No application stack is complete without data, and this is commonly stored in a database. There is a myriad of databases to choose from when your platform is Linux, and the whole topic of database management and administration often warrants entire books by itself—in fact, normally one book per database technology. In spite of the vastness of this topic, a little knowledge of Ansible can assist greatly when it comes to database administration.

Indeed, whether you are installing a new database server, or performing maintenance or administration tasks on an existing one, our original principles discussed in Chapter 1, Building a Standard Operating Environment on Linux still apply. Indeed, why would you go to all the trouble of standardizing your Linux environment and ensuring all changes are automated, only to insist on manual management of the database tier? This could easily result in a lack of standardization, auditability, and even traceability (for example, who made which changes, and when?). Ansible can perform database operations and configuration via modules. It is perhaps not a replacement for some of the more advanced database management tools available on the market, but if these can be driven through the command line, it can execute these on your behalf, as well as taking care of many tasks itself. Ultimately, you want all changes to be documented (or self-documented) and auditable, and Ansible (combined with Ansible Tower, or AWX) can help you achieve this. This chapter explores methods that will help you with this.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Installing databases with Ansible
• Importing and exporting data
• Performing routine maintenance