Red Hat System Administration III: Linux Automation (AU294) – RHEL 10 — Lesson 3: Roles, Templates, Vault, Collections, and Troubleshooting

Learning Objectives

• Explain the structures, services, data, settings, roles, and dependencies governing role structure and Jinja2 templates.
• Implement and validate Ansible Vault, content collections, and debugging failed automation using reviewable evidence.
• Evaluate the condition where operators cannot explain the outcome because logs, commands, settings, and acceptance evidence were not captured consistently and select a proportionate corrective response.

Detailed Topics

• role structure applied to the course scenario, expected platform behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.
• Jinja2 templates applied to the course scenario, expected platform behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.
• Ansible Vault applied to the course scenario, expected platform behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.
• content collections applied to the course scenario, expected platform behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.
• debugging failed automation applied to the course scenario, expected platform behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.

Instructor Demonstration

The instructor traces a Linux operations team replacing manual server changes with controlled, reusable automation across a RHEL 10 estate. The walkthrough connects navigation, commands, configuration logic, system messages, and evidence captured in the RHEL automation design, playbook library, validation record, and operational handover portfolio. It also tests the exception where operators cannot explain the outcome because logs, commands, settings, and acceptance evidence were not captured consistently.

Hands-On Exercise

Complete a controlled Red Hat exercise covering Roles, Templates, Vault, Collections, and Troubleshooting and preserve the verified result in the RHEL automation design, playbook library, validation record, and operational handover portfolio.

1. Confirm scope, prerequisites, versions, identities, dependencies, and acceptance criteria.
2. Execute the workflow while recording commands, settings, outputs, events, and system messages.
3. Test normal behavior, one boundary condition, and the stated exception.
4. Document corrections, evidence, ownership, retest criteria, rollback, and handover actions.

Scenario Analysis

• Identify which object, service, policy, setting, or sequence most strongly influences role structure.
• Compare two defensible responses and explain technical, security, operational, and support trade-offs.
• Determine how the RHEL automation design, playbook library, validation record, and operational handover portfolio should be approved, retained, retested, and updated.

Troubleshooting Guidance

Start where expected behavior first differs from the observed result. Check prerequisites, identity, configuration order, version compatibility, connectivity, status, resource limits, and evidence separately. Treat “operators cannot explain the outcome because logs, commands, settings, and acceptance evidence were not captured consistently” as a hypothesis until commands, logs, settings, and retest outcomes confirm the cause.

Validation Checklist

• Required platform components, identities, permissions, settings, and dependencies are present.
• The RHEL automation design, playbook library, validation record, and operational handover portfolio connects each conclusion to objective, reviewable evidence.
• Normal processing, a boundary condition, dependency behavior, and the stated exception were tested.
• Corrections, ownership, retest criteria, rollback, documentation, and operational handover are complete.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can apply Roles, Templates, Vault, Collections, and Troubleshooting, explain the resulting platform behavior, and defend the outcome through the RHEL automation design, playbook library, validation record, and operational handover portfolio.