In this third episode of the DevOps for SysOps series, Dan introduces Ansible—an open-source automation platform designed to simplify IT operations and configuration management. Whether you’re new to Ansible or trying to understand how it fits into your infrastructure strategy, this session breaks it down with real-world insights and live demos.

You'll learn:

• What Ansible is and how it differs from other automation tools

• Why being agentless and using YAML makes Ansible ideal for SysOps

• How idempotency ensures reliable repeatability in scripts

• The difference between the free CLI version and Red Hat’s enterprise GUI

• Key benefits like inventory management, role-based access, and Lightspeed AI assistance

• How to deploy apps across dev and production environments using Ansible playbooks and dynamic inventories

Dan walks through practical examples—from adding users to automating Flask app deployments—and shares guidance on how to structure your projects using roles, plugins, and reusable code.

This episode is packed with tactical guidance for anyone in IT operations looking to operationalize infrastructure as code.

The workshop was recorded in April 2025.