Ansible on AlmaLinux 10 Automation Complete Guide

By Luca Berton · Published 2024-01-01 · Category: installation

Automate AlmaLinux 10 (Purple Lion) servers with Ansible: dnf, image mode, SELinux, firewalld, Podman 5, AlmaLinux Kitten testing channel, ELevate.

AlmaLinux 10 (Purple Lion) is the community RHEL 10 rebuild. It ships kernel 6.12, Python 3.12, OpenSSH 9.9, Podman 5, and supports both classic RPM and bootc image-mode deployments. Support runs through May 2035. AlmaLinux 10 also restores hardware support that upstream RHEL 10 dropped — a meaningful differentiator for older fleets.

AlmaLinux 10 release facts

Item	Value
Code name	Purple Lion
GA	2025-05-27
Support end	2035-05-31
Default kernel	6.12
Default Python	3.12
Default OpenSSH	9.9p1
Container engine	Podman 5
Image mode	bootc
Testing channel	AlmaLinux Kitten 10

Ansible-core compatibility

Use ansible-core 2.18 LTS or newer.

Inventory

[alma10]
alma10-01.example.com
alma10-02.example.com

[alma10:vars]
ansible_user=almalinux
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3

Baseline playbook

- name: AlmaLinux 10 baseline
  hosts: alma10
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Update packages
      ansible.builtin.dnf: { name: "*", state: latest, update_cache: true }

    - name: Enable EPEL 10
      ansible.builtin.dnf: { name: epel-release, state: present }

    - name: Install baseline tools
      ansible.builtin.dnf:
        name: [vim-enhanced, chrony, firewalld, policycoreutils-python-utils, podman, cockpit, bootc]
        state: present

    - name: Enable services
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: "{{ item }}"
        enabled: true
        state: started
      loop: [chronyd, firewalld, cockpit.socket]

    - name: SELinux enforcing
      ansible.posix.selinux: { policy: targeted, state: enforcing }

Image mode with bootc

- name: Roll out new bootc image
  hosts: alma10
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: bootc switch
      ansible.builtin.command: bootc switch quay.io/almalinuxorg/almalinux-bootc:10
      register: bs
      changed_when: "'Image' in bs.stdout"

    - name: Reboot
      ansible.builtin.reboot:
      when: bs.changed

AlmaLinux Kitten preview channel

- name: Track Kitten 10 (preview) channel
  hosts: alma10_lab
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Switch to Kitten repos
      ansible.builtin.command: almalinux-release-kitten
      args:
        creates: /etc/yum.repos.d/almalinux-kitten.repo

    - name: Refresh metadata
      ansible.builtin.dnf: { update_cache: true }

Migration from AlmaLinux 9

- name: ELevate migrate Alma 9 -> Alma 10
  hosts: alma9_to_migrate
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Add ELevate
      ansible.builtin.dnf:
        name: https://repo.almalinux.org/elevate/elevate-release-latest-el9.noarch.rpm
        state: present
        disable_gpg_check: true

    - name: Install leapp data
      ansible.builtin.dnf:
        name: [leapp-upgrade, leapp-data-almalinux]
        state: present

    - name: Preupgrade
      ansible.builtin.command: leapp preupgrade

    - name: Upgrade
      ansible.builtin.command: leapp upgrade
      async: 7200
      poll: 0

Best practices

Use Kitten in lab environments to validate playbooks against the next AlmaLinux 10 minor.
Adopt bootc image mode for stateless workloads; classic RPM for stateful databases.
Mirror Quay-hosted bootc images to your registry for offline updates.

Conclusion

AlmaLinux 10 brings RHEL 10 capabilities — image mode, post-quantum SSH, Podman 5 — to community-supported infrastructure with restored hardware coverage. Ansible playbooks port directly from RHEL 10.

Installing Ansible on AlmaLinux 10

sudo dnf install epel-release -y
sudo dnf install ansible-core -y
ansible --version

Server Automation

- name: Configure AlmaLinux 10
  hosts: almalinux
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Install packages
      ansible.builtin.dnf:
        name:
          - vim-enhanced
          - git
          - curl
          - firewalld
          - dnf-automatic
        state: present

    - name: Configure firewall
      ansible.posix.firewalld:
        service: "{{ item }}"
        permanent: true
        immediate: true
        state: enabled
      loop: [ssh, http, https]

    - name: SELinux enforcing
      ansible.posix.selinux:
        policy: targeted
        state: enforcing

    - name: Create admin users
      ansible.builtin.user:
        name: "{{ item.name }}"
        groups: wheel
        append: true
      loop: "{{ vault_admin_users }}"

    - name: Deploy SSH keys
      ansible.posix.authorized_key:
        user: "{{ item.name }}"
        key: "{{ item.ssh_key }}"
      loop: "{{ vault_admin_users }}"

    - name: Enable auto-updates
      ansible.builtin.systemd:
        name: dnf-automatic-install.timer
        state: started
        enabled: true

FAQ

What is the difference between AlmaLinux 9 and 10?

AlmaLinux 10 tracks RHEL 10 with updated kernel, toolchain, and packages. Ansible playbooks from AlmaLinux 9 generally work with minor package name adjustments.

Is AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux better for Ansible?

Both are RHEL-compatible and work identically with Ansible. Choose based on organizational preference — both have strong community support.

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