Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation Platform

Certified Specialist in Ansible Automation Platform

Domain 1: Core Automation Principles and Playbook Development

• Objective: Validate the ability to write robust, scalable, and idempotent automation code using advanced Ansible features and best practices.
• Key Competencies:
  • Authoring advanced playbooks utilizing complex variables, Jinja2 templating, and custom fact gathering.
  • Implementing control structures, including loops, conditionals, and robust error handling mechanisms (using block, rescue, and always).
  • Creating, structuring, and utilizing Ansible Roles to standardize and reuse automation code across different enterprise projects.
  • Managing sensitive data securely using Ansible Vault within playbooks and roles.

Domain 2: Platform Architecture and Execution Environments

• Objective: Evaluate the understanding of the modern distributed architecture of the Ansible Automation Platform and the management of containerized runtimes.
• Key Competencies:
  • Understanding and designing the Automation Mesh architecture, including the roles of hybrid nodes, execution nodes, and hop nodes.
  • Creating custom, containerized Execution Environments (EE) using ansible-builder, defining specific Python dependencies, system packages, and Ansible Collections.
  • Deploying and managing these Execution Environments within the platform to ensure consistent execution across hybrid clouds.

Domain 3: Automation Controller Operations and Workflows

• Objective: Assess the skills required to operate the Automation Controller (formerly Ansible Tower) for scalable enterprise execution, governance, and delegation.
• Key Competencies:
  • Configuring enterprise Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) by creating Organizations, Teams, and managing granular user permissions.
  • Managing enterprise credentials safely, including integration with external credential vaults (e.g., CyberArk, HashiCorp Vault).
  • Creating and executing Job Templates, incorporating dynamic inventories and surveys for user input.
  • Designing complex Workflow Job Templates that link multiple playbooks, handle failure states, and include manual approval nodes.

Domain 4: Content Management and DevOps Integration

• Objective: Test the capability to curate enterprise automation assets using Private Automation Hub and integrate the platform into CI/CD pipelines.
• Key Competencies:
  • Configuring and managing a Private Automation Hub to host, curate, and distribute certified and custom Ansible Collections and Execution Environments.
  • Integrating the Automation Controller with Git/version control repositories, utilizing webhooks for event-driven automation (GitOps workflows).
  • Interacting with the platform programmatically using the Automation Controller API or the awx CLI tool to trigger automation jobs from external CI/CD pipelines (like Jenkins or GitLab CI).