Ansible Commands, Playbooks, and Cheatsheet 🚀

Ansible Commands

Installation

# Install Ansible on Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ansible

# Install Ansible on CentOS/RHEL
sudo yum install ansible

Basic Commands

# Check Ansible version
ansible --version

# Ping test to check connectivity
ansible all -m ping

# Ad-hoc command example (installing a package)
ansible webserver -m yum -a "name=httpd state=latest"

Ansible Playbooks

Playbook Structure

---
- name: Configure Web Servers
  hosts: webservers
  become: yes

  tasks:
    - name: Install Apache
      yum:
        name: httpd
        state: present

    - name: Start Apache Service
      service:
        name: httpd
        state: started

Example Playbook

---
- name: Setup Monitoring
  hosts: monitoring
  become: yes

  tasks:
    - name: Install SNMP Service
      yum:
        name: net-snmp
        state: present

    - name: Configure SNMP Community
      template:
        src: snmpd.conf.j2
        dest: /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf
      notify:
        - restart snmpd

  handlers:
    - name: restart snmpd
      service:
        name: snmpd
        state: restarted

Ansible Cheatsheet

Common Modules

yum: Manages packages on RPM-based systems. apt: Manages packages on Debian-based systems. file: Manages files and directories. copy: Copies files to remote locations. service: Manages services on the system. template: Manages file templates.

Inventory File (hosts.ini)

[webservers]
webserver1 ansible_host=192.168.1.101
webserver2 ansible_host=192.168.1.102

[monitoring]
monitor1 ansible_host=192.168.1.201

Variables and Templates

# Variable example
---
web_servers:
  - hostname: webserver1
    ip: 192.168.1.101

# Template example
---
- name: Configure Apache
  template:
    src: httpd.conf.j2
    dest: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Troubleshooting and Advanced Tips

Use -vvv for verbose output to debug. Ensure correct YAML syntax in playbooks (ansible-lint for linting). Utilize roles for modular and reusable playbook organization. Leverage Ansible Galaxy for community-contributed roles.

Additional Resources

For comprehensive Ansible documentation and tutorials, visit Ansible Documentation.