Ansible on Oracle Linux 9 Automation Complete Guide

Oracle Linux 9 is Oracle's RHEL 9 rebuild with optional Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel (UEK 7/8) and Ksplice zero-downtime kernel patching. It is supported through July 2032 with optional ELS to 2035. This guide is the master Ansible reference for Oracle Linux 9 fleets, including OCI-specific automation.

Oracle Linux 9 release facts

| Item | Value | |---|---| | GA | 2022-06-27 | | Premier Support | until 2027-06 | | Extended Support | until 2032-07 | | ELS | until 2035-07 | | Default RHCK kernel | 5.14 | | UEK 7 kernel | 5.15 | | UEK 8 kernel | 6.12 |

See also: Ansible on Oracle Linux 10 Automation Complete Guide

Ansible-core compatibility

Use ansible-core 2.18 LTS.

Baseline playbook

- name: Oracle Linux 9 baseline
  hosts: ol9
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Update packages
      ansible.builtin.dnf: { name: "*", state: latest, update_cache: true }
- name: Install baseline tools (and UEK)
      ansible.builtin.dnf:
        name:
          - vim-enhanced
          - chrony
          - firewalld
          - policycoreutils-python-utils
          - podman
          - cockpit
          - kernel-uek
        state: present
- name: Set default kernel to UEK
      ansible.builtin.command: grubby --set-default /boot/vmlinuz-*.el9uek.x86_64
      register: gr
      changed_when: "'Default kernel' in gr.stdout"

See also: Ansible on AlmaLinux 10 Automation Complete Guide

Ksplice live patching

- name: Configure Ksplice
  hosts: ol9
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Install Ksplice client
      ansible.builtin.dnf: { name: uptrack, state: present }
- name: Enable autoinstall
      ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
        path: /etc/uptrack/uptrack.conf
        regexp: '^autoinstall'
        line: 'autoinstall = yes'
- name: Run uptrack-upgrade
      ansible.builtin.command: uptrack-upgrade -y
      register: kp
      changed_when: "'Effective kernel version' in kp.stdout"

OCI integration

Use the oracle.oci collection to provision OCI compute and bind it to Ansible inventory:

- name: Launch OL9 instance in OCI
  hosts: localhost
  tasks:
    - name: Launch instance
      oracle.oci.oci_compute_instance:
        compartment_id: "{{ compartment_ocid }}"
        availability_domain: "{{ ad }}"
        shape: VM.Standard.E5.Flex
        image_id: "{{ ol9_image_ocid }}"
        display_name: ol9-app-01
        metadata:
          ssh_authorized_keys: "{{ lookup('file','~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub') }}"
        state: present
      register: vm

See also: Ansible on AlmaLinux 9 Automation Complete Guide

SELinux + firewalld

- name: SELinux enforcing
  ansible.posix.selinux: { policy: targeted, state: enforcing }
- name: Open HTTPS
  ansible.posix.firewalld: { service: https, permanent: true, state: enabled, immediate: true }

Best practices

• Choose UEK for newer hardware and better workload performance; choose RHCK for strict ABI compatibility. • Use Ksplice to eliminate planned reboot windows for kernel CVEs. • For OCI workloads, prefer the official oracle.oci collection over generic cloud modules.

Conclusion

Oracle Linux 9 layers UEK and Ksplice on top of the RHEL 9 ABI. Ansible playbooks written for RHEL 9 work unchanged; add oracle.oci and Ksplice tasks to take full advantage of the platform.