Which is not a valid file extension to store inventory variables in a file in Ansible?

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The preferred practice in Ansible is actually not to store variables in the main inventory file. In addition to storing variables directly in the INI file, host and group variables can be stored in individual files relative to the inventory file. These variable files are in YAML format. Valid file extensions include '.



Also question is, what is inventory file in Ansible?

The Ansible inventory file defines the hosts and groups of hosts upon which commands, modules, and tasks in a playbook operate. The file can be in one of many formats depending on your Ansible environment and plugins. If necessary, you can also create project-specific inventory files in alternate locations.

Also Know, what are the types of inventories in Ansible? In Ansible, there are two types of inventory files: Static and Dynamic. Let's have a look at each one of these and see how we can manage them. By now, we assume that you have already installed Ansible on your Control node, and configured Passwordless SSH connection to your managed hosts.

One may also ask, where is inventory file in Ansible?

Once your inventory is defined, you use patterns to select the hosts or groups you want Ansible to run against. The default location for inventory is a file called /etc/ansible/hosts . You can specify a different inventory file at the command line using the -i <path> option.

What ports does Ansible use?

Ansible non standard ssh port. How to run playbooks against a host running ssh on a port other than port 22. Ansible is a simple automation or configuration management tool, which allows to execute a command/script on remote hosts in an adhoc or using playbooks.

37 Related Question Answers Found

How do I write an inventory file in Ansible?

You can pass the inventory file to Ansible using the -i or --inventory-file option followed by the path to the file. If you do not explicitly specify any inventory file to Ansible, it will take the default path from the host_file parameter of ansible. cfg , which defaults to /etc/ansible/hosts .

Where are Ansible playbooks stored?

The default inventory file is typically located at /etc/ansible/hosts , but you can also use the -i option to point to custom inventory files when running Ansible commands and playbooks.

What is host file in Ansible?

The host file is used to store connections for Anisble playbooks. There are options to define connection parameters: ansible_host is the hostname or IP address. ansible_port is the port the machine uses for SSH. ansible_user is the remote user to connect as.

What does it mean when an Ansible task is idempotent?

For Ansible it means after 1 run of a playbook to set things to a desired state, further runs of the same playbook should result in 0 changes. In simplest terms, idempotency means you can be sure of a consistent state in your environment.

What is dynamic inventory in Ansible?


The dynamic inventory script can do anything to get the data (call an external API, pull information from a database or file, etc.), and Ansible will use it as an inventory source as long as it returns a JSON structure like the one above when the script is called with the --list .

What is Ansible galaxy?

Ansible Galaxy refers to the Galaxy website where users can share roles, and to a command line tool for installing, creating and managing roles. Ansible Galaxy.

How do I run Ansible locally?

How to Run Ansible Playbook Locally – Run Ansible Playbook on Localhost
  1. Method1: Specify Localhost in your hosts directive of your playbook.
  2. Method2: Add an entry in your Inventory.
  3. Method3: Specify in the Ansible Command line. Why –limit is important here in method3.

How do I make an Ansible vault?

To create a new file encrypted with Vault, use the ansible-vault create command. Pass in the name of the file you wish to create. For example, to create an encrypted YAML file called vault.

How do I make an Ansible playbook?

On this page
  1. Step 1 - Setup Ansible Playbook Project.
  2. Step 2 - Generate Ansible Roles for the Directory Structure.
  3. Step 3 - Setup hosts and site.yml.
  4. Step 3 - Setup Common Roles.
  5. Step 4 - Setup 'web' Roles.
  6. Step 5 - Setup 'db' Roles.
  7. Step 6 - Run the Ansible Playbook.
  8. Step 7 - Testing.

What are the different ways other than SSH by which Ansible can connect to remote hosts?


By default, Ansible ships with several plugins. The most commonly used are the paramiko SSH, native ssh (just called ssh), and local connection types. All of these can be used in playbooks and with /usr/bin/ansible to decide how you want to talk to remote machines.

What is Ansible vault?

Ansible Vault is a feature of ansible that allows you to keep sensitive data such as passwords or keys in encrypted files, rather than as plaintext in playbooks or roles. Alternately, you may specify the location of a password file or command Ansible to always prompt for the password in your ansible. cfg file.

What are roles in Ansible?

Roles provide a framework for fully independent, or interdependent collections of variables, tasks, files, templates, and modules. In Ansible, the role is the primary mechanism for breaking a playbook into multiple files. This simplifies writing complex playbooks, and it makes them easier to reuse.

Which module can be utilized to copy files from a remote machine to control machine?

Ansible copy module allows you to copy files and folders from the local machine to remote servers. The copy module is versatile. You can perform a lot of complex tasks with it. Let's dive into some tasks you need to perform regularly.

How do I set up Ansible host?

How to Install and Configure Ansible Server and Hosts
  1. Using Pip. If you have python pip in your system, use the following pip command. sudo pip install ansible. sudo pip install ansible.
  2. Ubuntu. Execute the following commands to install ansible. sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:ansible/ansible sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y ansible.
  3. Redhat/Centos/Fedora.

What is play and playbook in Ansible?


An Ansible playbook is an organized unit of scripts that defines work for a server configuration managed by the automation tool Ansible. Ansible plays are written in YAML. Every play is created by an administrator with environment-specific parameters for the target machines; there are no standard plays.

How does Ansible work?

Ansible works by connecting to your nodes and pushing out small programs, called "Ansible modules" to them. Ansible then executes these modules (over SSH by default), and removes them when finished. Your library of modules can reside on any machine, and there are no servers, daemons, or databases required.

Is Ansible free?

Yes, Ansible is an absolutely free and open source tool that is used for the above-mentioned purposes. Ansible Tower provides a neat graphical user interface with a dashboard using which one can group the hosts, variables, jobs, etc. Ansible AWX is free i.e an open source upstream project for Ansible Tower.