---
name: ansible-automation-6970e3f522bf
description: >
  Infrastructure automation and configuration management using Ansible
  playbooks, roles, and inventory. Use for deploying applications, patching, and
  managing servers.
---

# Ansible Automation

## Table of Contents

- [Overview](#overview)
- [When to Use](#when-to-use)
- [Quick Start](#quick-start)
- [Reference Guides](#reference-guides)
- [Best Practices](#best-practices)

## Overview

Automate infrastructure provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment across multiple servers using Ansible playbooks, roles, and dynamic inventory management.

## When to Use

- Configuration management
- Application deployment
- Infrastructure patching and updates
- Multi-server orchestration
- Cloud instance provisioning
- Container management
- Database administration
- Security compliance automation

## Quick Start

Minimal working example:

```yaml
# site.yml - Main playbook
---
- name: Deploy application stack
  hosts: all
  gather_facts: yes
  serial: 1  # Rolling deployment

  pre_tasks:
    - name: Display host information
      debug:
        var: inventory_hostname
      tags: [always]

  roles:
    - common
    - docker
    - application

  post_tasks:
    - name: Verify deployment
      uri:
        url: "http://{{ inventory_hostname }}:8080/health"
        status_code: 200
      retries: 3
      delay: 10
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)
```

## Reference Guides

Detailed implementations in the `references/` directory:

| Guide | Contents |
|---|---|
| [Playbook Structure and Best Practices](references/playbook-structure-and-best-practices.md) | Playbook Structure and Best Practices |
| [Inventory and Variables](references/inventory-and-variables.md) | Inventory and Variables |
| [Ansible Deployment Script](references/ansible-deployment-script.md) | Ansible Deployment Script |
| [Configuration Template](references/configuration-template.md) | Configuration Template |

## Best Practices

### ✅ DO

- Use roles for modularity
- Implement proper error handling
- Use templates for configuration
- Leverage handlers for idempotency
- Use serial deployment for rolling updates
- Implement health checks
- Store inventory in version control
- Use vault for sensitive data

### ❌ DON'T

- Use command/shell without conditionals
- Copy files without templates
- Run without check mode first
- Mix environments in inventory
- Hardcode values
- Ignore error handling
- Use shell for simple tasks


---
Source attribution: aj-geddes
Original project: https://github.com/aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts/blob/3f5182cfd739fc113f4af5244a1cf342ad7f7911/skills/ansible-automation/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 AJ Geddes

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.


# Mega AI Hub resource metadata

Creator / publisher: aj-geddes
Original project: https://github.com/aj-geddes/useful-ai-prompts/blob/3f5182cfd739fc113f4af5244a1cf342ad7f7911/skills/ansible-automation/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Development & Engineering, Operations
Roles: Backend Developer, DevOps / SRE, Operations Manager
Specialties: Backend, DevOps
Tools: Ansible
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: ef7ce2628b65e35c9571f7224c0064e2f01bb0f5a7780ec6d75ccbb50824eb7b