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Ace Skills Consulting
Red Hat logoIntermediate

Red Hat Ansible Automation (RH294-aligned)

Automate Linux administration with Ansible playbooks, roles and collections you can trust in production.

  • 32 hours of live, trainer-led sessions
  • Multi-node RHEL lab for every learner
  • Playbooks, variables, templates and handlers
  • Roles, collections and automation content navigator
  • Hands-on tasks in the style of EX294
Aligned to Red Hat exam RH294
Duration
4 Days | 32 Hrs
Next batch
Batches on request
Delivery
Live Online · Onsite · Corporate
Level
Intermediate
Exam
EX294
Language
English

Why learn RH294 with Ace Skills

  • Automation you can read

    Write clear, idempotent playbooks that colleagues can review and maintain.

  • From tasks to roles

    Grow simple playbooks into reusable roles and collections step by step.

  • RHCE-focused practice

    Practise hands-on tasks in the style of the performance-based EX294 exam.

  • Secrets done properly

    Protect passwords and keys with Ansible Vault from the start.

Course overview

Manual administration does not scale. Ansible lets you describe the state of your servers in readable playbooks and apply it consistently to ten machines or ten thousand. This four-day course teaches you to automate common Red Hat Enterprise Linux tasks the way RHCE candidates and production teams do.

Day one sets up the control node, inventory and configuration, then moves to ad hoc commands and your first playbooks. Day two covers variables, facts, secrets with Ansible Vault, task control with loops, conditionals and handlers, and error handling with blocks.

Day three introduces Jinja2 templates, roles and Ansible Content Collections, including using system roles and running playbooks with automation content navigator. Day four applies everything to real administration: packages, services, users, storage, scheduled jobs, firewall rules and SELinux — then finishes with a timed practice set in the style of the EX294 exam.

Every lab runs on a multi-node RHEL environment, so you see playbooks succeed, fail and become idempotent.

This course is aligned to the RH294 curriculum and the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exam, EX294. Ace Skills is not a Red Hat training partner and does not use official courseware. EX294 is performance-based; please confirm current objectives on the Red Hat website before booking.

Key features

  • Multi-node RHEL lab environment
  • Ansible Vault and secrets handling
  • Templates, roles and collections
  • Automation content navigator workflows
  • Real RHCSA-style tasks automated end to end
  • Timed EX294-style practice set
  • Course completion certificate from Ace Skills Consulting

Who should attend

  • Linux system administrators
  • RHCSA holders working towards RHCE
  • DevOps engineers automating server builds
  • Infrastructure engineers standardising configuration

Prerequisites

  • RHCSA-level Linux administration skills
  • Comfort editing files with vim or nano
  • Basic YAML is helpful but not required

Curriculum

4 Days · 32 Hours · 12 Modules · 8 Labs

  1. Ansible concepts

    • Agentless architecture
    • Control node and managed nodes
    • Modules and idempotence
    • Ansible Automation Platform overview

    Setting up

    • Installing the control node
    • Static inventories and groups
    • ansible.cfg and privilege escalation
    • SSH key-based access
    • Lab: Build an inventory and configure managed nodes · 40 min

    Ad hoc commands and playbooks

    • Ad hoc commands
    • Playbook structure
    • Running and checking playbooks
    • Finding module documentation
    • Lab: Write a playbook to deploy a web server · 50 min

  2. Variables and facts

    • Variable scope and precedence
    • host_vars and group_vars
    • Gathering and using facts
    • Custom facts

    Ansible Vault

    • Encrypting files and strings
    • Running playbooks with vault passwords
    • Organising secrets
    • Lab: Create users from an encrypted variables file · 40 min

    Task control

    • Loops
    • Conditionals
    • Handlers
    • Blocks, rescue and always
    • Failure and change conditions
    • Lab: Conditional configuration with handlers and error handling · 50 min

  3. Managing files

    • File and line modules
    • Jinja2 templates
    • Template loops and conditionals
    • Lab: Generate configuration files from templates · 40 min

    Roles

    • Role structure
    • Creating roles
    • Role dependencies
    • RHEL system roles
    • Lab: Refactor a playbook into roles · 50 min

    Collections and content navigator

    • Ansible Content Collections
    • Installing collections from a requirements file
    • Running playbooks with automation content navigator
    • Execution environments overview

  4. Automating RHEL tasks

    • Software packages and repositories
    • Services and boot targets
    • Users, groups and sudo
    • Storage: partitions, LVM and file systems
    • Scheduled jobs
    • Firewall and SELinux
    • Lab: Automate a full server build · 75 min

    Troubleshooting

    • Verbose output and check mode
    • Debugging playbooks
    • Dynamic inventory overview

    Exam readiness

    • How performance-based exams work
    • Time management
    • Timed practice tasks with review
    • Lab: Timed EX294-style practice set · 60 min
Download full syllabus (PDF)

Skills you will gain

  • Ansible
  • Playbooks
  • Inventories
  • Ansible Vault
  • Jinja2 templates
  • Roles
  • Content collections
  • Automation content navigator
  • RHEL system roles
  • Linux automation

Tools & technologies

  • Ansible Core
  • ansible-navigator
  • Ansible Vault
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • vim
  • Git

Certification exam

Exam details
Exam nameRed Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) exam
Exam codeEX294
Voucher includedNo — book directly with the vendor
Question formatPerformance-based lab

Skill areas measured

  1. Understand core components of Ansible
  2. Use roles and Ansible Content Collections
  3. Install and configure an Ansible control node
  4. Configure Ansible managed nodes
  5. Run playbooks with automation content navigator
  6. Create Ansible plays and playbooks
  7. Automate standard RHCSA tasks using Ansible modules
  8. Manage content

Exam details are pending verification. Vendors change exams; confirm on the official vendor page before booking. Official exam page (opens in a new tab)

Schedule & Pricing

Live Online

Individual

Price on request

  • 32 hours of live, trainer-led sessions
  • 8 hands-on labs
  • Ace Skills course completion certificate

Onsite

At your office or our centre

Pricing depends on location, group size and dates.

  • Delivered at your premises or an Ace centre
  • Same curriculum and labs as live online
  • Dates planned around your team

Corporate / Team

Private batch for your organisation

A private batch with content adapted to your environment and goals.

  • Customised curriculum
  • Private batch, online or onsite
  • Progress and assessment reports
  • GST invoice and PO-based billing

No public batches scheduled — Talk to an Advisor for a private batch.

Projects & labs you will build

  • Day 1 · 50 min

    Write a playbook to deploy a web server

  • Day 3 · 50 min

    Refactor a playbook into roles

  • Day 4 · 75 min

    Automate a full server build

Your certificate

Certificate of Completion — Ace Skills Consulting

Awarded on completing the course. It records the course title and training hours, and you can share it on your LinkedIn profile.

The Red Hat certification itself is awarded by Red Hat when you pass exam EX294.

Frequently asked questions

How does this relate to the RHCE course?

This course concentrates on Ansible as covered in RH294. Our five-day RHCE course covers the same exam with extra time for RHCSA revision and practice.

Do I need RHCSA first?

Red Hat requires RHCSA to be awarded RHCE, and the exam assumes RHCSA-level skills, so we recommend it.

Is the exam hands-on?

Yes. EX294 is performance-based: you complete real automation tasks on live systems.

Is this an official Red Hat course?

No. It is an independent Ace Skills course aligned to RH294; it does not use Red Hat courseware.

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