Day 17: Ansible - Installation and configuration

The Ansible control node runs on Linux (or macOS/WSL). Managed Windows hosts are supported — they just go in the inventory; only the controller needs a Unix-like system.

Update the system

Debian-based (Ubuntu, Debian):

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

RHEL-based (CentOS, RHEL, Fedora):

sudo dnf update

(yum still works as a compatibility symlink on older releases.)

Install Python

Debian-based:

sudo apt-get install -y python3

RHEL-based:

sudo dnf install -y python3

Install Ansible

Debian-based:

sudo apt-get install -y ansible

RHEL-based (requires EPEL on RHEL/CentOS):

sudo dnf install -y epel-release
sudo dnf install -y ansible

Verify the install

ansible --version

Configure Ansible

Ansible reads /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg for defaults. Create an inventory file at /etc/ansible/hosts, for example:

[webservers]
192.168.1.10
192.168.1.11

Then point Ansible at it in /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg:

[defaults]
inventory = /etc/ansible/hosts

Ansible is now installed and ready to use.