Ansible Skill

Ansible automation reference for configuration management and application deployment.

Quick Reference

Test connectivity

ansible all -m ping ansible <group> -m ping

Run playbook

ansible-playbook playbook.yml ansible-playbook playbook.yml -l <host> # Limit to host ansible-playbook playbook.yml --check # Dry-run ansible-playbook playbook.yml -vvv # Verbose

Tags

ansible-playbook playbook.yml --tags "deploy" ansible-playbook playbook.yml --skip-tags "backup" ansible-playbook playbook.yml --list-tags

Variables

ansible-playbook playbook.yml -e "var=value" ansible-playbook playbook.yml -e "@vars.yml"

Ad-hoc commands

ansible <group> -m shell -a "command" ansible <group> -m copy -a "src=file dest=/path" ansible <group> -m apt -a "name=package state=present"

Galaxy

ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml ansible-galaxy role install <role>

Reference Files

Load on-demand based on task:

Topic File When to Load

Playbook Structure playbooks.md Writing playbooks

Inventory inventory.md Host/group configuration

Variables variables.md Variable precedence, facts

Modules modules.md Common module reference

Troubleshooting troubleshooting.md Common errors, debugging

Proxmox Integration

Topic File When to Load

Proxmox Modules proxmox/modules.md VM/LXC management via API

Proxmox Auth proxmox/authentication.md API tokens, credentials

Proxmox Gotchas proxmox/gotchas.md Common issues, workarounds

Dynamic Inventory proxmox/dynamic-inventory.md Auto-discover VMs/containers

Docker Integration

Topic File When to Load

Docker Deployment docker/deployment.md Containers, images, networks, volumes

Compose Patterns docker/compose-patterns.md Roles, templates, multi-service stacks

Docker Troubleshooting docker/troubleshooting.md Common errors, debugging

Playbook Quick Reference

• name: Deploy application hosts: webservers become: true vars: app_port: 8080

  pre_tasks:

  • name: Validate requirements ansible.builtin.assert: that: - app_secret is defined

  tasks:

  • name: Install packages ansible.builtin.apt: name: "{{ item }}" state: present loop:

    • nginx
    • python3

  • name: Deploy config ansible.builtin.template: src: app.conf.j2 dest: /etc/app/app.conf notify: Restart app

  handlers:

  • name: Restart app ansible.builtin.service: name: app state: restarted

  post_tasks:

  • name: Verify deployment ansible.builtin.uri: url: "http://localhost:{{ app_port }}/health"

Variable Precedence (High to Low)

• Extra vars (-e "var=value" )

• Task vars

• Block vars

• Role/include vars

• Play vars

• Host facts

• host_vars/

• group_vars/

• Role defaults

Directory Structure

ansible/ ├── ansible.cfg # Configuration ├── inventory/ │ └── hosts.yml # Inventory ├── group_vars/ │ ├── all.yml # All hosts │ └── webservers.yml # Group-specific ├── host_vars/ │ └── server1.yml # Host-specific ├── roles/ │ └── app/ │ ├── tasks/ │ ├── handlers/ │ ├── templates/ │ ├── files/ │ └── defaults/ ├── playbooks/ │ └── deploy.yml ├── templates/ │ └── config.j2 └── requirements.yml # Galaxy dependencies

Idempotency Checklist

• Tasks produce same result on repeated runs

• No changed_when: true unless necessary

• Use state: present/absent not shell commands

• Check mode (--check ) shows accurate changes

• Second run shows all "ok" (no changes)