Ansible DevOps

Ansible is an open-source automation tool by Red Hat. It helps automate configuration management, application deployment, and task execution across servers—agentless and simple to use.

✨ “Ansible is to DevOps what Git is to developers.”

Why Choose Ansible?

✅ Agentless – Uses SSH
✅ YAML-based playbooks – Human-readable
✅ Idempotent – Safe to run multiple times
✅ Modular – Rich set of modules
✅ Integrates easily – With Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes, etc.

1. What is Ansible and how is it different from other tools like Puppet or Chef?

Answer:
Ansible is agentless, uses SSH, and playbooks are written in YAML. It’s simpler to learn than Chef/Puppet which have steeper learning curves and require agents.

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2. What is an Ansible inventory file?

Answer:
It defines the list of hosts and groups for Ansible to manage. It can be static (.ini) or dynamic (cloud-based like AWS EC2).

Example:

iniCopyEdit[web]
web1 ansible_host=192.168.1.10
web2 ansible_host=192.168.1.11

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3. What are handlers in Ansible?

Answer:
Handlers are tasks triggered only when notified. They are useful for restarting services after a change.

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4. How is Ansible idempotent?

Answer:
Ansible tasks do not make changes if the desired state already exists. This prevents repeated unnecessary execution.

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5. What are roles in Ansible?

Answer:
Roles help organize playbooks into reusable components (tasks, handlers, vars, templates). They follow a standard directory structure.

bashCopyEditroles/
  nginx/
    tasks/
    handlers/
    templates/

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6. What is a module in Ansible?

Answer:
Modules are units of work (e.g., yum, apt, copy, file, service). Ansible comes with 1000+ built-in modules.

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7. How do you encrypt data in Ansible?

Answer:
Use Ansible Vault to encrypt secrets like passwords and keys.

bashCopyEditansible-vault create secrets.yml
ansible-vault edit secrets.yml
ansible-playbook --ask-vault-pass playbook.yml

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8. How do you debug an Ansible playbook?

Answer:
Use -v, -vv, or -vvv for verbosity. You can also use the debug module to print variables.

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9. What is the difference between vars, defaults, and facts?

• vars: variables defined in playbooks.

• defaults: lowest precedence, usually defined in roles.

• facts: variables gathered automatically from systems using setup module.

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10. Can Ansible be used in a CI/CD pipeline?

Answer:
Yes. Ansible integrates with Jenkins, GitLab CI, and GitHub Actions to automate deployments and configuration after code is pushed.

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📚 Resources to Level Up

• Ansible Documentation

• Ansible Galaxy Roles

• Install and start Nginx hosts: webservers become: yes tasks:

• name: Install nginx apt: name: nginx state: present

• name: Ensure nginx is running service: name: nginx state: started enabled: yes Run it with:

bash Copy Edit ansible-playbook nginx_setup.yml -i inventory.iniAnsible Use Cases

• Provisioning servers on cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP)

• Setting up environments (Dev/Test/Prod)

• CI/CD pipelines with Jenkins or GitHub Actions

• Configuration drift detection

• Patch management

• Application deployment (e.g., NGINX, Node.js apps)Installing Ansible

📍 On Ubuntu/Debian:

bashCopyEditsudo apt update
sudo apt install ansible -y

📍 On CentOS/RHEL:

bashCopyEditsudo yum install epel-release -y
sudo yum install ansible -y

📍 Using pip (cross-platform):

bashCopyEditpip install ansible

✅ Verify Installation:

bashCopyEditansible --version