Ansible Playbook: Getting Started Guide

# Ansible Playbook: Getting Started Guide

This guide will walk you through creating a basic Ansible playbook to help you get started with automation. We'll also cover multi-task playbooks to enhance your understanding.

### Step-by-Step Instructions

### 1. Check Your Current Directory
To ensure you're in the correct working directory, run:
```bash
pwd
```
- If you are already in `/etc/ansible/`, proceed to Step 3.
- Otherwise, follow Step 2 to navigate to the appropriate directory.

### 2. Change Directory to Ansible's Default Location
```bash
cd /etc/ansible/
```
This is where Ansible configurations and playbooks are typically stored.

### 3. Create a Directory for Playbooks
```bash
mkdir Playbooks
```
- The `Playbooks` directory will contain all your playbook files.

### 4. List Files and Directories
```bash
ls
```
This ensures your `Playbooks` folder was successfully created.

### 5. Navigate to the Playbooks Directory
```bash
cd Playbooks
```

### 6. Confirm the Path
```bash
pwd
```
You should now be in `/etc/ansible/Playbooks`. This is where you'll create your playbook file. **Note**: You can store playbooks in other locations, but ensure that location is accessible.

### 7. Create Your First Playbook File
You can use any text editor, such as **vi** or **VSCode**. Here, we'll use **vi**.

```bash
sudo vi tushar1_playbook.yml
```

Alternatively, if you prefer to write your playbook in **VSCode**, you can create the file and then paste it into your editor.

**Basic Playbook**:
```yaml
---
- name: tusharplaybook1
  hosts: localhost

  tasks:
    - name: Test Connectivity
      ping:
```
- The playbook tests connectivity to the localhost.

### 8. Verify the File Creation
```bash
ls
ls -ltr
```
This confirms that your playbook file has been created.

### 9. Syntax Check the Playbook
Before running the playbook, ensure it is syntactically correct by running:
```bash
ansible-playbook --syntax-check tushar1_playbook.yml
```
- This helps catch any YAML formatting issues.

### 10. Run the Playbook
Now, execute the playbook:
```bash
ansible-playbook tushar1_playbook.yml
```
- If your playbook is stored in a different location, specify the absolute path.

### Expected Result:

```bash
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that the implicit localhost does not match 'all'

PLAY [tusharplaybook1] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [Test Connectivity] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

PLAY RECAP *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
```

---

## Multi-task Playbook

You can add multiple tasks to a playbook to perform actions sequentially. Let's add an extra task to print a message.

### Steps to Add Another Task

**Updated Playbook**:
```yaml
---
- name: tusharplaybook1
  hosts: localhost

  tasks:
    - name: Test Connectivity
      ping:

    - name: Print Output
      debug: msg="Ready to go"
```

### 1. Verify the Playbook
Check your updated playbook with:
```bash
ansible-playbook --syntax-check tushar1_playbook.yml
```

### 2. Run the Multi-task Playbook
```bash
ansible-playbook tushar1_playbook.yml
```

### Expected Result:

```bash
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that the implicit localhost does not match 'all'

PLAY [tusharplaybook1] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [Test Connectivity] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [Print Output] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": "Ready to go"
}

PLAY RECAP *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=3    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0
```

The playbook will first test connectivity to the localhost, followed by printing the output message `"Ready to go"`.

---

### Conclusion

This guide provided you with a basic Ansible playbook setup, syntax checking, and running a playbook. We also explored multi-task playbooks to enhance functionality.