ℹ️ INFO: Read carefully!During the workshop for practical exercises, you'll need to use your own computer in combination with cloud resources. Please, install the recommended tools and make sure that you pass the self-check tests.
Tools
Any operating system is allowed, but some installation variations may apply. The following software needs to be installed locally on your computer:
- Git (available through package managers or Git for Windows installer). ℹ️ If you never used Git before, it is recommended to watch the introductory videos: Git for poets.
- SSH (it is installed by default on MacOS and Linux-based machines, but for Windows it is recommended to install Git for Windows with a full set of tools)
- AWS CLI
- Terraform 1.+ (download binary for your platform and put it on your
PATH
) - Kubectl 1.21.+ (download the binary for your platform and put it on your
PATH
) - Helm 3.6.+ (download the binary for your platform and put it on your
PATH
) - Docker 20.+ (available through package managers) or Docker Desktop (MacOS and Windows direct download links). ⚠️ If there are problems installing Docker on your computer, then a remote Docker host will be provided during the workshop, to which you can connect over SSH and use as a way to play with Docker directly.
- Ansible 2.9 (follow Ansible installation instructions below (especially if you are on Windows), or general instructions from the official documentation). ⚠️ If there are problems installing Ansible on your computer, then a remote control machine will be provided during the workshop, to which you can connect over SSH and use as a way to play with Ansible code.
IDEs
You may use the following (optional) visual tools to help you during the workshop:
- Visual Studio Code
- K8s Lens IDE (follow installation instructions)
Windows tools
- WSL (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10)
- Cmdr (http://cmder.net/)
- Putty (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/) or Kitty (http://www.9bis.net/kitty/?page=Download)
Self-check
Essential tools
Check that Git is working from your command line, and you can clone a project from GitLab e.g.:
git --version
git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/examples/npm-install
Check that SSH is working from your command line, and you can connect to a remote server:
ssh -V
ssh [email protected]
You should get output similar to the following image:

Cloud/orchestrator tools
Check that cloud/orchestrator tools are installed and working from your command line:
aws --version
terraform version
kubectl version --client
helm version --client
You should get output similar to the following image:

Optional tools
Check that Ansible and Docker are working by running the following commands:
ansible --version
docker version
You should get output similar to the following image:

Optional tool installation variations
Ansible installation
Ansible on MacOS
Install Python (3.5+ will work well) and use pip
to install Ansible (you may need to upgrade pip
to the latest version):
pip install ansible
Ansible on Windows
There is no supported way of installing Ansible directly on Windows. But there are some options.
Option 1: WSL
If you have Windows 10, then install Windows Subsystem for Linux with Ubuntu and from within WSL command line run normal Ubuntu installation commands to get Ansible:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ansible/ansible
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ansible -y
Option 2: VirtualBox/Vagrant
Another way is to configure a Linux virtual machine on your laptop. There are many ways to do that. One option could be:
vagrant init ubuntu/xenial64
vagrant up
vagrant ssh
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ansible/ansible
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ansible -y
Ansible on remote machine
If none of the above methods work for you (e.g., you have a very old Windows laptop with no ability to install WSL and with not enough resources to start a VM), then a remote control machine will be provided during the workshop to which you can connect and use as a way to play with Ansible code.
Docker installation
Docker on Windows
Option 1: Docker Desktop
If you have Windows 10 and Hyper-V enabled then the best option will be installing Docker for Windows.
Option 2: Docker VM
If you have an older version of Windows, then you can use Docker Machine to install a VM with Docker engine inside: https://docs.docker.com/machine/.
Docker on MacOS
For MacOS the best option is to install https://download.docker.com/mac/stable/Docker.dmg
Docker on Linux
- Ubuntu: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/
- Debian: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/debian/
- CentOS: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/centos/
Docker on remote machine
If none of the above methods work for you, then a remote Docker host will be provided during the workshop to which you can connect and use as a way to play with Docker directly.