RHCE 9.0 Practice Exam: Installing Ansible Roles Using Ansible Galaxy

📌 Article Overview

This tutorial is designed for RHCE 9.0 certification candidates and explains how to install Ansible roles using ansible-galaxy and a requirements file.

💡 What You Will Learn:

✅ How to create and configure requirements.yml for role installation
✅ How to install Ansible roles from a custom URL
✅ How to verify installed roles using ansible-galaxy list
✅ Troubleshooting common issues
✅ Step-by-step guide with realistic command-line output formatting

📜 1. Task Requirements

📍 1.1. Problem Statement

1. Use Ansible Galaxy to install two roles from external URLs:
   • 🟢 http://classroom/materials/haproxy.tar, named balancer
   • 🟢 http://classroom/materials/phpinfo.tar, named phpinfo
2. Install these roles into the directory:
   📂 /home/greg/ansible/roles
3. Verify that the roles have been installed correctly

📜 2. Preparing the Environment

📍 2.1. Verify Ansible Installation

Ensure Ansible is installed on the control node (control):

$ ansible --version

📌 Expected Output

ansible [core 2.14.2]
  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
  python version = 3.9.10

If Ansible is missing, install it:

$ sudo yum install -y ansible

📜 3. Creating requirements.yml

📍 3.1. Open the File in Vim

$ vim /home/greg/ansible/roles/requirements.yml

📄 Editing requirements.yml (with Vim Syntax Highlighting)

---
- src: http://classroom/materials/haproxy.tar
  name: balancer
- src: http://classroom/materials/phpinfo.tar
  name: phpinfo

📌 Key Points:

• src: → Defines the source URL for each role.
• name: → Sets the local role name after installation.

💾 Save and exit: (ESC → :wq)

📜 4. Installing Ansible Roles

Run the following command to install the roles into /home/greg/ansible/roles:

$ ansible-galaxy install -r /home/greg/ansible/roles/requirements.yml

📌 Expected Terminal Output:

Starting role installation process
=========================================================
Processing requirements from /home/greg/ansible/roles/requirements.yml
---------------------------------------------------------

Downloading http://classroom/materials/haproxy.tar...
✔ Successfully downloaded to /tmp/haproxy.tar
+ Installing role balancer...
  - Extracting package...
  - Verifying integrity...
  - Deploying role...
  - Installed in /home/greg/ansible/roles/balancer
✔ Installation of balancer completed.

Downloading http://classroom/materials/phpinfo.tar...
✔ Successfully downloaded to /tmp/phpinfo.tar
+ Installing role phpinfo...
  - Extracting package...
  - Verifying integrity...
  - Deploying role...
  - Installed in /home/greg/ansible/roles/phpinfo
✔ Installation of phpinfo completed.
=========================================================
✅ All roles have been installed successfully.

📌 Key Highlights in the Output:

• Each role is downloaded from the specified URL.
• Installation steps include extraction, verification, and deployment into the target directory.
• Final confirmation message: "✅ All roles have been installed successfully."

📜 5. Verifying Installed Roles

To confirm the roles are installed, run:

$ ansible-galaxy list

📌 Expected Terminal Output

# /home/greg/ansible/roles
=========================================================
- balancer, (unknown version)
- phpinfo, (unknown version)
=========================================================

✅ If the roles appear in the list, the installation was successful!

📜 6. Confirming Role Directory Structure

To manually verify the installation, use the tree command:

$ tree /home/greg/ansible/roles/

📌 Expected Directory Structure Output

/home/greg/ansible/roles/
├── balancer
│   ├── defaults
│   ├── handlers
│   ├── tasks
│   ├── templates
│   ├── vars
│   ├── README.md
│   ├── meta
│   ├── files
│   ├── tests
│   └── galaxy.yml
├── phpinfo
│   ├── defaults
│   ├── handlers
│   ├── tasks
│   ├── templates
│   ├── vars
│   ├── README.md
│   ├── meta
│   ├── files
│   ├── tests
│   └── galaxy.yml

✅ If the directory structure appears correctly, it confirms successful installation.

📜 7. Scoring Criteria

✅ Total Score: 35 points

📜 8. Common Issues & Troubleshooting

🔴 Issue 1: Role installation fails

Possible Error:

ERROR! Failed to download role

✅ Solution: Ensure the URL is accessible:

$ curl -I http://classroom/materials/haproxy.tar

If the file is missing, re-upload it.

🔴 Issue 2: Installed roles do not appear in ansible-galaxy list

✅ Solution: Check the installation path:

$ ls /home/greg/ansible/roles/

If the directory is missing, reinstall roles:

$ ansible-galaxy install -r /home/greg/ansible/roles/requirements.yml

🔴 Issue 3: How to remove a role?

Run:

$ ansible-galaxy remove <role_name>

For example:

$ ansible-galaxy remove balancer

🚀 Congratulations! You have successfully installed and verified Ansible roles using ansible-galaxy for RHCE 9.0 certification! 🚀
📢 If you found this guide helpful, share it with your RHCE 9.0 study group! 📢

💡 Final Thoughts

By following this guide, you now have:

• ✅ A solid understanding of Ansible role management using ansible-galaxy.
• ✅ Experience in configuring requirements.yml for role installation.
• ✅ Knowledge of verifying and troubleshooting installed roles.

Now, you are fully prepared for RHCE 9.0's Ansible role installation task! 🎯

🔥 Good luck on your RHCE 9.0 exam! 🔥