⚙️ Ansible

Automation Reference — Playbooks · Modules · Inventory · Variables · Roles

ansible Command (Ad-Hoc)

ansible all -m ping

Ping all hosts in inventory

ansible webservers -m ping -i hosts.ini

Ping group with specific inventory

ansible all -m setup

Gather all facts from hosts

ansible all -m setup -a "filter=ansible_os_family"

Gather specific fact

ansible db -m shell -a "uptime"

Run shell command on db group

ansible all -m command -a "df -h"

Run command (no shell interpretation)

ansible web01 -m copy -a "src=file dest=/tmp/file"

Copy file to remote host

ansible all -m package -a "name=vim state=present" -b

Install package with sudo (-b = become)

ansible all -m service -a "name=nginx state=restarted" -b

Restart a service on all hosts

ansible all -m user -a "name=alice state=present groups=sudo" -b

Create user and add to group

ansible all --list-hosts

List all hosts in inventory

ansible all -m debug -a "var=hostvars[inventory_hostname]"

Dump all host variables

Useful ansible-* Tools

ansible-inventory --list

Display inventory as JSON

ansible-inventory --graph

Display inventory tree

ansible-lint site.yml

Lint playbook for best practices

ansible-doc ansible.builtin.template

Show module documentation

ansible-doc -l

List all available modules

ansible-vault encrypt secrets.yml

Encrypt a file with vault password

ansible-vault decrypt secrets.yml

Decrypt vault-encrypted file

ansible-vault edit secrets.yml

Edit encrypted file in place

ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.nginx

Install role from Ansible Galaxy

ansible-galaxy collection install community.general

Install a collection

What is Ansible Galaxy?

galaxy.ansible.com

The official community hub for sharing Ansible content — roles, collections, and plugins authored by the community and vendors.

Collections

The modern content format. Bundles modules, plugins, roles, and playbooks into a single distributable namespace (e.g. community.general).

Roles

The original shareable unit. A structured directory of tasks, handlers, templates, and defaults for a single automation concern.

Automation Hub

Red Hat's certified content hub (console.redhat.com). Private Automation Hub lets organizations host their own internal Galaxy server.

Namespaces

Content is addressed as namespace.collection (e.g. amazon.aws). Namespaces are claimed by authors and organizations on Galaxy.

Versioning

Collections use semantic versioning. Pin versions in requirements.yml for reproducible installs across teams and CI pipelines.

ansible-galaxy Commands

ansible-galaxy collection install community.general

Install a collection from Galaxy

ansible-galaxy collection install amazon.aws:==7.3.0

Install a specific collection version

ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml

Install all collections listed in requirements file

ansible-galaxy collection install -p ./collections community.docker

Install to a specific local path

ansible-galaxy collection list

List all installed collections and their versions

ansible-galaxy collection verify community.general

Verify installed collection against Galaxy checksum

ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.nginx

Install a role from Galaxy

ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.nginx,v3.2.0

Install a specific role version

ansible-galaxy install -r requirements.yml

Install all roles listed in requirements file

ansible-galaxy install -r requirements.yml --roles-path roles/

Install roles to a specific directory

ansible-galaxy role list

List all installed roles

ansible-galaxy role remove geerlingguy.nginx

Remove an installed role

ansible-galaxy role init myrole

Scaffold a new role directory structure

ansible-galaxy collection init myns.mycol

Scaffold a new collection skeleton

ansible-galaxy collection build

Build a .tar.gz collection artifact for publishing

ansible-galaxy collection publish myns-mycol-1.0.0.tar.gz

Publish collection artifact to Galaxy

Top Community Collections

community.general

ansible-galaxy collection install community.general

The largest community collection — hundreds of modules spanning cloud providers, databases, notification services, packaging, and system utilities not included in ansible-core.

community.general.telegram, .slack, .homebrew, .snap, .lvol ...

ansible.posix

ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.posix

POSIX-platform modules maintained by the Ansible team. Covers firewalld, selinux, mount, synchronize, sysctl, authorized_key, and at.

ansible.posix.firewalld, .selinux, .mount, .synchronize

community.docker

ansible-galaxy collection install community.docker

Manage Docker containers, images, networks, volumes, Compose stacks, and Docker Swarm. Essential for container lifecycle automation.

community.docker.docker_container, .docker_image, .docker_compose_v2

amazon.aws

ansible-galaxy collection install amazon.aws

Official AWS collection. Manage EC2, S3, RDS, IAM, VPC, Route53, CloudFormation, Lambda, and dozens of other AWS services.

amazon.aws.ec2_instance, .s3_object, .rds_instance, .iam_role

google.cloud

ansible-galaxy collection install google.cloud

Official GCP collection. Provision Compute Engine instances, GKE clusters, Cloud SQL, Cloud Storage, and other Google Cloud resources.

google.cloud.gcp_compute_instance, .gcp_sql_database, .gcp_storage_bucket

azure.azcollection

ansible-galaxy collection install azure.azcollection

Official Azure collection from Microsoft. Manage VMs, AKS clusters, App Service, Blob storage, Key Vault, and Azure networking resources.

azure.azcollection.azure_rm_virtualmachine, .azure_rm_aks, .azure_rm_storageaccount

kubernetes.core

ansible-galaxy collection install kubernetes.core

Manage Kubernetes clusters — apply manifests, manage Helm charts, interact with the API server, and handle resource lifecycle declaratively.

kubernetes.core.k8s, .k8s_info, .helm, .helm_repository

community.mysql

ansible-galaxy collection install community.mysql

Create and manage MySQL/MariaDB databases, users, privileges, and replication. Handles connection via unix socket or TCP.

community.mysql.mysql_db, .mysql_user, .mysql_replication, .mysql_query

community.postgresql

ansible-galaxy collection install community.postgresql

Full lifecycle management of PostgreSQL databases, users, schemas, extensions, privileges, and pg_hba.conf entries.

community.postgresql.postgresql_db, .postgresql_user, .postgresql_ext

community.crypto

ansible-galaxy collection install community.crypto

Generate and manage TLS certificates, private keys, CSRs, ACME (Let's Encrypt) certificates, and OpenSSL parameters.

community.crypto.openssl_certificate, .acme_certificate, .openssl_privatekey

Top Community Roles (geerlingguy)

geerlingguy.nginx

ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.nginx

Install and configure nginx on RHEL, Debian, and FreeBSD. Supports vhosts, SSL, custom config fragments, and upstream proxy blocks.

role: geerlingguy.nginx vars: { nginx_vhosts: [...] }

geerlingguy.docker

ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.docker

Install Docker CE on major Linux distros. Manages Docker daemon options, edition selection (ce/ee), users added to the docker group, and Compose plugin.

role: geerlingguy.docker vars: { docker_users: [deploy] }

geerlingguy.nodejs

ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.nodejs

Install Node.js via NodeSource or nvm. Supports any major version, global npm packages, and yarn installation across RHEL and Debian families.

role: geerlingguy.nodejs vars: { nodejs_version: "20.x" }

geerlingguy.mysql

ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.mysql

Install and configure MySQL or MariaDB. Manages root password, databases, users, replication, slow query log, and my.cnf tuning variables.

role: geerlingguy.mysql vars: { mysql_databases: [...] }

geerlingguy.java

ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.java

Install OpenJDK or Oracle JDK across Linux distros. Supports multiple JDK versions, JAVA_HOME configuration, and alternative JDK selection.

role: geerlingguy.java vars: { java_packages: [openjdk-17-jdk] }

geerlingguy.redis

ansible-galaxy install geerlingguy.redis

Install and configure Redis. Manages redis.conf settings, maxmemory policy, bind address, requirepass, and systemd service state.

role: geerlingguy.redis vars: { redis_maxmemory: "512mb" }

requirements.yml — Full Example

--- # Install all: ansible-galaxy install -r requirements.yml # ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml roles: - name: geerlingguy.nginx version: 3.2.0 - name: geerlingguy.docker version: 7.4.0 - name: geerlingguy.nodejs version: 7.0.0 - src: git+https://github.com/myorg/myrole name: myrole version: main collections: - name: community.general version: >=9.0.0 - name: ansible.posix version: >=1.5.0 - name: community.docker version: >=3.10.0 - name: amazon.aws version: >=7.0.0 - name: kubernetes.core version: >=3.0.0 - name: community.crypto version: >=2.18.0

Feb 2012

Ansible Created by Michael DeHaanmilestone

Michael DeHaan, formerly of Red Hat and Puppet Labs, releases Ansible as an open-source project. Designed to be radically simpler than Puppet or Chef — no agents, no daemons, just SSH and Python. The name comes from Ursula K. Le Guin's science fiction concept of an instantaneous communication device.

2012

Ansible 1.0 Releasedrelease

First stable release ships with core modules for command execution, file management, package installation, and service control. Playbooks use YAML syntax. The push-based SSH model instantly differentiates Ansible from agent-based tools. GitHub stars climb rapidly.

2013

AnsibleWorks Founded & Roles Introducedcompany

DeHaan founds AnsibleWorks, Inc. to commercialize the project. Ansible Roles are introduced — a structured way to organize playbooks and make them reusable. Ansible Galaxy, the community hub for sharing roles, launches alongside the roles feature.

2014

Ansible 1.6 — Vault & Accelerate Moderelease

Ansible Vault ships, allowing encrypted storage of secrets directly in playbooks and variable files. Accelerate mode (later superseded by pipelining) improves performance for large deployments. Cloud modules for AWS and OpenStack expand the ecosystem.

Oct 2015

Red Hat Acquires Ansible for $150Mcompany

Red Hat acquires AnsibleWorks for a reported $150 million — one of the largest open-source acquisitions at the time. The Ansible project remains open source under GPL. Red Hat integrates Ansible into its enterprise stack, accelerating adoption across data centers and government organizations.

2016

Ansible 2.0 — Blocks & New Module APIrelease

Major release introduces blocks for grouping tasks with rescue/always error handling, a new module API, and improved Windows support. Ansible Tower 2.0 (the enterprise GUI) ships simultaneously. The project surpasses Chef and Puppet in GitHub stars.

2018

Ansible 2.5 — Python 3 & Network Automationrelease

Full Python 3 support arrives. Network automation capabilities expand dramatically with modules for Cisco IOS, Juniper JunOS, Arista EOS, and F5 BIG-IP. Ansible becomes the dominant tool for network device configuration alongside server automation.

Sep 2019

Collections & Galaxy NGmilestone

Ansible Collections introduce a new distribution format for modules, plugins, and roles, allowing vendors to ship content independently of the core release cycle. Ansible Galaxy is redesigned as Galaxy NG. This fundamentally decouples community content from Ansible core.

2020

Ansible 2.9 → ansible-base Splitmilestone

The project splits into ansible-core (the engine) and community.general (the large collection of non-core modules). This reduces the core attack surface and speeds up releases. Ansible 2.9 is the last monolithic release; Ansible 2.10+ ships as a thin wrapper over ansible-base.

2021

Ansible Automation Platform 2.0company

Red Hat launches Ansible Automation Platform 2.0, replacing Ansible Tower. Introduces automation mesh for distributed execution across data centers and edge, automation hub as a private Galaxy, and execution environments (container images replacing Python virtualenvs).

2022

ansible-core 2.13 — Stable Architecturerelease

ansible-core stabilizes as the canonical engine. FQCN (Fully Qualified Collection Names) become mandatory for best practice. The split architecture proves successful — over 100 certified collections available on Automation Hub. Python 2 support dropped entirely.

2023

Ansible Lightspeed — AI Code Generationecosystem

Red Hat launches Ansible Lightspeed, an AI-powered assistant for writing playbooks, integrated into VS Code. Powered by IBM Watson Code Assistant trained on Ansible Galaxy content. Generates task YAML from natural-language descriptions.

2024

ansible-core 2.17 & AAP 2.5release

ansible-core 2.17 ships with performance improvements and expanded Windows/network module support. Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 deepens event-driven automation via Event-Driven Ansible (EDA) — rules-based triggers that respond to infrastructure events in real time without manual invocation.