Module 1: Introduction to Configuration Management

• What is Configuration Management?
• Why Ansible?
• Ansible vs Puppet, Chef, SaltStack
• Use cases and benefits

Module 2: Ansible Basics

• Installing Ansible
• Inventory files (static & dynamic)
• Ad-hoc commands
• Ansible architecture and components

Module 3: Playbooks and YAML Basics

• Writing your first playbook
• YAML syntax and structure
• Tasks, handlers, and modules
• Tags and conditions

Module 4: Variables and Facts

• Defining variables (vars, group_vars, host_vars)
• Registering and using variables
• Gathering facts
• Using templates with Jinja2

Module 5: Roles and Reusability

• Ansible roles: structure and creation
• Using roles in playbooks
• Galaxy and reusable roles
• Role dependencies

Module 6: Advanced Playbook Techniques

• Loops, with_items, with_nested
• Block/rescue/always
• Asynchronous tasks and polling
• Delegation and local actions

Module 7: Managing Files and Templates

• Working with Jinja2 templates
• Copying and managing files
• Using lineinfile, blockinfile, replace modules

Module 8: Security and Vault

• Ansible Vault: encrypting variables and files
• Creating and using vault files
• Vault in CI/CD pipelines

Module 9: Working with Ansible Tower/AWX (optional)

• Introduction to Tower/AWX
• Projects, Job Templates, and Inventories
• Credentials and RBAC
• Workflow templates and surveys

Module 10: Troubleshooting and Best Practices

• Debugging playbooks
• Logging and verbosity
• Idempotency in Ansible
• Structuring large Ansible projects