Book Image

Ansible Quick Start Guide

By : Mohamed Alibi
Book Image

Ansible Quick Start Guide

By: Mohamed Alibi

Overview of this book

Configuration Management (CM) tools help administrators reduce their workload. Ansible is one of the best Configuration Management tools, and can act as an orchestrator for managing other CMs. This book is the easiest way to learn how to use Ansible as an orchestrator and a Configuration Management tool. With this book, you will learn how to control and monitor computer and network infrastructures of any size,physical or virtual. You will begin by learning about the Ansible client-server architecture. To get started, you will set up and configure an Ansible server. You will then go through the major features of Ansible: Playbook and Inventory. Then, we will look at Ansible systems and network modules. You will then use Ansible to enable infrastructure automated configuration management, followed by best practices for using Ansible roles and community modules. Finally, you will explore Ansible features such as Ansible Vault, Ansible Containers, and Ansible plugins.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Ansible coding best practices


After exploring the standards that should be followed by Ansible developers, let's now have a look at what Ansible daily users recommend as best practice for good configuration management using Ansible.

These methods may suit some setups more than others. Not every method is a good option for your environment; they may cause more trouble than benefits if they are applied inappropriately. We have collected the methods that we believe are common and useful most of the time.

Using comments in playbooks

Earlier in this chapter, we discussed naming plays or tasks in the playbook to provide a better description for the reader. However, when performing unusual tasks or running commands that form part of a bigger picture, having a descriptive name is not always enough information.

You can use comments either at the start of each playbook, explaining its overall role, or in the pipelines included within the playbook. You can also offer some information about the author,...