https://book.ghanim.no/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=HomeLab%2FAnsible_-_Create_PlaybookHomeLab/Ansible - Create Playbook - Revision history2026-04-21T15:10:52ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.1https://book.ghanim.no/index.php?title=HomeLab/Ansible_-_Create_Playbook&diff=1123&oldid=previmported>Aghanim at 18:15, 8 November 20202020-11-08T18:15:53Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>== Prerequisite ==<br />
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* Ubuntu 20.04* Ansible installed<br />
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Ansible is a great tool to automate IT infrastructure. In my case I use it to manage my Linux hosts. Instead of typing one command on each host, I can send one command to multiple hosts, using something called playbook. Ansible playbook is a set of instructions that you send to run on a single or a group of hosts.<br />
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== Generate and send SSH keys to hosts ==<br />
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In order for ansible to execute your commands on the host, ansible need to have SSH access without password to the host<br />
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[https://blog.aghanim.net/index.php/2020/09/05/how-to-add-a-new-host-to-ansible/ Follow this guide to achieve this.]<br />
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== Add hosts to inventory ==<br />
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In order to setup a playbook you first need to setup a hosts file. You can find the hosts file in /etc/ansible. The file is called "hosts".<br />
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You can add ungrouped hosts or a collection of hosts.<br />
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# Ungroupd hosts<br />
Host01 ansible_host=192.168.1.100<br />
Host10 ansible_host=192.168.1.110<br />
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# Grouped hosts<br />
[Servers01]<br />
Host20 ansible_host=192.168.1.150<br />
Host30 ansible_host=192.168.1.151<br />
Host40 ansible_host=192.168.1.152<br />
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== Create a playbook ==<br />
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Ansible playbooks uses YAML language. YAML is ident sensitive, so make sure your indents are correct.<br />
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Create a YAML config.<br />
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sudo vim playbook1.yml<br />
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You can send any type of command to your hosts. I send update and upgrade commands to my hosts everyday using crontab. My Playbook looks like this.<br />
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- hosts: Servers01<br />
become: true<br />
become_user: root<br />
tasks:<br />
- name: Update apt repo and cache on all Debian/Ubuntu boxes<br />
apt: update_cache=yes force_apt_get=yes cache_valid_time=3600<br />
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- name: Upgrade all packages on servers<br />
apt: upgrade=dist force_apt_get=yes<br />
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We will break down the commands.<br />
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'''hosts: Servers01''' - Specify a list of hosts that the instructions will be sent to.<br />
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'''become: true '''- We're telling ansible that the instructions we are sending, requires root access to exectue.<br />
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'''become_user:root''' - We are running the commands as the user root.<br />
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'''tasks: -''' The tasks initiates the lists of task that is going to be executed. Each task have a unique name using "name". We use "apt" module to update our hosts, or in other instances, install packages.<br />
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== Run the playbook ==<br />
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To run your playbook, simply type:<br />
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sudo ansible-playbook /etc/ansible/roles/playbook1.yml<br />
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And that is all you have to do. You can create a schedule using crontab to run this playbook everyday<br />
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0 00 * * * ansible-playbook /etc/ansible/roles/playbook1.yml<br />
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There is much more you can do in ansible. I recommend you read [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_intro.html the docs.]<br />
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[[Category:HomeLab]]</div>imported>Aghanim