Ansible for SQL Server DBAs: Level 1

Who is This Course For?

SQL Server DBAs who want to achieve significant workload reduction through automation, leading to improved work-life balance and the freedom to focus on strategic initiatives that enhance job satisfaction and career growth.

How Does it Help?

Automation is a critical skill for any DBA. 

Chances are, you’ve pieced together a mix of PowerShell and T-SQL scripts over the years to handle your daily tasks. But as these scripts grow in number and complexity, so does the challenge of maintaining them, finding the right one for each situation, or teaching other team members how to use them effectively.

This course will show you how to simplify SQL Server and Windows configurations using Ansible, giving you more time to focus on strategic, value-added projects that boost reliability and performance. With Ansible’s intuitive YAML-based syntax, you can structure your automation into clear, reusable playbooks and roles. Best of all, you don’t have to abandon your existing skills—Ansible lets you combine your existing PowerShell and T-SQL expertise with a proven automation framework.

By learning Ansible, you’ll gain a scalable, maintainable, and team-friendly approach to automation that elevates your efficiency and career.

What You'll Learn Inside.

• Bonus: Building Your Ansible Sandbox Environment - FAST

  • You'll learn how to implement my Automated Sandbox Framework to build a local test environment that is neither cloud-based nor limited by time.
  • Use this environment throughout the remainder of the course and gain hands-on experience.  All you need is a Windows PC with at least 16 GB of RAM, a CPU that supports virtualization, and at least 128 GB of free disk space.  Have more resources and require a larger environment?  Great, scale the environment in a matter of minutes vs hours using the framework.
  • Use the environment repeatedly to quickly prototype additional automation skills even after the course ends.

• Introduction to Ansible

  • We'll review the key benefits of Ansible.
  • Learn how to leverage it to automate tasks, improve efficiency, and enhance your capabilities as a DBA. 
  • Understand where it fits into 'as Code' concepts, it's architecture, and how it works.

• Setting Up Ansible for Windows Environments

  • Learn how to set up the Ansible control node, configure Windows Servers for Ansible management, and verify connectivity. 
  • It isn't just theory.  You'll use your test environment to begin your hands-on journey with Ansible.

• Ansible Basics and Writing Playbooks

  • Next, you'll understand and build Ansible inventory files, use ad-hoc commands to perform quick tasks, discover conditionals and loops, and write your first playbook.  You'll quickly see how Ansible can easily manage Windows OS and SQL Server.

• Ansible Vault

  •  DBAs manage critical and highly secure platforms.  Saving passwords and credentials in unencrypted formats should never be performed.  We'll review Ansible Vault to ensure credentials or passwords are secured using AES 256-bit encryption without installing additional software (Ansible's batteries-included approach).

• Project: Building an Ansible Role for SQL Server on Windows

  • Implement what you've learned so far and build an Ansible role.  This role will automate over 60+ tasks typically performed when installing SQL Server.  You'll end by running the associated playbook to fully configure two default SQL Server instances.
  • Use this role and numerous examples as a building block to automate future tasks.