I'm a long time Windows admin, and I've inherited a tiny Linux environment of about 30-40 servers. I'm excited about it, if a little terrified.
I know bash only in relatively limited capacity, and the basics of how the OS works. I just need some practice "doing it right".
The servers have been treated like "pets". There is no centralized authentication- user names were added manually and SSH keys are seldom used. My instincts tell me the cure for this is a configuration management scheme, and my research points to Ansible as a good one to spend some time with. My experience as a sysadmin makes me a little cautious here, since configuration management schemes are not risk free, and my servers are in a production, web-facing, high traffic environment. I have test resources ready to go.
I can Google, but I'm hoping somebody here can help me organize my project and provide experience or guidance. I need to standardize authentication, snmpd configs, logrotate configs, and I need to start managing updates in an automated fashion. I'm looking for the safest, low risk way to address these inconsistencies. Any guidance or advice is appreciated!
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