Managing configuration across an enterprise Linux estate is filled with pitfalls and the potential for configuration drift. This can be caused by people with good intentions, even in break-fix scenarios where changes have to be made in a hurry. However, it can also be caused by those with malicious intent, seeking to circumvent security requirements. Good use of Ansible, especially templating, enables the construction of easy-to-read, concise playbooks that make it easy to ensure configuration management is reliable, repeatable, auditable, and version-controlled—all the basic tenets we set out earlier in this book for good enterprise automation practice.
In this chapter, you gained practical experience in extending a Linux machine with new software packages. You then learned how to apply simple, static configuration changes to those packages, and the potential pitfalls...