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File Manipulation with Ansible

A common theme in everyday systems administration is the need to work with system files. It follows that any good configuration management or automation engine must be able to do the same. This exercise challenges students to use Ansible to execute varying tasks on remote systems involving file manipulation.

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Level
Clock icon Intermediate
Duration
Clock icon 1h 0m
Last updated
Clock icon Jul 10, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Become `ansible` user and then download http://software.xyzcorp.com/enigma.tgz to `/tmp` on each host in qa_servers and verify the sha256 checksum via http://software.xyzcorp.com/enigma-checksum.txt.

    Note: This URL only works correctly when accessed on the lab servers. The domain name DNS entry is overridden in /etc/hosts on each lab server. If you attempt to access it from another system, you will reach a parked domain.

    On EACH of the hosts in 'qa_servers' inventory, become the ansible user:

    sudo su - ansible

    As the ansible user (above), run the following commands on each host in the qa-servers:

    • CHECKSUM=$(curl http://software.xyzcorp.com/enigma-checksum.txt | cut -f1 -d' ')
    • ansible qa-servers -m get_url -a "url=http://software.xyzcorp.com/enigma.tgz dest=/tmp/enigma.tgz checksum=sha256:$CHECKSUM"

  2. Challenge

    Extract `/tmp/enigma.tgz` to `/opt/` on all hosts in `qa_servers`.

    Run ansible qa_servers -b -m unarchive -a "src=/tmp/enigma.tgz dest=/opt/ remote_src=yes".

  3. Challenge

    Update the line of text "DEPLOY_CODE" in `/opt/enigma/details.txt` to the "CODE_RED" on each server in `qa_servers`.

    Run ansible qa_servers -b -m lineinfile -a "regexp=DEPLOY_CODE line=CODE_RED path=/opt/enigma/details.txt".

  4. Challenge

    Set the group ownership of the directory `/opt/enigma/secret/` and each file contained within the directory so that the group owner is `protected` for each host in `qa_servers`.

    Run ansible qa_servers -b -m file -a "recurse=yes state=directory path=/opt/enigma/secret group=protected".

  5. Challenge

    Delete the file `/opt/enigma/tmp/deployment-passwords.txt` from all servers.

    Run ansible all -b -m file -a "state=absent path=/opt/enigma/tmp/deployment-passwords.txt".

Pluralsight Skills - Labs - Pluralsight
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Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

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