Ansible Skill

Ansible automation reference for configuration management and application deployment.

Quick Reference

# Test connectivity
ansible all -m ping
ansible <group> -m ping

# Run playbook
ansible-playbook playbook.yml
ansible-playbook playbook.yml -l <host>    # Limit to host
ansible-playbook playbook.yml --check      # Dry-run
ansible-playbook playbook.yml -vvv         # Verbose

# Tags
ansible-playbook playbook.yml --tags "deploy"
ansible-playbook playbook.yml --skip-tags "backup"
ansible-playbook playbook.yml --list-tags

# Variables
ansible-playbook playbook.yml -e "var=value"
ansible-playbook playbook.yml -e "@vars.yml"

# Ad-hoc commands
ansible <group> -m shell -a "command"
ansible <group> -m copy -a "src=file dest=/path"
ansible <group> -m apt -a "name=package state=present"

# Galaxy
ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml
ansible-galaxy role install <role>

Reference Files

Load on-demand based on task:

Topic	File	When to Load
Playbook Structure	playbooks.md	Writing playbooks
Inventory	inventory.md	Host/group configuration
Variables	variables.md	Variable precedence, facts
Modules	modules.md	Common module reference
Troubleshooting	troubleshooting.md	Common errors, debugging

Proxmox Integration

Topic	File	When to Load
Proxmox Modules	proxmox/modules.md	VM/LXC management via API
Proxmox Auth	proxmox/authentication.md	API tokens, credentials
Proxmox Gotchas	proxmox/gotchas.md	Common issues, workarounds
Dynamic Inventory	proxmox/dynamic-inventory.md	Auto-discover VMs/containers

Docker Integration

Topic	File	When to Load
Docker Deployment	docker/deployment.md	Containers, images, networks, volumes
Compose Patterns	docker/compose-patterns.md	Roles, templates, multi-service stacks
Docker Troubleshooting	docker/troubleshooting.md	Common errors, debugging

Playbook Quick Reference

---
- name: Deploy application
  hosts: webservers
  become: true
  vars:
    app_port: 8080

  pre_tasks:
    - name: Validate requirements
      ansible.builtin.assert:
        that:
          - app_secret is defined

  tasks:
    - name: Install packages
      ansible.builtin.apt:
        name: "{{ item }}"
        state: present
      loop:
        - nginx
        - python3

    - name: Deploy config
      ansible.builtin.template:
        src: app.conf.j2
        dest: /etc/app/app.conf
      notify: Restart app

  handlers:
    - name: Restart app
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: app
        state: restarted

  post_tasks:
    - name: Verify deployment
      ansible.builtin.uri:
        url: "http://localhost:{{ app_port }}/health"

Variable Precedence (High to Low)

1. Extra vars (-e "var=value")
2. Task vars
3. Block vars
4. Role/include vars
5. Play vars
6. Host facts
7. host_vars/
8. group_vars/
9. Role defaults

Directory Structure

ansible/
├── ansible.cfg          # Configuration
├── inventory/
│   └── hosts.yml        # Inventory
├── group_vars/
│   ├── all.yml          # All hosts
│   └── webservers.yml   # Group-specific
├── host_vars/
│   └── server1.yml      # Host-specific
├── roles/
│   └── app/
│       ├── tasks/
│       ├── handlers/
│       ├── templates/
│       ├── files/
│       └── defaults/
├── playbooks/
│   └── deploy.yml
├── templates/
│   └── config.j2
└── requirements.yml     # Galaxy dependencies

Idempotency Checklist

• Tasks produce same result on repeated runs
• No changed_when: true unless necessary
• Use state: present/absent not shell commands
• Check mode (--check) shows accurate changes
• Second run shows all "ok" (no changes)