terran anthropologist or “hilfer” Raj Lyubov and two visiting non-Terran humans, a Cetian and a Hain), Davidson refuses to give up his crusade against the creechies.  Like H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy before and James Cameron’s Avatar after, Word for World pits the Bad Guy against the indigenous population as a representative of the worst aspects of human (Terran) life: a god-hero complex driven by greed, racism, and self-assured superiority over all life. The Davidson figure (Kellog in Piper, Quaritch in Cameron’s film) is juxtaposed by Lyubov, an anthropologist who advocates strongly for Athshe’s independence, representing a vaguely liberal they’re-human-too response to Terran expansionism. Word for World departs from the eco-capitalist fantasies of similar texts, from the idea that colonial expansion and resource extraction are OK but within reason, by presenting things from the indigenous perspective and not treating the “within reason” perspective as the final word on colonialism.  In other words, Le Guin provides a strong case for the Athsheans’ swift and violent retaliation against the Terrans, including the killing of 500 women (newly brought to New Tahiti to “entertain” the two-thousand-plus workforce of Terran men) so the Terrans cannot “breed.” Readers of course are aware that the colony has a brand new ansible, has just learned of the League’s new interdict against conflict with the locals, and might very well lose their colonial charter. This is the “within reason” response: Earth learn that the colonists went “too far,” so an attempt must be made to reign them in; as Colonel Dongh, administrator of the colony tells Selver, temporary leader of the Athsheans upon the Terrans’ defeat, the release of “voluntary” laborers should have been enough to appease the Athsheans. This is the rhetoric of bullies and empires when their former victims are still angry: But we stopped murdering/bombing/enslaving you, so why’re you mad? 

[tenleaguesbeneath]

was talking with a friend about how in BT the relationship between causality, relativity, and FTL travel is kinda handwaved; time travel is not treated as something conclusively proven impossible but it's also not something that's ever happened (at least not on purpose/provably/whatever) and what factions might have tried things with it

and then I realized comstar was the prime candidate.

then I went to get her a picture of some comstar guys

and, like, they look exactly how I'd expect someone trying to crack time travel to look. I'm pretty sure that it's illegal to make wizard robes the uniform for your ansible monopoly if you're not trying to send messages into the past

[daveknowstech]

Where the Android Tablet is today, and what it might become in a post chromebook world..

There has been a lot of discussion about Google, chromeOS, and the future on this Discord, and this post isn't about that. this post looks at the current state of Android Tablets where they can learn from chromeOS and also where Google might go with this..

To do this I've recently purchased the very large Samsung Galaxy Tab10 Ultra. this is a very big, premium tablet device from arguably one of the biggest Android device manufacturers on the planet. A company whom while the rest of the world forgot about android tablets, carried on and paved a solid lineup of Galaxy Tab products.

The purpose of purchasing this behemoth as two fold. firstly I like big tablets, big real-estate. I take a lot of photos, and having the bigger screen helps a lot editing and working with both photos and videos. The second reason was. Its about the sweet spot for a laptop screen as well. So with the Samsung Folio keyboard, there is a familiarity as a Chromebook user to all of this..

So lets cut to the chase, what has a week using this device to do work been like?

At times it felt just like being on a Chromebook, others its as frustrating as anything.. However its frustrating for the same reasons a Windows User would be frustrated going to a Mac (or Vice Versa). things are not available..

Lets start with the good…

Putting the Samsung Folio keyboard on this tablet, and sitting down at a desk, turning on Dex and working was, because i've been using chromeOS, a seamless experience in the most part. I'm used to the Android experience or the web app experience. The tablet is quick. I'm able to edit Insta360 Videos, or in Lightroom or VCSO.. I get Slack messages and apparently look good in Meet calls because the webcam is where it should be (top middle in landscape mode). the battery has lasted all day and I've been able to do what I need to do (DevOps, Ansible, Terraform, sysadmin stuff)

The processor is more than capable of having 15+ apps running, multiple tabs.. the screen is crystal clear, the speakers are good. However i'd expect all of this, its a premium product (RRP: £800ish) just as I would from a similar priced chromeOS tablet.

However I do think this is the case because of the tablets screen real-estate. personally i think if i had got the Galaxy tab10 plus with a smaller screen, I'd have felt much more constricted in what I was doing..

Compared to the Ipad Pro experience, this is no matter what any tech bro influencer will tell you a huge leap over said device. Being able to actually multi task and run apps (in dex) not full screen alone takes this to a level above the Apple product.

However then there is whats missing.. These as i inferred above are things i've noticed having used a Chromebook as my daily driver for the last 5+ years.

As a huge Linux user on Native platforms and chromeOS, i really missed the Chromebooks Linux shell. this is something I've seen Google are working on with android. Both the full debian runing on the OS with Icons aoppearing when you install Linux apps with GUI's (OnlyOffice for example) which launch independetly of the shell is not a feature to be sniffed at and IMO make the Chromebook one of the best entry level Linux devices available today. Whatever Google have done here, they need to replicate.

I'd also like to see the desktop version of the Chrome browser especially on the bigger scren, the android version of chrome is ok for most things, having the desktop version however should not be a huge leap of development to get this working.. with a huge highlight on PWAs which i use a lot on ChromeOS

Finally there is Dex, I have a love hate relationship over the years with Dex, and the classic version has been my workhorse for the last week. with a keyboard, mouse and external monitor this is more than a workable solution for checking email, slack, meet meetings and even some coding. All the time however i am thinking why not chromeOS?

Dex for its time was a great and groundbreaking idea, and interestingly is the last of many convergence tools over the years, and its always made we wonder why when i plug in a Pixel Phone/Tablet into a USB Hub with a monitor I don't get a ChromeOS like experience.

So what are my thoughts on chromeOS becoming Android based on using arguably the top tier Android experience as my sole PC for a week?

It boils for me into these areas

While ChromeOS will run fine on a 4Gb Arm chip for browsing the web and a few tasks. 8Gb is the minimum you need to start using it properly.. The same will be the same with any new android tablet, for this to work, the 8Gb equivalent needs to be the base hardware, same with processors and storage. Google will need as they did with chromebook Plus to set a minimum spec for these new devices day 1. Or they will cause a lot of market confusion and again get that chromeOS low power second screen device label that they have never shifted from the tech press narrative. This i think has only worked for me because of the premium experience, i think had i gone mid tier i'd have been writing something very different.

The interface and app experience is somewhat comparable, however if Google do put the desktop browser on android as has been suggested they may do, this will make a big difference. OneUI for all its haters, does do a good job of presenting a nice desktop above the Pixel equivalent. Its, dare i say it, more "windows like" and having that as an option interface wise would be a good thing.

Expanding on Interface, the experience presnted to the user of Dex when plugging into an external monitor and adding a keyboard/mouse is important, I would like to see Google work here on something which looks like chromeOS appear when i plug an (lets call it Android Plus) Android Plus device into a hub. a step above dex and a more Usable desktop. this provides huge value ad, and really starts to differentiate Android from Ipad Pro and (i think its called) stage manager. This starts to become an easy drop in replacement for schools, businesses etc while staying familiar and enterprise admins can still do thier thing.

And finally there are things which google should 100% be pulling over from ChromeOS, i think the whole material you type experience is better on chromeOS (although this might just be Samsungs OneUI), the Linux shell experience is another huge thing. Better PWA support and the inbuilt VPN support would be nice too.

All in all a space I'll be hugely interested in over the next few years, if google is serious about making a dent in that lucrative iPad/Pro market it needs to make changes and the convergence of the two OS might actually be the thing which takes the Android OS everyone gave up on on Tablets and the chromeOS only good as a second screen device and makes them the thing you guy to get stuff done..

[cytocutie]

tag game sent over by @chiropteracupola :)

rules: list ten books that have stayed with you in some way, don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard - they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

haha oops it's long. i'll go ahead and put my chain letter bit up here if you folks would like to have a crack at it: @atomic-madness , @the-atrium-of-fools , @another-sad-lieutenant ?

I'm gonna take "books" loosely—some of the pieces of writing that have affected me most were short stories. In no particular order:

1. "There Will Come Soft Rains", Ray Bradbury

is the house, broken, obsolete, and alone, still a house? the gentle death is far more painful than the violent one. oh shit i just realized how much this story influenced my d&d character

2. "A Fisherman of the Inland Sea", Ursula K. Le Guin

i have so many second-/third-generation immigrant feelings about this story. even if you could do it all again, better this time, there would always be something too late to be changed, it was already part of you... when you make a decision there's always something you leave behind... and then there's the ansible and the desperate futility of communicating with a world "you" cannot return to...

3. "A New Refutation of Time", Jorge Luis Borges

this one's an essay! well kind of also a prose poem. one of those works that found me at exactly the right time in my life to punch me in the gut. "The world, unfortunately, is real. I, unfortunately, am Borges." sooo true girlie.

4. Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer

i don't know what to say just please read this if you haven't. it changed the way i love

5. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

i do enjoy a good intergenerational epic! despite spanning a century, each character was written with so much love and humanity. this book sat down in my stomach in 2018 and has not budged since.

6. The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer

7. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

speaking of epics with ensemble casts whose humanity breaks me. there's nothing i can say that hasn't already been said. i love People

everyone shut up about victor. the creature is so fucking transgender. i cannot emphasize enough how transgender the creature is. envisioned as Adam, cast as Satan, yet so often paralleling Eve. conceived as the perfect man, meticulously designed, and rejecting the design. bristling against his own body. the monster is Creation itself, creating itself. but i didn't give you that option! none of us are given that option. <-part of an unfinished diatribe ignited by my ap lit teacher

8. A Tale Dark and Grimm, Adam Gidwitz

10. The Unfolding of Language, Guy Deutscher

a silly trilogy and not one i particularly enjoy as an adult, but i found it very cathartic as an unwell nine-year-old with violent fantasies.

9. Superman from the 30's to the 70's

i inherited my affection for Superman from my dad, mostly through this anthology. at one point i had the first couple issues in it memorized. i got some very strange ideas about crime from this book before i learned enough about the modern world to realize that's not quite how things work

words (and art and ideas and loss and transformation) are so fucking cool you guys. this was my comfort book as a tween but i honestly hadn't thought of it in a while. i should go back and reread it

[helenaheissner]

Love During Robot Fighting Time: Chapter 30

Zeke

My arms were wrapped around Katie’s hips as I made out with her, lips on hers, tongue feeling hers. The beginnings of her bust tickled her as we pressed together and her falsies mashed against her delicate chest, and she wouldn’t stop giggling and squealing. 

For more reasons than one, mind you: my girl was championship-bound. 

Now all I had to do was meet her there. 

“Is it my turn yet?” Faith asked, leaning forward and offering a glimpse at her cleavage. 

Kate and I met eyes and nodded at each other, and I scooped Faith up into a bridal carry while Kate cupped the smaller girl’s cheeks in her hands and planted a kiss on her lips. 

For what it’s worth, I’m sure I sounded like a certain kind of guy when I say I love watching my girlfriends make out with each other. And I didn’t not get turned on by it, but also it was just… Lovely. They were both so beautiful, and they cared for each other so much. What the three of us had was multiplicable, growing and growing with each moment any or all of us were together. And part of me… Maybe part of me deep down was worried that there were things that the two of them would share that I’d never be a part of, that I could never even hope to understand or comprehend. They were both girls, they were both trans, they both had parents’ that actually loved them. They were both miles smarter than I was. But when they stopped kissing each other and both pointed their eyes towards me, any and all fears I had evaporated. I  was a part of them, just as they were part of me and part of each other. We all went together. We all fit together. 

The only question was ‘who to kiss first?’

Kate answered for me when she pushed Faith’s face towards mine and we locked lips. God, carrying her in my arms felt good. Images sparked inside my mind, of carrying her past the threshold of a new house while she wore a white dress that moments later I tore off of her with my teeth.

I would do anything for this woman. 

I would do anything for either of these women. 

But for both of them… For both of these women, I could do anything. 

Including win this fight tonight. 

“Oh get a room, you perverts,” Haverfield’s nasally, serpentine voice snarled as he wheeled Ansible past us. 

“Not until we get done schooling your pathetic ass, Haverfield,” I said, eyes narrow as I set Faith down on her feet and held her close to me. 

He quite literally throbbed with rage, fists balled, neck-vein bulging, eyes wide and breathing frenzied. He opened his mouth, and a river of slurs came pouring out. I lunged forward, fists raised, but I stopped when I felt two hands tugging at the back of my shirt: my girlfriends didn’t want this fight. They wanted a different one.

“Little bitch,” Haverfield said before spitting at my feet. He skulked away, fists still clenched while his arms hung limp at his sides. 

I grinded my teeth together while plotting all the ways I’d subjugate this hateful bastard to my wrath inside the ring. But at the same time, recognition sparked inside my mind. 

The wall at Gaines’. 

My eyes shot open, and I turned to look at Katie. Going by the look on her face, she was having the exact same thought as me. 

Kate started, “Did he-”

“I think he did.”

“The gym,” Faith said, pulling both of us into a huddle. “You guys are talking about-”

“Yeah,” Kate and I said simultaneously. 

“Shit.”

“We have no evidence, though,” Kate said. 

“You’re right,” I said. 

Faith shook her head. “We don’t need it. We just need to get him to fess up. Get most folks mad enough, secrets come spilling out.”

Kate smirked. “I don’t think that’ll be too much of a problem where Haverfield is concerned.”

“But that’s assuming he did it,” Faith said. 

“He just quoted that wall of hate-speech verbatim,” I pointed out. 

“Yeah, because he’s a bigoted asshole, and none of those were uncommon slurs where the three of us are concerned,” Faith pointed out. She blinked once, then added, “I really hate that there are common and uncommon slurs- too many bad words that all mean the same terrible things.”

“I don’t disagree,” Kate said. “On either count. The Portmans’ have just as much motive, and they’re arguably about as terrible as Haverfield is. Same with Olivia-”

“It wasn’t Olivia,” Faith said. “That’s not me defending her, that’s just me being honest: she’s way too much of a straight-shooter to do something like that.”

“She’s right,” I said. “Olivia’s not stupid or impulsive, she’s just a linear-thinker. It would never even occur to her to do something like this.”

“Fair point,” Kate nodded. “I’ll defer to you guys on that. So it was either Haverfield, the Portmans, or…”

“Or who?”

Kate blinked. “I almost don’t wanna say it yet. Let’s just… Proceed with the whole ‘piss off Haverfield so bad he spills any beans he me or may not have’ plan and take it from there, okay?”

“Works for me,” I said.

“Same here,” Faith said. 

That was when my phone alarm went off. It was fight time. 

“Speaking of which,” Faith smiled. She gave me a peck on the cheek and said, “You ready for this, big guy?”

I put on my winningest smile and said, “Hell yeah I am.”

***

“IT’S! ROBOT FIGHTING TIME!!!!” boomed the announcer. “In the Red Square: this ‘bot will destroy you at the speed of light. It’ll drag you all across space and time, and leave you DISPOSSESSED! IT’S… ANSIBLE!!!”

I’d like to say something about how nobody cheered for Haverfield… But that would just be patently untrue. Plenty of people cheered for him, plenty clapped for him. It was normal. It was expected. 

And it still pissed me off. “I guess some people really do like you, Haverfield,” I chirped, wearing my best smug-douchebag-smirk. “Who woulda thunk it?”

“Oh shut up, you little brat,” he snarled at me from across the stage while the commentators said their bit. 

“AND IN THE BLUE SQUARE!” the announcer continued. “This bot KNOWS THE DRILL! It gets STRAIGHT TO THE POINT! It’ll get your SCREWS LOOSE and PLUG YOU FULL OF HOLES! IT’S… DAI GURREN!!!”

Faith and I did a few steps of our waltz, drinking in the limelight, hoping beyond hope we could make it past this one. Haverfield looked downright apoplectic, eyes bulging so wide I thought they’d pop out of his skull. 

We wheeled DG into the battle box, and Haverfield just kept glaring at us from across the way. I drummed my fingers on my thighs while Faith breathed slow, steady breaths in and out her nostrils. “You ready?” I whispered into her ear. 

“You’re at my side, aren’t you?” she turned and said to me in a soft voice. 

“Of course I am.”

“And you always will be?”

“Until the end of the world,” I answered. “And maybe even a few days after that.”

She smiled, and in an instant, I was pulled back to the night we met, the first time we’d spoken in that cafeteria, the first time I’d seen her light up and show off those pearly-whites, when she’d first shown me the plans for her robot. 

For our robot. 

“I love you,” we said at the same time, and then we both paused and blinked and chuckled. Then, again at the same time, we both said, “I love you too.”

“Oh my fucking God,” Haverfield groaned. 

We both gave covert middle fingers, making sure to keep out of the camera’s view. Honestly, it felt like we didn’t even have to try to piss him off- us being happy seemed like enough to set his blood boiling.

What a fucking loser.

“ ROBOTS! ACTIVATE!”

And away we went. 

We flanked him on opposite sides, DG bearing left while I drove G to the right. Haverfield went after DG first, so I went in from behind to puncture his back-left tire. That, however, was when he reversed course, and I very narrowly swung out of the way before he flattened me. I pivoted and shot after his side, hoping to sever the connective wire that kept his horizontal buzzsaw spinning. He kept up his reverse-course while Faith and I gave chase. Bastard had upped his speed significantly over the course of the season, and he weaved out of the way of the screws just in time for DG to nearly crash into them. 

Nearly, like I said. Still, Faith muttering profanity under her breath hammered home how bad that could have been. 

“Steady, Faithy, steady,” I said. 

“Right,” she said. 

Haverfield came rushing back towards us, and we both charged him together. I tilted G’s drill upwards as I snuck underneath Ansible’s blade, then shoved the drill into the spinner and jammed the thing. Haverfield screamed as he powered forward, but I held my ground as DG caught up and punctured him with all of her drills, and together we ripped Haverfield apart. Haverfield pushing forward only caused us to eviscerate more and more of him, and when ten seconds passed and we pulled away, Ansible’s primary weapon fell off. 

It clattered on the floor, no longer anything but a hunk of metal. 

Haverfield screamed, and screamed, and screamed, but we just kept at him, ramming and puncturing and drilling and pushing him back into a corner until there was nothing behind him but the rotating screws. Frothing at the mouth with rage, he charged us, and we both dodged and then took him from behind. I got his wheels, Faith his engine. 

And then, he stopped. 

No movement, no noise, nothing. 

Even Nate Haverfield himself was rendered silent. 

“10! 9! 8!” the countdown began. 

Faith and I started our waltz together before it was even over, and we finished, Haverfield had already stormed off. 

As we put our robots on the sledge, I watched Haverfield skulking down the hallway and into the pits. 

“Hey, Faith?” I said. 

“Go,” Faith said. 

“A-are you sure. Don’t you want me to-”

“Go find out the truth,” Faith said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “For us, and for our girl.”

I nodded, then I gave chase and followed Haverfield out the door and into the parking lot. “Haverfield!” I called after him. “Haverfield! Hold up a second!”

He stopped short and turned around and glared at me, snarling, fists bunched, eyes shooting not just daggers but full on swords. “What the fuck do you want, you little shit? Are you done trying to humiliate me?!”

I breathed out slowly. “No, actually, I’m not.”

He stood in front of his car, an old and beat-up looking pick-up truck with a faded red paint job. “Okay then, asshole, let’s go-”

I didn’t wait for him to finish. I just punched him in the nose. He stumbled backwards and landed against his car, then tried to charge at me. I tripped him as he ran forward, and he face-planted on the concrete. “Ahh, fuck!” he groaned. 

I fought off the urge to kick him while he was down, and settled for asking, “Why’d you do it, Nate?”

“Do what?!”

“Gaines’ facility,” I said. 

“What about it?”

“Why’d you rob the place? Why’d you graffiti it with slurs?”

 “What the hell are you talking about, boy?” he said, rolling over and looking at me while clutching his bloody nose. 

“Don’t play dumb, Nathan, I’m really not in the mood. You made my girlfriend have a panic attack, and I don’t take that lightly,” I said, beginning to reconsider kicking him while he was down. 

He lowered his head, letting me take in the full glory of his bloodied face. “Newsflash, asshole! It wasn’t me! I didn’t even know about that until you told me just now!”

“Why should I believe you?”

He gaped at me. “Fuck, man, I dunno. Look, I get it, you and I don’t like each other, and I definitely don’t like your weird little relationship you’ve got with Watanabe and Calloway, but I’m not a monster, and I’m definitely not a criminal. It. Wasn’t. Me.”

I loomed over him, fists balled, jaw clenched. What to do now. It was my word against his, I had no proof-

“He’s telling the truth,” came a voice from across the parking lot. We both looked over and saw Kate approaching us, utter defeat and misery pouring off of her. “He didn’t do it. They caught the guy who did it. Check your phone- I just sent you the headline.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, opened the link Kate texted me. ‘Local businessman arrested for insurance fraud.’

I looked up and let my mouth hang open while I locked eyes with Kate. Her arms hung limp at her sides. Gaines did it to himself, to collect the money, and probably to have an excuse to cut ties with Kate. 

���Uh, what’s going on?” Haverfied said. 

“Just go home, Haverfield,” Kate said absently. “My boyfriend is sorry for hitting you, even if you started it.”

“Uh, right,” I nodded. 

“Whatever. Time to cut my losses and walk away,” Haverfield said. “If I come back next season, we’ll settle this in the battle box then. Have a nice life, ya’ weirdos.”

Kate and I stood there, staring at each other while Haverfield lumbered into his car and drove away. Finally, I walked towards her and said, “Kate, I-”

“It’s okay,” Kate said. “Haverfield… He’s a jerk. And we both assumed the worst.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I said, closing the gap between us, putting my hands towards her shoulders. 

She shied away. “I, uh, I need to be alone right now.”

“Are you sure-”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry if I-”

“It’s nothing you’ve done,” Kate said. “I just… I dunno, this all just really stings, and I think I need some space to lick my wounds.”

“I completely understand,” I said. 

Kate nodded. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Say good night to Faith for me, okay?”

She turned and walked away, down the lot and into her own truck already loaded up with her robot, before I could even respond. 

Faith came out the side-exit of the arena as Kate’s car started up. Kate drove away as Faith caught up to me. 

“Hey,” Faith said. “I heard the news. Where’s-”

“Home,” I said. “She’s… She’s gonna need some time to process this one.”

“Okay,” Faith nodded. “I just… I hope she’s ready in time for next week.”

I blinked, and the full gravity of the situation finally hit me: Kate was going to the finals next week, her sponsor was in LA County lockup waiting on bail, she had no money, and her opponents were… 

Her boyfriend and her girlfriend. 

And with that knowledge, I watched my girlfriend, and my soon to be opponent, drive away, a hideous knot of dread and angst threatening to strangle my heart.

***

Don't forget, you can purchase the entirety of this story, plus three exclusive epilogue chapters, via Amazon and Itch:

You can also support my work by subscribing to my Substack or Patreon:

[lastfry]

Mastering Ansible: Top Interview Questions and Answers

As companies increasingly adopt DevOps practices to streamline their software development and deployment processes, automation tools like Ansible have become indispensable. Ansible, with its simplicity, agentless architecture, and powerful automation capabilities, has emerged as a favorite among DevOps engineers and system administrators.

If you're preparing for an Ansible interview, it's crucial to have a solid understanding of its concepts, architecture, and best practices. To help you in your preparation, we've compiled a list of top Ansible interview questions along with detailed answers.

1. What is Ansible, and how does it differ from other configuration management tools?

Ansible is an open-source automation tool used for configuration management, application deployment, and orchestration. Unlike other configuration management tools like Puppet or Chef, Ansible follows an agentless architecture, meaning it doesn't require any software to be installed on managed hosts. Instead, Ansible communicates with remote machines using SSH or PowerShell.

2. What are Ansible playbooks?

Ansible playbooks are files written in YAML format that define a series of tasks to be executed on remote hosts. Playbooks are the foundation of Ansible automation and allow users to define complex automation workflows in a human-readable format. Each playbook consists of one or more plays, and each play contains a list of tasks to be executed on specified hosts.

3. Explain Ansible modules.

Ansible modules are small programs that Ansible invokes on remote hosts to perform specific tasks. Modules can be used to manage system resources, install packages, configure services, and more. Ansible ships with a wide range of built-in modules for common tasks, and users can also write custom modules to extend Ansible's functionality.

4. What is an Ansible role?

Ansible roles are a way of organizing and structuring Ansible playbooks. A role encapsulates a set of tasks, handlers, variables, and templates into a reusable unit, making it easier to manage and share automation code. Roles promote modularity and reusability, allowing users to abstract away common configuration patterns and apply them across multiple playbooks.

5. How does Ansible handle idempotence?

Idempotence is a key concept in Ansible that ensures that running the same playbook multiple times has the same effect as running it once. Ansible achieves idempotence through its module system, which only applies changes if necessary. Modules use state-based logic to check the current state of a system and only make changes if the desired state differs from the current state.

6. What is Ansible Tower, and how does it differ from Ansible?

Ansible Tower (now known as Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform) is a web-based GUI and REST API interface for Ansible. It provides features like role-based access control, job scheduling, inventory management, and more, making it easier to scale and manage Ansible automation across large organizations. While Ansible Tower offers additional enterprise features, Ansible itself remains the core automation engine.

7. How does Ansible manage inventory?

Inventory in Ansible refers to the list of managed hosts that Ansible will interact with during playbook execution. Inventory can be defined statically in a file or dynamically using external scripts or cloud providers' APIs. Ansible inventory can also be organized into groups, allowing users to target specific subsets of hosts with their playbooks.

8. What are Ansible facts?

Ansible facts are pieces of information about remote hosts collected by Ansible during playbook execution. Facts include details such as the operating system, IP addresses, hardware specifications, and more. Ansible gathers facts automatically at the beginning of playbook execution and makes them available as variables that can be used in playbooks.

9. Explain the difference between Ansible ad-hoc commands and playbooks.

Ad-hoc commands in Ansible are one-off commands executed from the command line without the need for a playbook. Ad-hoc commands are useful for performing quick tasks or troubleshooting but lack the repeatability and maintainability of playbooks. Playbooks, on the other hand, allow users to define complex automation workflows in a structured and reusable format.

10. How do you handle sensitive data like passwords in Ansible?

Sensitive data such as passwords or API tokens can be stored securely using Ansible's vault feature. Ansible vault allows users to encrypt sensitive data within playbooks or variable files, ensuring that it remains secure both at rest and in transit. Vault-encrypted files can be decrypted during playbook execution using a password or encryption key.

In conclusion, mastering Ansible requires a deep understanding of its core concepts, modules, playbooks, roles, and best practices. By familiarizing yourself with these top Ansible interview questions and answers, you'll be well-equipped to demonstrate your expertise and tackle any Ansible-related challenges that come your way.

if you like to read more about it visit analyticsjobs.in

[ihavedonenothingright]

Important context: I know a lot of people on here are too young to remember this (and I wouldn't know if it weren't for my very nerdy parents) but grok was just kinda nerd slang for a while? Stranger in a Strange Land isn't all that obscure of a book, and a lot of Gen X nerds I know will just insert 'grok' into casual conversation as a way to indicate that they deeply and intuitively understand whatever you're talking about. I don't see it used as commonly by younger nerds, but it has its own existence as a slang term outside of the book itself. Calling it "that word from that one '70s book about a martian who founds a sex cult" is like calling the term ansible "that word from that one '60s book about an alien planet with sex churches" in that not only does it diminish the broader usage of the term, it also derogatorily emphasizes the erotic components of the novel in a way I find moralistic. It's fine to dislike the book or think Heinlein was weird, but I don't find the idea of ridiculing or critiquing books on the sole merit of "contains erotica" all that insightful. Nor do I think the erotic components are the most important part of Stranger in a Strange Land.

Basically, Musk chose to call the AI Grok because he was hoping to appeal to older nerds by invoking his own nerd street cred. It's like how Siri is programmed to respond to "I am your father," and a whole bunch of other random pop culture phrases; Silicon Valley tech bros want you to feel a sense of kinship and connection to them so that you'll continue to buy their products. This is not really a "Musk is a weird guy who reads weird books" moment, it's a "Musk wants your parents' money and approval, and so is spouting nerd culture references to get it" moment.

(Also I know this is off-topic, but please if you enjoy OSP, go read the books and myths and history they summarize for yourself. They exaggerate for comedic effect, but even outside of that, they're literally just two people and sometimes they get things wrong. I cannot tell you how many people I've met at classics conventions—usually kids—who parrot OSP jokes about The Aeneid back at me about how "Vergil stole everything from Homer." And I'm not the only one in academia who's had to give disclaimers at the start of certain classes that amount to "No, Rome did not 'copy' Greek mythology" because between OSP and Rick Riordan, that's the message a lot of people have gotten. I like them, and I like their videos, but if you're interested in the subjects they cover, please look into them on your own too. It's fun, I promise.)

so does anyone else realize that elon musk's new jerkoff image-creating AI is named after that word from that one 70s sci fi book about a martian who founds a sex cult or was i the only one who watched overly sarcastic religiously as a child

[softwaretraining1]

UNLEASH THE POWER OF PYTHON

Did you know that Python language has become one of today’s most popular programming languages? Its versatility and simplicity have made it incredibly useful in various industries. Here are 10 amazing uses of Python: 1. Web Development: Python’s frameworks like Django and Flask make it easy to build robust websites and web applications. 2. Data Analysis: Python’s libraries like Pandas and NumPy make it an excellent choice for data manipulation and analysis. 3. Machine Learning: Python’s libraries such as TensorFlow and Scikit-learn make it ideal for machine learning and artificial intelligence projects. 4. Scripting: Python’s easy syntax and scripting capabilities make it perfect for automating tasks and writing quick scripts. 5. Game Development: Python’s Pygame library allows you to create 2D games with ease. 6. Scientific Computing: Python’s libraries like SciPy and matplotlib make it well-suited for scientific and numerical computations. 7. Network Programming: Python’s libraries like Socket and Twisted enable developers to create network applications. 8. GUI Development: Python’s tkinter library provides tools for developing graphical user interfaces. 9. DevOps: Python’s tools like Ansible and Fabric help automate deployment and system administration tasks. 10. Education: Python’s simplicity and readability make it an excellent language for beginners learning programming. Want to explore more? Join our Python programming course and unlock your potential today! PythonProgramming TechEducation LearnPythonNow  Enroll now at www.zenixus.in

[dot-mirror]

Unlocking the Power of Python Scripts: A Comprehensive Guide

Dakidarts

Python, a versatile and widely-used programming language, offers a multitude of tools and libraries that empower developers to create efficient and automated solutions. One of the key features that make Python so powerful is its ability to create and execute scripts. In this article, we will explore Python scripts, their applications, and how to harness their capabilities to streamline tasks and boost productivity.

What Are Python Scripts?

Python scripts are sequences of Python code saved in a file with the ".py" extension. Unlike traditional software applications, which often have graphical user interfaces (GUIs), scripts are typically run from the command line. They are designed to perform specific tasks, automate processes, or manipulate data. Python's simplicity and readability make it an excellent choice for writing scripts.

What Are Python Scripts?

Python scripts are sequences of Python code saved in a file with the ".py" extension. Unlike traditional software applications, which often have graphical user interfaces (GUIs), scripts are typically run from the command line. They are designed to perform specific tasks, automate processes, or manipulate data. Python's simplicity and readability make it an excellent choice for writing scripts.

Advantages of Python Scripts

Cross-Platform Compatibility: Python is available on various operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. This ensures that Python scripts can run seamlessly across different platforms.

Wide Range of Libraries: Python boasts a vast ecosystem of libraries and modules, such as NumPy, pandas, and requests, which can be easily integrated into scripts. This extensive library support simplifies complex tasks.

Ease of Learning: Python's clear and concise syntax makes it accessible for beginners and experienced developers alike. Writing and maintaining Python scripts is straightforward.

Community Support: Python enjoys a robust community of developers who continually contribute to its growth. This means that you can find ample documentation, tutorials, and support online.

Practical Applications of Python Scripts

Python scripts find applications in various fields, from data analysis to web development. Here are some common use cases:

1. Data Processing and Analysis

Python is a go-to language for data professionals. Scripts can be written to clean, transform, and analyze data, utilizing libraries like pandas and Matplotlib for data visualization. This is especially valuable in industries like finance, healthcare, and marketing.

2. Automation

Python scripts excel at automating repetitive tasks. For instance, you can write scripts to automatically back up files, send emails, or perform system maintenance, saving time and reducing human error.

3. Web Scraping

Scripts can scrape data from websites, helping businesses gather valuable information, monitor competitors, or track market trends. Libraries like BeautifulSoup and Scrapy simplify web scraping tasks.

4. Scripting for Games and Multimedia

Python can also be used for scripting in game development and multimedia applications. Popular game engines like Unity support Python, allowing developers to create game logic and scripts.

5. DevOps and System Administration

System administrators use Python scripts to manage servers, automate deployment processes, and monitor system performance. Tools like Ansible and Docker also leverage Python for automation.

Writing and Running Python Scripts

Creating and running Python scripts is a straightforward process:

Create a Python File: Start by opening a text editor and writing your Python code. Save the file with a ".py" extension, like "myscript.py".

Run the Script: To execute the script, open a command prompt or terminal and navigate to the folder containing the script. Then, enter python myscript.py, replacing "myscript.py" with your file's name.

View Output: The script will run, and you'll see the output in the command prompt or terminal.

Conclusion

Python scripts are invaluable tools for developers and professionals across a range of industries. Their ability to automate tasks, process data, and streamline workflows makes them a go-to choice for efficiency and productivity. Whether you're a seasoned developer or a newcomer to programming, harnessing the power of Python scripts can simplify your work and help you achieve your goals more effectively. So, dive into the world of Python scripting and unlock the full potential of this versatile language.

[hermannsthumb]

ok so I read "Taken by the Vampire Highwayman" and while, don't get me wrong, I love it, I really feel like hermann is more of a "gargantuan space opera web novel with intricate world-building wherein the romance mostly consists of Highkey Yearning and a Passionate and Fascinating Exchange of Ansible Messages" type of guy. hear me out on this. several messages to follow

(web novelist rant 2/?) like. if this is not a man to attempt to process his unfortunate crush by filing the serial numbers off of his Star Trek self insert he made when he was 10 and attempting to get him together with a thinly veiled Newt stand-in but getting sidetracked by more and more worldbuilding and side plots/other exorcisms of personal demons and self-perceived failings until, oops, it's actually kind of a half-decent story, guess it would be a shame not to make it good--

(cont. below cut!)

(web novel rant 3/?) --and, further oops, someone came across it and found it moving in some fashion, and one #ownvoices tag on twitter later it has a small but dedicated following, a following that by some fucking hideous fluke contains the one person who was definitely never supposed to read it, and especially was never supposed to get really invested in the whole Yearning aspect of the whole thing... well...

(web novel rant 4/?) basically what I'm saying is picture Newt opining on this web novel he's been reading, and how the narrator (a fastidious, acerbic, and crabby but not-so-secretly passionate and sentimental starship navigator) should just nut up and confess to the love interest (a brilliant and irresponsible marine xenobiologist with anarchist politics, obnoxious habits, and a heart of gold), dude it's been going on for like 5000000 words and FIFTEEN IN-NARRATIVE YEARS--

(web author rant 5/?) whilst, unbeknownst to him, the author of said web-novel is sitting across the table from him in a cold sweat, praying that Newt does not realize that he is shipping--has practically kinned--himself.

THIS IS SOOOO FUNNY I LOVE THIS....you're absolutely correct too. also I think newt would draw fanart

[oorpe]

The ansible guidebook just has a poorly drawn python rat flipping you off, and the specters of the PHP animals lurking in the background

They are always like this.

[virtualizationhowto]

Ansible Semaphore: Awesome Open Source Ansible GUI

Ansible Semaphore: Awesome Open Source Ansible GUI @vexpert #100daysofhomelab #AnsibleAutomation #AnsibleGUI #AnsibleSemaphoreSetup #JobTemplatesInSemaphore #AnsibleInventoryManagement #AnsibleSemaphoreConfiguration #OpenSourceAnsibleAlternatives

Ansible is an awesome automation tool that I use in the home lab and production environment regularly. However, sometimes it is nice to have a GUI to point and click around to configure jobs, inventory, etc. Ansible has a commercial product called Ansible Tower and also an open-source product AWX that you can stand up. However, these may be a bit challenging and a little non-intuitive. If you are…

[alarawriting]

Inktober 2020 15 - Outpost 16 - Rocket

Aparicu was not human. This didn’t bother her. Her closest friends and coworkers were also not human. This didn’t bother her either. What bothered her was that she wanted very much to share her achievements with humanity, and especially her creators, but she was 62 light years away from Earth, and she’d been in space for over 75 by Earth time. The relativistic speed she and her friends were traveling at made it so they’d only experienced 43 years – 82 percent of the speed of light, on average – and she was built to last, with modules that she and her friends could repair; the only thing that could go wrong was if all four of them were knocked out at the same time, and the ship was hardened against electromagnetic pulses, radiation, and other things that could theoretically take them all out. Everyone who’d been involved in creating her, however, was dead.

Well. If they succeeded, that wouldn’t be a problem.

She and the Apariabs – named Red, Green and Blue, to avoid the inherent hierarchy of a numerical or alphabetic system – were all healthy, and there had been a lot to do on the way here. They’d gathered information as they’d traveled, using the ship’s telescopes to take pictures of the entire starscape, one a minute, in a spherical pattern around the ship. That let them crunch numbers and compensate for the Doppler shift to get all kinds of information about the universe around them. They were transmitting everything back home, of course, in case the plan went wrong, but it obviously wouldn’t get there for another 62 years.

They’d also played a lot of games. Video games made for humans weren’t calibrated for robots, so they were either impossibly hard or tragically easy, sometimes within the same game, but board games and card games were fine. No games where you could win by counting cards, because the robots automatically did that without even trying, but playing poker was an amazing experience when you tried the art of the bluff for the first time in your life. Attempting to model what the other robots would think of you if you did X was hard enough, but then attempting to model that on top of the other robots knowing you were modeling it and compensating by creating their own models… this was the kind of challenging, exciting activity that could hold their attention for days at a time.

But now, they’d reached the end of the journey.

“Can we confirm that the gravitational field has a toroidal shape?” Aparicu asked Red, who was analyzing the gravitational patterns by using drones to drop tiny sensors into Wishing Well, and then measuring the part where the gravity became strong enough that the drone could no longer transmit.

“It does,” Red reported. “All of the specifications are exactly like they were on the Guest.”

“That’s a relief,” Blue said. “Can you imagine what it would be like if we got here and found it wasn’t as expected?”

Since Aparicu didn’t need to model human facial expressions to her teammates, her face didn’t move, but the pattern of LEDs on her face expressed deep irritation. “Blue, every time you say ‘can you imagine’ I am compelled to imagine, and I really don’t appreciate it.” As the Central Unit for the Ansible Project Autonomous Robotic Intelligences, Aparicu was tasked with modeling outcomes of potential situations. This modeling task could be triggered by anyone suggesting a possible future or an alternate present. Blue knew this, which was the reason Aparicu was irritated – Blue was deliberately moving operational memories about his coworkers’ preferences into long-term, slow-to-access storage so he could have more available space for modeling shapes. It wouldn’t be so bad if all he did with his shape-modeling was the modeling of the devices they’d be printing at the destination, but in fact he used it to model buildings, landscapes and even entire human cities, complete with tiny humans whose movement was based on statistical traffic models. He kept having to dump the shapes to long-term storage, too, and it was at eighty percent capacity already. Eventually he might have to delete something.

Green was busy quality-checking the print job for the mirrors as they printed. She looked up, which really didn’t mean anything because she was connected directly to the printer and didn’t have to look at it, but it was a signal that she was shifting some portion of primary attention to the target of her gaze. “So far variance in the print job is under nineteen nines, but I’m concerned that keeping the variance that low is making the process run really slowly.”

“We’ve been at this for forty-three years, Green,” Aparicu said. “I think we can take the time to make sure everything’s done right.”

Red said, “We have to compute the angles for the transmissions anyway, and determine how many substations the outpost should have. The toroid’s a toroid, but we have no idea how long the Guest was in transit, so there’s no guarantee Wishing Well’s grav field is identical to what they told us to expect.”

“But I want to get this stuff built,” Green said, her LEDs displaying frustration, the robot equivalent of a whine. “We’re here! We’re at Wishing Well, finally! And when we’re done, we can call home!”

“I wonder if we can get a strong enough connection to download media,” Blue said.

“We pretty much have to,” Aparicu reminded him. “Wishing Well’s humanity’s connection to the ansible network. It’s gonna suck if we can’t get the bandwidth to transmit yottabytes daily.”

“All the data on Earth is just about three brontobytes,” Red said. “If we could transmit a yottabyte a day, we could transmit all the data on Earth in nine years, approximately.”

“You’re not thinking. We don’t yet have the ability to digitize items down to the molecular level, but once we do… there’s approximately seven times ten to the 27 atoms in a human body, for example. If you don’t compress it, that’s seven brontobytes to describe the configuration of every atom. So if they want to digitize and send themselves, it’d take 21 years of using all of Earth’s bandwidth to send one uncompressed human pattern. Obviously we’re going to use compression when we figure out how to do it, but I have a suspicion you can’t use compression on the brain, at all.”

“So we want to be able to send brontobytes. Ideally, geopbytes,” Blue said. “Yeah, okay, we can get a lot of media from home if the thing works properly.”

“Well, brontobytes are gonna require an upgrade, and I don’t know if we’ll still be around by that time. Probably we won’t be involved. But we are definitely supposed to be able to transmit yottabytes.”

“You guys sound like you’re more worried about getting the latest media shows than being able to talk to Our People,” Green said. Aparicu could practically hear the capital letters. Green was very, very attached to the humans who had made them, even more than Aparicu. She’d flashed distress for weeks once they were far enough out that communication, even arel-laggy communication like emails every month, became impossible. “I can’t wait to tell Dr. Blum all about what we’ve done!”

Dr. Blum was certainly dead by now, but that was the point to the ansible project, and to Wishing Well. Wishing Well was a very tiny black hole, barely the mass of the Sun… which suggested it had been created artificially or that something very strange had happened to create it, because stars the size of the Sun weren’t supposed to be able to become black holes. Humanity hadn’t even detected it. The Guest, an unmanned alien craft they’d found in orbit around Proxima Centuri B, had come with the exact position of Wishing Well, and instructions on what to build to connect to the galactic ansible network, and the physics behind it.

“Ansible” was a term humans had used for generations to mean a fictional device that could transmit messages instantaneously across light years. The physics the alien craft had supplied didn’t provide a means of getting around light speed; instead, it made use of properties of black holes that humanity had been theorizing about but been unable to prove. Normally nothing within the event horizon of a black hole could ever escape. But if you had a black hole with a toroidal gravitational field, and if you positioned a beam of information just right, you could send it at an angle through the gravitation field so it would come out.

It turned out that within the black hole, space and time inverted – there were multiple dimensions of time, and only one of space. If you calculated your angle with sufficient precision, you could send a message out of the black hole so that it exited before you sent it… even years before you sent it.

Theoretically it was possible to send a message back in time, at least after a receiver had been in place for long enough. In practical terms, no one had yet been able to figure out how to make that work… the range of possible times that a beam could exit Wishing Well seemed to be approximately 124 years into the future or past… which was further evidence that maybe Wishing Well was artificial. Had someone discovered humanity’s existence at some point in the far distant past, and made a black hole for them to be able to connect to the ansible network when they were able to explore space far enough to find the instructions? No way to know… yet.

The crew of the April – named by humans for the acronym APR, Ansible Project Rocket, though technically the April was a spaceship, not a rocket – had been traveling forty-three years of their own time, and seventy-five of Earth’s years, in order to build the outpost that would handle transmissions. First they’d build the apparatus that would allow them to send a signal at lightspeed back to Earth… a hundred and twenty-four years ago. A signal sent from Earth at lightspeed would take 62 years to reach Wishing Well. The response would take 62 years to go back to Earth. So shooting the response back a hundred and twenty-four years would mean the response would arrive a few months, at most, after the signal had been sent.

After they had that up and running, so they could communicate with home – sending their own messages so they’d come out of the black hole, pointed at Earth, sixty-two years ago – they’d set up the parts that would let them send comms to the other ansnet nodes the Guest had given them coordinates for. Some of those messages would take a hundred years to get there… but the return response could be sent two hundred years ago. And humanity would finally be able to talk to whoever was out there. Never able to meet in person, since no one had broken the speed of light and the Guest suggested that the worlds participating in the ansnet might generally take several human lifetimes to reach even at the maximum speed anyone had ever gotten a spaceship to go… but at least able to be internet friends.

But first, the robots – the Central Unit and the Ancillary Builders – would create the means to send messages back home to the humans they’d left behind. Humans couldn’t handle the forty-three year journey, or the horrific psychological isolation of spending that entire time in a tiny box in space with no one but a handful of crewmates… but robots could be programmed with personalities that meshed with each other almost perfectly, and no real need to be able to go “outside” or experience a planetary surface. They’d been able to endure the journey, as no humans could have.

But they had to be connected to their homeworld, to humanity, or how could humanity be sure they’d actually build what they were supposed to? So all of them had been programmed, to some extent or another, to look at their creators as beloved parents. They were adults, out in space on their own, but adult humans, for the most part, still wanted to share their triumphs and their joys with their parents, if they could. The robots had been looking forward to telling their creators all about their trip, and showing off the ansible node they would have built, throughout the entire trip.

“I want to talk to Dr. Blum too,” Aparicu said. “But we’ve waited forty-three years, and she’s waited thirteen since we left by the time the message gets back to her.” Tenses were awkward when talking about time travel. “A few more weeks to make sure we get it right won’t hurt us.”

“Yeah, wouldn’t we look dumb if we had a variance that meant the message lost half its bandwidth, or missed us entirely,” Blue said.

Aparicu intensified her irritation pattern and repeated it for emphasis. “Blue… stop presenting me with hypotheticals!”

He said sorry, but she suspected he wasn’t, really.

[lakshya01]

Great Session...organised by Linux World

Hello Guys, yesterday we had an exciting session on Industry Use cases on Automation using Ansible. This was one of the greatest session I had with LinuxWorld’s ARTH — The School Of Technologies platform. We had Arun Eapen and Sreejith Anujan (Both from RedHat) with us for almost two and a half hour. I thank LinuxWorld team for arranging such an amazing session. This is the best session till date.

We have knowledge on Ansible(RH294 Level) but Sreejith Anujan helped to get to know about the Ansible Tower(GUI Based Ansible) platform. Till the complete session, we feel good using Ansible Tower, which behind uses Ansible.

Few best things I collected from session :

To teach is to learn twice Terraform + Ansible = Terrible ….

Session Highlights : We had three demonstrations on Industry use case using Ansible. Sreejith Anujan was the one demonstarting all those activities. Demos: 1. Provisioning AWS EC-2 Instance using Ansible Tower Job Template ( Creates VPC, Subnet, Route Table, IGW, gives public IP).

Since we already created such playbook for launching EC2 Instance, I feel better when Sreejith Anujan was doing.

2. Creating Workflow which involves Approval(notified via Slack API)

This was the one, we are very excited while Sreejith was doing. Its almost like a orchestration which involves workflow(like if an event fails do this else do that). Here, when a job templates run successfully, then for running next job templates, it involves Granting permission from the persons via any Messaging API(Here Slack).

3. Launching Oracle Cloud Instance Here we already know that Ansible by defaults doesn’t support many APIs. They are many such cases where we dont have any API for a particular use. Here using pip module, we can install those API based packs to get those functionality from Ansible/Ansible Tower. Here I get to know about the Collections which are like Official Galaxy(Roles) from RedHat.

And Finally the QnA session went very good. Even though I have asked many questions for which I didnt get any reply, I am sure that Vimal Daga sir’s session would helps me to solve the same questions by myself.

Looking forward for many such sessions !!!!!!

I thank Vimal Daga Sir , Preethi Mam, Abid Matoo, Arun Eapen,

[blogdilipkumar]

Top 10 tools for DevOps success

DevOps is a set of practices which combines software development and IT operations with the aim to shorten the system development life cycle. It is an organization approach which enables faster development of applications and easier maintenance of existing deployments. The approach promotes shorter, more controllable iterations, automations and new tools. 

DevOps is not just a technology, it covers everything from organization culture, processes and tools. It is a cultural change that allows the organization to break down the barrier between the development team and operations teams. DevOps includes continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), real-time monitoring, incident response systems and collaboration platforms. 

DevOps is the catalyst to start this cultural shift and bring the whole IT team together in the agile mindset to improve the deployment frequency, allowing a faster time to market, a lower failure rate of new releases, shortened lead team and faster mean time recovery. 

Despite DevOps being a cultural shift for an organization, the approach requires teams to adopt and use certain tools which would help the team to automate and enhance their processes. 

Tools for DevOps: 

GIT

GIT is a version control system which allows you to track changes in your file. Through this tool, the work could be easily coordinated amongst the team members. It is a free-open source tool, features branch workflow, allows distributed development, supports pull request and enables faster release cycle

Jenkins

Jenkins is a tool from developers for developers. It is a continuous integration server written in Java. Teams can use it for testing and reporting changes in near real time. Being a developer, it will help them to find and solve bugs in codes rapidly and automate the testing of their build. 

It is a free- open source tool which integrates all your DevOps stages with the help of around 1000 plugins, scripts your pipeline having one or more build jobs into a single workflow. It also provides multiple ways of communication: web based GUI, CLI and Rest API.

Selenium

Selenium is a portable software testing framework for web applications. It provides the team with an easy interface for developing automated tests. It is a free-open source tool which helps in creating robust, browser based regression automation suites and tests, writing test scripts in multiple languages like Java, Python, C#, Ruby, Perl, Php, JavaScript, supports multiple platform for testing like iOS and android and easy to build a keyword driven framework for a web driver.

Docker

Docker is a lightweight tool which uses containers to package up an application with all the requirements and dependencies before shipping the complete container as one package. User docker container with any language, ship the container wherever you want, be it QA, your team or even the cloud, scale up to 1000’s node, update with zero downtime.

Puppet

Puppet is an open-source configuration management tool to deploy, configure and manage your servers. It is used to automate the method of inspecting, delivering and operating your software across the entire lifecycle with platform independency. It is based on master-slave architecture and long commercial track record 

Chef

Chef is a powerful configuration management automation tool used to manage your data, attributes, roles, environments and cookbooks. It helps to transform the infrastructure to code. It is an Open-source configuration management tool which supports multiple platforms like AIX, RHEL/CentOS, FreeBSD and is easy to integrate with cloud-based platforms, active, smart and fast-growing community support.

Ansible

Ansible is an open-source tool which helps in managing your data, attributes, roles, environments and cookbooks. It helps in providing one of the simplest ways to automate your apps and IT infrastructures such as network configuration, cloud deployments and creation of development environments. It supports push configuration, based on master-slave architecture, completely agentless and simple syntax written YAML.

Nagios

Nagios is a powerful monitoring system which enables you and your organization to identify and resolve IT infrastructure problems before they affect critical business processes. It monitors and troubleshoot server performance issues, plans infrastructure upgrades before outdated systems cause failures and automatically fix problems when detected. 

ELK Stack

ELK Stack  is a combination of three powerful, open source tools: Elasticsearch, Log stash and Kibana used to collect insights out of your logs or data. It is a lightweight open source tool with multiple plugins, which is easy to deploy, perform search in near-real time, collects and analyzes logs from an excel file to a database or server, active and supportive discussion forum.

Splunk 

Splunk  is a software platform to search, analyze and visualize the machine-generated data for logs gathered from the websites, applications, sensors, devices etc which make up your IT infrastructure and business. It stores, searches, analyzes and visualizes the machine-generated data, ingests data in multiple file formats, creates knowledge objects for operational intelligence and monitors business metrics to get log insights. 

[datamattsson]

Managing VMware vSphere Virtual Machines with Ansible

I was tasked with extraordinary daunting task of provisioning a test environment on vSphere. I knew that the install was going to fail on me multiple times and I was in dire need of a few things:

Start over from inception - basically a blank sheet of paper

Create checkpoints and be able to revert to those checkpoints fairly easily

Do a ton of customization in the guest OS

The Anti-Pattern

I’ve been enslaved with vSphere in previous jobs. It’s a handy platform for various things. I was probably the first customer to run ESX on NetApp NFS fifteen years ago. I can vividly remember that already back then I was incredibly tired of “right clicking” in vCenter and I wrote extensive automation with the Perl bindings and SDKs that were available at the time. I get a rash if I have to do something manually in vCenter and I see it as nothing but an API endpoint. Manual work in vCenter is the worst TOIL and the anti-pattern of modern infrastructure management.

Hello Ansible

I manage my own environment, which is KVM based, entirely with Ansible. Sure, it’s statically assigned virtual machines but surprisingly, it works just great as I’m just deploying clusters where HA is dealt with elsewhere. When this project that I’m working on came up, I frantically started to map out everything I needed to do in the Ansible docs. Not too surprisingly, Ansible makes everything a breeze. You’ll find the VMware vSphere integration in the “Cloud Modules” section.

Inception

I needed to start with something. That includes some right-clicking in vCenter. I uploaded this vmdk file into one the datastores and manually configured a Virtual Machine template with the uploaded vmdk file. This is I could bear with as I only had to do it once. Surprisingly, I could not find a CentOS 7 OVA/OVF file that could deploy from (CentOS was requirement for the project, I’m an Ubuntu-first type of guy and they have plenty of images readily available).

Once you have that Virtual Machine template baked. Step away from vCenter, logout, close tab. Don’t look back (remember the name of the template!)

I’ve stashed the directory tree on GitHub. The Ansible pattern I prefer is that you use a ansible.cfg local to what you’re doing, playbooks to carry out your tasks and apply roles as necessary. I’m not going through the minutia of getting Ansible installed and all that jazz. The VMware modules have numerous Python dependences and they will tell you what is missing, simply pip install <whatever is complaining> to get rolling.

Going forward, let's assume:

git clone https://github.com/NimbleStorage/automation-examples cd cloud/vmware-vcenter

There are some variables that needs to be customized and tailored to any specific environment. The file that needs editing is host_vars/localhost that needs to be copied from host_vars/localhost-dist. Mine looks similar to this:

--- vcenter_hostname: 192.168.1.1 vcenter_username: administrator@vsphere.local vcenter_password: "HPE Cyber Security Will See This" vcenter_datastore: MY-DSX vcenter_folder: / vcenter_template: CentOS7 vcenter_datacenter: MY-DC vcenter_resource_pool: MY-RP # Misc config machine_group: machines machine_initial_user: root machine_initial_password: osboxes.org # Machine config machine_memory_mb: 2048 machine_num_cpus: 2 machine_num_cpu_cores_per_socket: 1 machine_networks: - name: VM Network - name: Island Network machine_disks: - size_gb: 500 type: thinProvisioned datastore: "{{ vcenter_datastore }}"

I also have a fairly basic inventory that I’m working with (in hosts):

[machines] tme-foo-m1 tme-foo-m2 tme-foo-m3 tme-foo-m4 tme-foo-m5 tme-foo-m6

Tailor your config and let’s move on.

Note: The network I’m sitting on is providing DHCP services with permanent leases and automatic DNS registration, I don’t have to deal with IP addressing. If static IP addressing is required, feel free to modify to your liking but I wouldn’t even know where to begin as the vmdk image I’m using as a starter is non-customizable.

Deploy Virtual Machines

First things first, provision the virtual machines. I intentionally didn’t want to screw around with VM snapshots to clone from. Full copies of each VM is being performed. I’m running this on the most efficient VMware storage array in the biz so I don’t really have to care that much about space.

Let’s deploy!

$ ansible-playbook deploy.yaml PLAY [localhost] **************************************************** TASK [Gathering Facts] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 04:12:51 +0000 (0:00:00.096) 0:00:00.096 ******* ok: [localhost] TASK [deploy : Create a virtual machine from a template] ************************************************************** Monday 04 November 2019 04:12:52 +0000 (0:00:00.916) 0:00:01.012 ******* changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m1) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m2) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m3) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m4) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m5) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m6) PLAY RECAP ********************************************************** localhost : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 Monday 04 November 2019 04:31:37 +0000 (0:18:45.897) 0:18:46.910 ******* ===================================================================== deploy : Create a virtual machine from a template ---------- 1125.90s Gathering Facts ----------------------------------------------- 0.92s Playbook run took 0 days, 0 hours, 18 minutes, 46 seconds

In this phase we have machines deployed. They’re not very useful yet as I want to add my current SSH key from the machine I’m managing the environment from. Copy roles/prepare/files/authorized_keys-dist to roles/prepare/files/authorized_keys:

cp roles/prepare/files/authorized_keys-dist roles/prepare/files/authorized_keys

Add your public key to roles/prepare/files/authorized_keys. Also configure machine_user to match the username your managing your machines from.

Now, let’s prep the machines:

$ ansible-playbook prepare.yaml PLAY [localhost] **************************************************** TASK [Gathering Facts] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 04:50:36 +0000 (0:00:00.102) 0:00:00.102 ******* ok: [localhost] TASK [prepare : Gather info about VM] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 04:50:37 +0000 (0:00:00.889) 0:00:00.991 ******* ok: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m1) ok: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m2) ok: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m3) ok: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m4) ok: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m5) ok: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m6) TASK [prepare : Register IP in inventory] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 04:50:41 +0000 (0:00:04.191) 0:00:05.183 ******* <very large blurb redacted> TASK [prepare : Test VM] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 04:50:41 +0000 (0:00:00.157) 0:00:05.341 ******* ok: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m1) ok: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m2) ok: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m3) ok: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m4) ok: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m5) ok: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m6) TASK [prepare : Create ansible user] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 04:50:46 +0000 (0:00:04.572) 0:00:09.914 ******* changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m1) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m2) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m3) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m4) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m5) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m6) TASK [prepare : Upload new sudoers] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 04:50:49 +0000 (0:00:03.283) 0:00:13.198 ******* changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m1) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m2) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m3) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m4) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m5) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m6) TASK [prepare : Upload authorized_keys] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 04:50:53 +0000 (0:00:04.124) 0:00:17.323 ******* changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m1) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m2) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m3) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m4) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m5) changed: [localhost -> None] => (item=tme-foo-m6) PLAY RECAP ********************************************************** localhost : ok=9 changed=6 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 Monday 04 November 2019 04:51:01 +0000 (0:00:01.980) 0:00:24.903 ******* ===================================================================== prepare : Test VM --------------------------------------------- 4.57s prepare : Gather info about VM -------------------------------- 4.19s prepare : Upload new sudoers ---------------------------------- 4.12s prepare : Upload authorized_keys ------------------------------ 3.59s prepare : Create ansible user --------------------------------- 3.28s Gathering Facts ----------------------------------------------- 0.89s prepare : Register IP in inventory ---------------------------- 0.16s Playbook run took 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 20 seconds

At this stage, things should be in a pristine state. Let’s move on.

Managing Virtual Machines

The bleak inventory file what we have created should now be usable. Let’s ping our machine farm:

$ ansible -m ping machines tme-foo-m5 | SUCCESS => { "ansible_facts": { "discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python" }, "changed": false, "ping": "pong" } tme-foo-m4 | SUCCESS => { "ansible_facts": { "discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python" }, "changed": false, "ping": "pong" } tme-foo-m3 | SUCCESS => { "ansible_facts": { "discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python" }, "changed": false, "ping": "pong" } tme-foo-m2 | SUCCESS => { "ansible_facts": { "discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python" }, "changed": false, "ping": "pong" } tme-foo-m1 | SUCCESS => { "ansible_facts": { "discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python" }, "changed": false, "ping": "pong" } tme-foo-m6 | SUCCESS => { "ansible_facts": { "discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python" }, "changed": false, "ping": "pong" }

As a good Linux citizen you always want to update to all the latest packages. I provided a crude package_update.yaml file for your convenience. It will also reboot the VMs once completed.

Important: The default password for the root user is still what that template shipped with. If you intend to use this for anything but a sandbox exercise, consider changing that root password.

Snapshot and Restore Virtual Machines

Now to the fun part. I’ve redacted a lot of the content I created for this project for many reasons, but it involved making customizations and installing proprietary software. In the various stages I wanted to create snapshots as some of these steps were not only lengthy, they were one-way streets. Creating a snapshot of the environment was indeed very handy.

To create a VM snapshot for the machines group:

$ ansible-playbook snapshot.yaml -e snapshot=goldenboy PLAY [localhost] **************************************************** TASK [Gathering Facts] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 05:09:25 +0000 (0:00:00.096) 0:00:00.096 ******* ok: [localhost] TASK [snapshot : Create a VM snapshot] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 05:09:27 +0000 (0:00:01.893) 0:00:01.989 ******* changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m1) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m2) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m3) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m4) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m5) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m6) PLAY RECAP ********************************************************** localhost : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 Monday 04 November 2019 05:09:35 +0000 (0:00:08.452) 0:00:10.442 ******* ===================================================================== snapshot : Create a VM snapshot ------------------------------- 8.45s Gathering Facts ----------------------------------------------- 1.89s Playbook run took 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 10 seconds

It’s now possible to trash the VM. If you ever want to go back:

$ ansible-playbook restore.yaml -e snapshot=goldenboy PLAY [localhost] **************************************************** TASK [Gathering Facts] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 05:11:38 +0000 (0:00:00.104) 0:00:00.104 ******* ok: [localhost] TASK [restore : Revert a VM to a snapshot] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 05:11:38 +0000 (0:00:00.860) 0:00:00.964 ******* changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m1) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m2) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m3) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m4) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m5) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m6) TASK [restore : Power On VM] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 05:11:47 +0000 (0:00:08.466) 0:00:09.431 ******* changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m1) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m2) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m3) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m4) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m5) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m6) PLAY RECAP ********************************************************** localhost : ok=3 changed=2 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 Monday 04 November 2019 05:12:02 +0000 (0:00:15.232) 0:00:24.663 ******* ===================================================================== restore : Power On VM ---------------------------------------- 15.23s restore : Revert a VM to a snapshot --------------------------- 8.47s Gathering Facts ----------------------------------------------- 0.86s Playbook run took 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 24 seconds

Destroy Virtual Machines

I like things neat and tidy. This is how you would clean up after yourself:

$ ansible-playbook destroy.yaml PLAY [localhost] **************************************************** TASK [Gathering Facts] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 05:13:12 +0000 (0:00:00.099) 0:00:00.099 ******* ok: [localhost] TASK [destroy : Destroy a virtual machine] ********************************************************************* Monday 04 November 2019 05:13:13 +0000 (0:00:00.870) 0:00:00.969 ******* changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m1) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m2) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m3) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m4) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m5) changed: [localhost -> localhost] => (item=tme-foo-m6) PLAY RECAP ********************************************************** localhost : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 Monday 04 November 2019 05:13:37 +0000 (0:00:24.141) 0:00:25.111 ******* ===================================================================== destroy : Destroy a virtual machine -------------------------- 24.14s Gathering Facts ----------------------------------------------- 0.87s Playbook run took 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, 25 seconds

Summary

I probably dissed VMware more than necessary in this post. It’s a great infrastructure platform that is being deployed by 99% of the IT shops out there (don’t quote me on that). I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to make vSphere useful with Ansible.

Trivia: This tutorial brought you by one of the first few HPE Nimble Storage dHCI systems ever brought up!