Ansible · Operational reference
Toolkit
Operational artefacts for Ansible: checklists for cadences, runbooks for incidents, hands-on labs for skills, and break/fix scenarios for troubleshooting reflexes. None of this replaces reading the corresponding lessons — these are the artefacts you keep open in a second tab during real work.
- Runbooks
- 23
- Checklists
- 13
- Labs
- 28
- Break/Fix
- 22
- Assessments
- 1
Operational checklists
Repetitive tasks performed on a schedule.
Before deployment
Runbooks
Step-by-step procedures. Treat the rollback as part of the procedure — never skip it.
Critical risk
High risk
- highservice affectingRunbook: Perform a canary deployment~120 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- highservice affectingRunbook: Patch a Linux fleet~180 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- highcluster affectingRunbook: Recover from a partial fleet failure~90 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- highservice affectingRunbook: Recover the controller~120 min · 11 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- highservice affectingRunbook: Roll back a configuration change~75 min · 9 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- highservice affectingRunbook: Perform a rolling reboot~120 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- highservice affectingRunbook: Rotate the fleet automation SSH credentials~90 min · 11 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- highservice affectingRunbook: Rotate Vault credentials~75 min · 11 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- highservice affectingRunbook: Troubleshoot a failed handler~45 min · 8 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
Medium risk
- mediumservice affectingRunbook: Add a role~90 min · 11 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- mediuminformationalRunbook: Install and build an Ansible controller~90 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- mediuminformationalRunbook: Configure a new inventory~60 min · 9 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- mediumservice affectingRunbook: Onboard a managed host~45 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- mediumservice affectingRunbook: Release a role~75 min · 11 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- mediuminformationalRunbook: Troubleshoot an authentication failure~40 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- mediuminformationalRunbook: Troubleshoot a sudo failure~40 min · 10 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
Low risk
- lowinformationalRunbook: Audit a production execution~60 min · 8 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- lowinformationalRunbook: Test a playbook~45 min · 8 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- lowinformationalRunbook: Troubleshoot a Jinja error~35 min · 9 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- lowinformationalRunbook: Troubleshoot unreachable hosts~30 min · 9 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
- lowinformationalRunbook: Troubleshoot variable precedence~35 min · 8 steps · verified 2026-08-11→
Hands-on labs
Time-boxed exercises.
C · Simulation
- Lab: Build an inventory and prove it before you run anything~60 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Find the configuration that is actually in effect~60 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: A guardrail that actually refuses, and a limit file you can review~75 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: A role that refuses bad input before it touches anything~60 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Layer a real role — turn internals into an interface~75 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Leak hunt — find every place the credential escaped~90 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Batch arithmetic — predict the batches, then verify them~90 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Split a monolith into roles and prove the result is identical~90 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Twelve target sets, twelve patterns, proved before you run~75 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: The dry run that lied~75 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: The same variable in six places — find the winner, then prove it~75 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: A vault-ID split that actually holds~75 min · 4 objectives→
B · Nested virtualisation
- Lab: Canary-first patch run with an induced failure on host 3~120 min · 4 objectives→
- Capstone 1: Build the estate~210 min · 5 objectives→
- Capstone 2: Deploy the application~210 min · 5 objectives→
- Capstone 3: Operate it~240 min · 6 objectives→
- Capstone 4: Survive it~270 min · 6 objectives→
- Lab: Rebuild the controller from nothing, against the clock~180 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Produce a drift report from a fleet nobody has been watching~90 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Take over a hand-edited file without an outage~75 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: The same role on a VM — find the gap the container hid~120 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Your first Molecule scenario, including the idempotence gate~120 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Partial fleet failure — diagnose, classify, decide~150 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Rolling deploy behind a real proxy, with drain and health gate~180 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Rolling reboot and kernel upgrade, with a rollback that works~180 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: The handler that never fired~75 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: The second-run test — take a play from six changes to zero~90 min · 4 objectives→
- Lab: Break the template and watch validate refuse~75 min · 4 objectives→
Break/Fix scenarios
Troubleshooting drills. Each scenario gives symptoms and evidence, then hides the solution behind a reveal.
controller
rollout
- advancedBreak/Fix: the canary node patched perfectly and then the cluster lost quorum~40 min · 6 symptoms→
- advancedBreak/Fix: every health check passed, every task succeeded, and the checkout has been broken for six hours~35 min · 7 symptoms→
- advancedBreak/Fix: the rollout stopped after two of six nodes and two more are missing from the report entirely~35 min · 6 symptoms→
inventory
connectivity
templating
playbook
- advancedBreak/Fix: the new TLS configuration is on disk on every host and no host is serving it~35 min · 6 symptoms→
- intermediateBreak/Fix: 200 hosts reported a successful agent rollout and none of them has the agent~30 min · 6 symptoms→
- intermediateBreak/Fix: the security patch was signed off as deployed to 60 hosts and reached none of them~30 min · 6 symptoms→
secrets
Assessments
Production-readiness examinations. Each combines auto-scored questions with scenario-based rubrics you can use to grade yourself.