To get the most out of this book

All the chapters of this book assume you have access to at least one Linux machine running a relatively recent Linux distribution. All examples in this book were tested on CentOS 7 and Ubuntu Server 18.04, but should work on just about any other mainstream distribution. You will require Ansible 2.9 installed on at least one test machine too – installation steps will be covered in the very first chapter. Later versions of Ansible should also work, though there may be some subtle differences, and you should refer to the release notes and porting guide for newer Ansible versions. The final chapter also takes you through the installation of AWX, but this assumes a Linux server with Ansible installed. Most examples demonstrate automation across more than one host, and if you have more Linux hosts available you will be able to get more out of the examples; however, they can be scaled up or down as you require. Having more hosts is not mandatory, but enables you to get more out of the book.

          
Software/hardware covered in the book           OS requirements

          
At least one Linux server (virtual machine or physical)            CentOS 7 or Ubuntu Server 18.04, though other mainstream distributions (including newer versions of these operating systems) should work.

          
Ansible 2.9           As above

          
AWX release 10.0.0 or later           As above

  

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code via the GitHub repository (link available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.