Faster Than Light: Getting Started with Configuration Management
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Event description
Learn how to beat back configuration drift on your servers by leveraging automation tools like Ansible in this deep dive workshop demonstrating modern DevOps practices for deploying, maintaining, and auditing compute clusters. Whether for a Web application, big data processing, or other project, you need to turn old-school runbooks into computerized playbooks that can execute Standard Operating Procedures quickly and reliably so you can deploy complex systems simply and predictably. Come learn about key concepts like idempotence and change control, and learn how giant corporations implement security principles like RBAC, all using free and open source software.
Workshop Description
Today, all but the most trivial of computer systems rely on an interdependent set of servers working in concert. You don’t just have one server, you have a group of them. Commonly called a cluster, these servers need to be managed as a group, ensuring that their software configurations, security patches, and installed packages are deployed, maintained, and eventually updated or retired in a predictable way.
In this deep dive workshop, we’ll set up our own small cluster and use Ansible, which is an agentless, cross-platform, enterprise-grade, free software Configuration Management (CM) and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) framework used by giant corporations like IBM and Cisco, to turn old-school operator runbooks into computerized playbooks that can be executed quickly and easily even by novice operators. Through several hands-on exercises, you’ll learn about the entire CM lifecycle from planning through auditing so that you understand critical CM concepts like idempotence, change control, and more, which are common to all CM systems including Chef, Puppet, and Salt.
Along the way, you’ll be exposed to key concepts such as containerization through Ansible’s support for automating container builds, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) via Ansible’s AWX Project, and more. By adopting configuration management workflows with tools like Ansible, you can reduce operator errors, and beat back configuration drift on any long-lived infrastructure components.
As this is a remote/online-only event, there is no physical class space, but attendance is still limited to 15 students, so purchase your ticket now to reserve your spot.
To participate in our webinars, you will need access to a modern Web browser such as an up-to-date copy of Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. You will also need a reliable Internet connection. We recommend disabling Wi-Fi and plugging your computer in to a hard-wired Ethernet network cable for the duration of the webinar, if possible.
If you would like to share your video screen or appear on camera, you will need to have and activate your own camera, such as the one built-in to many modern laptops. Similarly, to speak with the rest of the webinar participants, you will need a microphone. If you do choose to activate your microphone, we ask that you please plug in headphones/ear buds or use a headset in order to help reduce audio feedback loops that can degrade the webinar experience for other participants.
Please refer to our workshops and webinars FAQ for additional tips and advice before you join the video conference.
As with all Tech Learning Collective events, racism, queerphobia, transphobia, sexism, “brogrammer,” “manarchist,” or any kind of similarly awful behavior will result in immediate removal from class without a refund. Please refer to our lightweight social rules for details on our strictly enforced no-tolerance policy against bigotry of any kind.
About Tech Learning Collective
Tech Learning Collective is an apprenticeship-based technology school that trains politically self-motivated individuals in the arts of hypermedia, Information Technology, and radical political practice. We offer unparalleled free, by-donation, and low-cost computer classes on topics ranging from fundamental computer literacy to the same offensive computer hacking techniques used by national intelligence agencies and military powers (cyber armies). For more information and to enroll, visit TechLearningCollective.com.
Performances by
- New York NY United States
Presented by
- New York NY United States