What is this?
Ansible is a radically simple IT automation system for configuration management, application deployment, cloud provisioning, ad-hoc tasks, network automation, and multi-node orchestration.
Ansible is a radically simple IT automation system for configuration management, application deployment, cloud provisioning, ad-hoc tasks, network automation, and multi-node orchestration.Do I have to install anything on the servers it manages?No. It is agentless: you run Ansible from one control machine, and it works through the SSH daemon the remote machines already have — no custom agents, no extra open ports.
No. It is agentless: you run Ansible from one control machine, and it works through the SSH daemon the remote machines already have — no custom agents, no extra open ports.Is installing it a hassle?Not really: a released version installs with pip or a regular package manager, and an extremely simple setup with a minimal learning curve is an explicit design goal.
Not really: a released version installs with pip or a regular package manager, and an extremely simple setup with a minimal learning curve is an explicit design goal.What does the machine running Ansible need?It is written in Python, so a Python environment on the control machine is the main prerequisite.
It is written in Python, so a Python environment on the control machine is the main prerequisite.Is the code in this repo what I should be running?This repo is the devel branch, the version under active development: reasonably stable, but you are more likely to hit breaking changes here. Stable releases live in the stable-2.X branches.
This repo is the devel branch, the version under active development: reasonably stable, but you are more likely to hit breaking changes here. Stable releases live in the stable-2.X branches.Which OS does the control machine have to run?It is not tied to one OS: the installation guide covers installing Ansible on a variety of platforms, so any machine that runs Python and can reach your hosts over SSH works.
It is not tied to one OS: the installation guide covers installing Ansible on a variety of platforms, so any machine that runs Python and can reach your hosts over SSH works.Can I use it freely, license-wise?Yes — it is free software under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later; the full text is in the COPYING file.
Yes — it is free software under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later; the full text is in the COPYING file.Do I have to write my automation in Python?No — you describe infrastructure in a language close to plain English, and custom modules can be developed in any dynamic language, not just Python.
No — you describe infrastructure in a language close to plain English, and custom modules can be developed in any dynamic language, not just Python.How does it handle changes across many machines at once?It manages machines quickly and in parallel, and complex changes like zero-downtime rolling updates behind load balancers are called out as easy.
It manages machines quickly and in parallel, and complex changes like zero-downtime rolling updates behind load balancers are called out as easy.Do I need root rights to run it?No — being usable as non-root is one of Ansible's stated design principles.
No — being usable as non-root is one of Ansible's stated design principles.Is any of the code AI-generated?The README states the project is substantially coded by humans. Ansible was created by Michael DeHaan, has over 5,000 contributors, and is sponsored by Red Hat.
The README states the project is substantially coded by humans. Ansible was created by Michael DeHaan, has over 5,000 contributors, and is sponsored by Red Hat.What are similar projects?salt, terraform, ansible-examples, kubespray, kamal, netboot.xyz, kubeasz, webhook
salt, terraform, ansible-examples, kubespray, kamal, netboot.xyz, kubeasz, webhookWhich topics is it in?automate, cloud-management, deploy, task, ansible, configuration-management, audit, parallel, infrastructure-as-code, gpl, infrastructure, deployment
automate, cloud-management, deploy, task, ansible, configuration-management, audit, parallel, infrastructure-as-code, gpl, infrastructure, deployment