Day 58: Ansible Playbooks 🚀

Today’s task is all about understanding the power of Ansible Playbooks—the heart of Ansible’s automation. Playbooks allow you to execute tasks sequentially, making configuration management a breeze. Let’s dive into the tasks and explore how to automate some essential operations.

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Task-01: Writing Ansible Playbooks

1. Playbook to Create a File on a Different Server

This playbook creates a file named myfile.txt on a remote server.

---
- name: Create a file on a remote server
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - name: Create a file
      ansible.builtin.file:
        path: /tmp/myfile.txt
        state: touch
        owner: root
        group: root
        mode: '0644'

2. Playbook to Create a New User

This playbook creates a new user named devops_user.

---
- name: Create a new user
  hosts: all
  tasks:
    - name: Add user
      ansible.builtin.user:
        name: devops_user
        shell: /bin/bash

3. Playbook to Install Docker on a Group of Servers

This playbook installs Docker on multiple servers.

---
- name: Install Docker on servers
  hosts: all
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Install prerequisites
      ansible.builtin.yum:
        name: "{{ item }}"
        state: present
      with_items:
        - yum-utils
        - device-mapper-persistent-data
        - lvm2

    - name: Add Docker repo
      ansible.builtin.shell: |
        yum-config-manager --add-repo https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

    - name: Install Docker
      ansible.builtin.yum:
        name: docker-ce
        state: present

    - name: Start and enable Docker
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: docker
        state: started
        enabled: yes

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Task-02: Blog on Best Practices for Writing Ansible Playbooks

Title: Best Practices for Writing Ansible Playbooks: Streamlining Your Automation

Introduction
Ansible Playbooks simplify automation, but writing effective and efficient playbooks requires following best practices. Here are some tips to level up your Ansible skills.

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1. Use Clear and Meaningful Names
Each play, task, and variable should have descriptive names to make the playbook readable and maintainable.

Example:

- name: Install Apache on web servers
  hosts: web
  tasks:
    - name: Install Apache package
      ansible.builtin.yum:
        name: httpd
        state: present

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2. Group Tasks Logically
Organize tasks into roles or separate files to maintain clarity.

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3. Use Variables
Avoid hardcoding values. Define variables in group_vars or host_vars for better flexibility.

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4. Idempotency is Key
Ensure your playbooks can run multiple times without causing issues. Use Ansible modules that support idempotency like ansible.builtin.file.

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5. Test Playbooks Locally First
Use tools like ansible-playbook --check to verify changes before running them on production systems.

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6. Notify Handlers for Critical Changes

Use handlers to restart or reload services when configuration changes are made.

Example:

---
- name: Configure Nginx
  hosts: web
  tasks:
    - name: Copy Nginx configuration
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        src: nginx.conf
        dest: /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
      notify: Restart Nginx

handlers:
  - name: Restart Nginx
    ansible.builtin.service:
      name: nginx
      state: restarted

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Conclusion
By following these best practices, you can write efficient, reusable, and error-free playbooks. Let’s automate with confidence! 💻✨