Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Third Edition

By : Jay LaCroix
Book Image

Mastering Ubuntu Server - Third Edition

By: Jay LaCroix

Overview of this book

Ubuntu Server has taken data centers around the world by storm. Whether you're deploying Ubuntu for a large-scale project or for a small office, it is a stable, customizable, and powerful Linux distribution with innovative and cutting-edge features. For both simple and complex server deployments, Ubuntu's flexible nature can be easily adapted to meet to the needs of your organization. This third edition is updated to cover the advancements of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and further train you to understand how to use Ubuntu Server, from initial deployment to creating production-ready resources for your network. The book begins with the concepts of user management, group management, and file system permissions. Continuing into managing storage volumes, you will learn how to format storage devices, utilize logical volume management, and monitor disk usage. Later, you will learn how to virtualize hosts and applications, which will include setting up QEMU & KVM, as well as containerization with both Docker and LXD. As the book continues, you will learn how to automate configuration with Ansible, as well as take a look at writing scripts. Lastly, you will explore best practices and troubleshooting techniques when working with Ubuntu Server that are applicable to real-world scenarios. By the end of this Ubuntu Server book, you will be well-versed in Ubuntu server’s advanced concepts and attain the required proficiency needed for Ubuntu Server administration.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
24
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25
Index

Getting started with Ansible

The first thing to know about Ansible is that it changes constantly. New versions with exciting features are released regularly, and it shows no sign of slowing down whatsoever. There is a lot of excitement around this technology, so it's regularly improving. The reason I'm bringing this up is that many distributions offer an older version of Ansible in their repositories, with Ubuntu being no exception. That means that if you simply run apt install ansible to get the software from Ubuntu's repositories, you may get an older version, and that version may not work with example solutions you find online. If you run into this situation, you may need to install a newer version of Ansible directly from the vendor's website to overwrite the older version that ships with Ubuntu 20.04.

The examples in this book were created with Ansible 2.9.x in mind, which is the version that ships with Ubuntu 20.04. However, depending on when you...