Automation is about getting things done, without actually doing them. You can automate everything from server deployments, to updates, publishing blogs or generating a diet plan for your week.
Ansible
In the past, and especially on the Chemnitz Linux Days, I was asked about Ansible Collections, a lot. It seems like this topic is somewhat complicated and still unknown. Let's take a look at collections, build one, and showcase how it can make your development easier than ever.
DevOps
My last DevOps article was published 3 months ago, so I assume it is time for another one. The last time, we had a look at ideals – things you will never reach, but always aim for. Now, let's have a look at principles – things you can apply to work towards ideals.
Security
After setting up the framework for our security series, we will finally have a look at the first security improvements. What can we do, to avoid that somebody physically compromises our hardware? And what does this even mean?
Security
I did some polls and surveys recently, which indicated that security and hardening might be important issues for some of you. This article marks the start of a series about these topics.
Fedora
Our home server can host a couple of applications now. But, remembering the different addresses, ports, and services seems somewhat wrong. In this article, we will solve this situation by deploying a dashboard, that provides links to all our applications.
DevOps
The last DevOps article was in September. So, it might be time for more DevOps stuff. Don't you think so? Let's have a look at different work types, that one needs to understand establishing a DevOps culture, either for your own work or your company.
Fedora
In the last article, we created a Git server, running in Podman. The deployment was done with Ansible. The article before was about some central infrastructure. This time, let's see how we can have our own File, Calendar, and Contact sync. Yes, we will deploy Nextcloud!
Fedora
Our Home Server is doing some nice stuff already. With the last articles, I want to demonstrate how you can deploy some useful applications on it. Running your own Git server has some advantages, when it comes to private work or testing.
Fedora
With the release of Fedora Linux 37, I switched back to Fedora Silverblue. I took this opportunity to revamp my Fedora Workstation repository and therefore my Ansible playbook for the same.
Fedora
In the last article of our Home Server series, we tackled the deployment of a timeserver. This also provided us with some useful tooling to set up more container deployments. Let's continue on this approach and tackle DNS and DHCP.
Home
Phew, that took a while to get right. I don't want to waste any more of your valuable time. So, let's dig into the deployment of a time, DHCP and DNS server on our home server. Shall we?
Ansible
Let's assume you have a playbook, but you want to use different values for your variables for each time you run it. For example, you want to create a new user on your machines or change the playbook behavior. This can be done, and it is very easy with Ansible Prompts.
DevOps
"Looking for DevOps Engineer" is something you see way more often on job platforms. But, what is this about? What does it mean to do "DevOps"? Is it really all about Docker, Kubernetes, Ansible and GitLab? I can ensure you: No, it is about a cultural change.
Fedora
In the last articles we tackled virtualization, which is perfectly fine, if you want to run full-fledged virtual machines. On the other hand, you can use containers to deploy workloads very easily. So, let's have a look how we can integrate this in our home server.
Podman
It may be a surprise to you, but I am a huge fan of Podman. Recently, there is lots of development for Desktop integration, but there are also graphical tools for the browser or Command Line. If you want to manage your images and containers with in a graphical way, this article may be for you.
Cloud-Init
If you read my blog carefully, you may know that I really like Ansible. You can manage and configure machines and APIs very easily with Ansible automation. But what if the machine is offline or needs a configuration to boot up? This is where Cloud-Init can help.