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:

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

cd /etc/ansible/

This is where Ansible configurations and playbooks are typically stored.

3. Create a Directory for Playbooks

mkdir Playbooks

• The Playbooks directory will contain all your playbook files.

4. List Files and Directories

ls

This ensures your Playbooks folder was successfully created.

5. Navigate to the Playbooks Directory

cd Playbooks

6. Confirm the Path

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.

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:

---
- name: tusharplaybook1
  hosts: localhost

  tasks:
    - name: Test Connectivity
      ping:

• The playbook tests connectivity to the localhost.

8. Verify the File Creation

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:

ansible-playbook --syntax-check tushar1_playbook.yml

• This helps catch any YAML formatting issues.

10. Run the Playbook

Now, execute the playbook:

ansible-playbook tushar1_playbook.yml

• If your playbook is stored in a different location, specify the absolute path.

Expected Result:

[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

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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:

---
- 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:

ansible-playbook --syntax-check tushar1_playbook.yml

2. Run the Multi-task Playbook

ansible-playbook tushar1_playbook.yml

Expected Result:

[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".

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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.