Writing Your First Ansible Playbook

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Writing Your First Ansible Playbook

Playbooks are the heart of Ansible. They provide a means of executing numerous tasks across any number of systems. This exercise sets you on the path to Ansible mastery by allowing you to craft and execute an Ansible playbook.

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Sep 23, 2025

Duration

1h 0m

Challenge

Create a Basic Playbook for All Servers in the Ansible Inventory

Create a basic playbook in /home/ansible/bootstrap.yml that completes the noted task required for all servers in the Ansible inventory.

Create the file /home/ansible/bootstrap.yml and add the following content:

---
- hosts: all
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: edit host file
      lineinfile:
        path: /etc/hosts
        line: "ansible.xyzcorp.com 169.168.0.1"

    - name: install elinks
      package:
        name: elinks
        state: latest

    - name: create audit user
      user:
        name: xyzcorp_audit
        state: present

    - name: update motd
      copy:
        src: /home/ansible/motd
        dest: /etc/motd

    - name: update issue
      copy:
        src: /home/ansible/issue
        dest: /etc/issue

Challenge

Add a Section to the Playbook for the Network Servers in the Ansible Inventory
Add a section to the playbook in /home/ansible/bootstrap.yml that completes the noted task required for the network servers in the Ansible inventory.

Create a play in the file /home/ansible/bootstrap.yml similar to the following:
```
 - hosts: network
   become: yes
   tasks:
     - name: install netcat
       yum:
         name: nmap-ncat
         state: latest
     - name: create network user
       user:
         name: xyzcorp_network
         state: present
```
Challenge

Add a Section to the Playbook for the SysAdmin Servers in the Ansible Inventory
Add a section to the playbook in /home/ansible/bootstrap.yml that completes the noted task required for the sysadmin servers in the Ansible inventory.

Create a play in the file /home/ansible/bootstrap.yml similar to the following:
```
- hosts: sysadmin
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: copy tarball
      copy:
        src: /home/ansible/scripts.tgz
        dest: /mnt/storage/
```
Challenge

Execute Playbook to Verify Your Playbook Works Correctly

Execute playbook /home/ansible/bootstrap.yml to verify your playbook works correctly.

Run ansible-playbook /home/ansible/bootstrap.yml from the control node.

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