AU245 – Configuration as Code for Enterprise Automation with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform — Lesson 2: Inventories, Credentials, Projects, Templates, Variables, Roles, and Collections

Learning Objectives

• Configure the principal services, objects, workflows, and controls for inventories, credentials, and projects and templates.
• Apply variables and roles and collections while preserving reviewable technical evidence.
• Recognize and correct the condition where a valid change produces the wrong outcome because variables, permissions, mapping, or sequencing are incorrect.

Detailed Topics

• inventories: apply the concept to the course scenario, identify dependencies and controls, and record objective evidence of the result.
• credentials: apply the concept to the course scenario, identify dependencies and controls, and record objective evidence of the result.
• projects and templates: apply the concept to the course scenario, identify dependencies and controls, and record objective evidence of the result.
• variables: apply the concept to the course scenario, identify dependencies and controls, and record objective evidence of the result.
• roles and collections: apply the concept to the course scenario, identify dependencies and controls, and record objective evidence of the result.

Instructor Demonstration

The instructor demonstrates inventories, credentials, projects, templates, variables, roles, and collections by tracing architecture, commands, configuration, system messages, and evidence. The walkthrough tests how a valid change produces the wrong outcome because variables, permissions, mapping, or sequencing are incorrect and explains how to isolate the cause without masking related issues.

Hands-On Exercise

Implement the core workflow for Inventories, Credentials, Projects, Templates, Variables, Roles, and Collections and add the verified result to the configuration-as-code repository, promotion workflow, automated validation, and governance checklist.

1. Confirm scope, versions, access, dependencies, assumptions, and acceptance criteria.
2. Perform the workflow while recording commands, configuration, output, events, and decisions.
3. Test the normal path and one course-specific exception or boundary condition.
4. Retest the correction and document rollback, ownership, and follow-up actions.

Scenario Analysis

• Identify which dependency most strongly influences inventories in the stated scenario.
• Compare two approaches for variables and explain the security, reliability, performance, and support trade-offs.
• Decide what evidence must be retained in the configuration-as-code repository, promotion workflow, automated validation, and governance checklist before operational acceptance.

Troubleshooting Guidance

Begin with the first observable difference from the expected result. Check configuration, permissions, sequence, connectivity, and functional behavior separately, then correlate logs, events, commands, metrics, and configuration history. Treat the assumption that a valid change produces the wrong outcome because variables, permissions, mapping, or sequencing are incorrect as a hypothesis until a reproducible retest confirms the cause.

Validation Checklist

• The required configuration, permissions, sequence, connectivity, and functional behavior were checked and recorded.
• The normal path and a course-specific exception were tested.
• The configuration-as-code repository, promotion workflow, automated validation, and governance checklist links conclusions to commands, configuration, logs, metrics, or other objective evidence.
• Corrective actions, rollback, ownership, and handover notes are complete.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can apply Inventories, Credentials, Projects, Templates, Variables, Roles, and Collections, explain the observed platform behavior, and support the result with a reviewable configuration-as-code repository, promotion workflow, automated validation, and governance checklist.