As with other automation tools, Ansible started out by managing servers before expanding its ability to manage networking equipment. For the most part, the modules and what Ansible refers to as the playbook are similar between server modules and network modules with subtle differences. In this chapter, we will look at a server task example first and draw comparisons later on with network modules.
First, let's clarify the terminology we will use in the context of Ansible. We will refer to the virtual machine with Ansible installed as the control machine, and the machines being managed as the target machines or managed nodes. Ansible can be installed on most of the Unix systems, with the only dependency of Python 2.6 or 2.7. Currently, the Windows operating system is not officially supported as the control machine. Windows hosts can still be managed by Ansible, as they are just not supported as the control machine.