Create Your First Ansible Playbook

What Is a Playbook?

A playbook is a YAML file describing automation tasks that Ansible executes on target hosts. Playbooks are reusable, version-controlled, and idempotent

Simple Playbook Example

Create:

---
- name: Install Nginx
  hosts: webservers
  become: yes

  tasks:
    - name: Install nginx package
      apt:
        name: nginx
        state: present

Save as:

nginx.yml
``

Run:

ansible-playbook -i hosts nginx.yml

Playbook Structure

---
- name: Play Name
  hosts: target_hosts
  become: yes

  tasks:
    - name: Task Name
      module:
        parameter: value

Multiple Tasks Example

---
- name: Configure Web Server
  hosts: webservers
  become: yes

  tasks:
    - name: Install nginx
      apt:
        name: nginx
        state: present

    - name: Start nginx
      service:
        name: nginx
        state: started
        enabled: yes

Check Mode

Preview execution:

ansible-playbook nginx.yml --check

Best Practices

• One purpose per playbook.
• Use descriptive task names.
• Store playbooks in Git.
• Test using check mode first