RHCE EX294V9K Objectives - Ansible Navigator and Inventories

[Ad_astra]

Hello

I am due to sit the EX294V9K exam in a few weeks time and wondered if anyone could clarify the following objective for exam:

Run playbooks with Automation content navigator

• Use Automation content navigator to create inventories and configure the Ansible environment

I've read through the course notes but could not work out where Ansible Navigator is used to directly create inventories.

All my experience has been based on manually editing the 'inventory' file (as text) and populating the file with hostnames and groups. The inventory file is then specified in the ansible.cfg file in the relevant project/playbook directory.

I am aware that I can use ansible-navigator to view the details of my existing inventory; using ansible-navigator inventory or ansible-navigator inventory -m stdout --list. However, at no point have I used the ansible-navigator command or interface (TUI) to create or edit an inventory file.

Is it possible to create or edit an ansible inventory using ansible-navigator? 

Have I missed something or just misunderstood the wording of the objective? 

Many thanks 

[spurs]

Is ansible-navigator included in the RHCE Exam?

[Antonypdf1]

No.

[spurs]

I see thanks, but I just checked RHCE Objectives, and it was in there?

[morbius]

It is for v9.

[spurs]

Sorry what does v9 mean? RHEL9?

[morbius]

v9 is the version of RHCE exam. It is running on RH9 hosts. When you book RHCE exam, you have a choice between v8 and v9 exam. v9 uses ansible-navigator, v8 does not, using instead older ansible tools from ansible-core package.

[Ad_astra]

The exam objectives are listed here:

Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exam | EX294

Among the objectives, it states that:

"As an RHCE exam candidate, you should be able to handle all responsibilities expected of a Red Hat Certified System Administrator, including these tasks:

...

Run playbooks with Automation content navigator

• Know how to run playbooks with Automation content navigator
• Use Automation content navigator to find new modules in available Ansible Content Collections and use them
• Use Automation content navigator to create inventories and configure the Ansible environment

...

So, this is why I was asking if it is possible to create an inventory using the ansible-navigator tool.

I am also using the Red Hat Learning Subscription for RH294 which uses Ansible Navigator in the labs for the guided exercises.

Please note: I am studying for the RHCE on Red Hat 9 which might have different objectives to other/earlier versions!

I hope this explains why I asked the original question. 

Just to be clear; I am not asking anything specific about the exam! 

I would just like to know if it is possible to create inventories using ansible-navigator! 

Thank you for reading and responding to my posts! 

[bonnevil · Accepted solution]

I suspect this is just awkwardly worded.  I believe that the RHEL 9 RH294 has you create inventory files with a text editor.

However, the course does cover the ansible-navigator inventory subcommand to examine and troubleshoot inventory files, and it talks about how to set the inventory location for ansible-navigator (command line and config file, I think) and in the ansible.cfg file. This might be what that text is referring to, using the tool to test your edits and making sure you know how the configuration files work. The relevant section of the course seems to do that (for example, in "Verifying the Inventory" in "Building an Ansible Inventory", the first section of chapter 2.)

The ansible-navigator inventory subcommand can be used to convert inventory files from INI to YAML format, but that's DO374-level content. Likewise, dynamic inventories are now DO374-level content that only get a brief mention in RH294.

That's just my guess, looking at the course content.

@LeneWe might want to take a look at this out-of-band.

[Ad_astra]

Hello

Thanks for the reply.

I did download the course notes for RH294 and you are of course correct regarding the "Verifying the Inventory" section. I had seen this before, but it was the wording around creation I found confusing.

Anyway, I have managed to complete all the RH294 exercises and labs using Vim to create/edit my ansible-inventory and ansible.cfg files, so I have not experienced any problems, so far!

The additional info on dynamic inventories and conversion from INI to YAML format also matches what I have read elsewhere.

I have accepted your answer as the solution to my question; appreciate your time and effort.

Thanks for the detailed response.