Job Responsibilities

- Playbook Development & Execution: Build and maintain production-ready Ansible playbooks that handle the full patching sequence: Pre-check → Snapshot → Update → Reboot → Post-check.

- Linux Implementation:

*Deploy updates across RHEL, Ubuntu, and CentOS using dnf, yum, and apt modules.

*Handle complex kernel updates and GRUB configurations to ensure successful boots.

-Windows Implementation:

*Configure and execute updates using win_updates, managing specific KB filtering (Security/Critical).

*Manage WinRM connectivity and ensure the Windows Update Agent is healthy across the fleet.

-Environment Validation (The "Success" Layer):

*Pre-Patching: Implement automated scripts to check disk space (cleaning /boot or C: drive if necessary) and stop critical services (e.g., SQL Server, Java apps) before patching.

*Post-Patching: Build "Health-Check" tasks that verify specific ports (80, 443, 3306), service statuses, and URL responsiveness before marking a job as "Successful."

-Failure Recovery: Actively monitor patching logs in real-time. For any failed nodes, perform immediate manual or automated troubleshooting (e.g., fixing broken dependencies or clearing update caches) to meet the maintenance window.

-Infrastructure Integration: Script the automation of VMware/AWS/Azure snapshots within the patching workflow to ensure a 1-click rollback capability is always available.

Job Requirements

-Deep Ansible Skills: Expert in using blocks for error handling, register for capturing output, and conditionals to handle different OS versions in a single run.

-Windows & Linux Power-User:

*Windows: Comfortable with PowerShell for deep-system fixes when the standard update module fails.

*Linux: Strong Bash skills to troubleshoot package manager locks and repository sync issues.

-Connectivity Troubleshooting: Expert at resolving SSH (Linux) and WinRM/OpenSSH (Windows) communication issues which are the #1 cause of patching failures.

-Repository Management: Hands-on experience managing local mirrors or update sources (WSUS