Top 22 interview questions and answers for ansible tool – 2022

Most of the MNC’s asking these questions in 2022

  1. What is Ansible?

Ansible is one of the configuration Management Tools. It is a method through which we automate system admin tasks.
Configuration refers to each and every minute detail of a system. If we do any changes in the system means we are changing the configuration of a machine. That means we are changing the configuration of the machine. All windows/Linux system administrators manage the configuration of a machine manually.All DevOps engineers are managing this configuration automatic way by using some tools which are available in the market. One
such tool is Ansible. That’s why we call Ansible a configuration management tool.

  1. Working process of Ansible?

Here we create a file called playbook and inside playbook, we write a script in YAML format to create infrastructure. Once we execute this playbook, automatically code will be converted into Infrastructure. We call this process IAC (Infrastructure as Code). We have open source and enterprise editions of Ansible. Enterprise edition we call Ansible Tower.

  1. Architecture of Ansible?

We create an Ansible server by installing the Ansible package in it. Python is a prerequisite to install ansible. We need not install an ansible package in nodes. Because communication establishes from server to node through the “ssh” client. By default, all Linux machines will have an “ssh” client. The server is going to push the code to nodes that we write in playbooks. So Ansible follows the pushing mechanism.

  1. Ansible components?

Server: – It is the place where we create playbooks and write code in YML format
Node: – It is the place where we apply code to create infrastructure. Server pushes code to nodes.
Ssh: – It is an agent through an ansible server that pushes code to nodes.
Setup: – It is a module in ansible which gathers nodes information.
Inventory file:- In this file, we keep the IP/DNS of nodes.

  1. Disadvantages in other SCM (Source Code Management)
    tools?

The huge overhead of Infrastructure setup
Complicated setup
Pull mechanism
A lot of learning required

  1. Advantages of Ansible over other SCM (Source Code
    Management) tools?

Agentless
Relies on “ssh
Uses python
Push mechanism

  1. How Ansible works?

We give nodes IP addresses in the hosts file by creating any group in ansible server why because, Ansible doesn’t recognize individual IP addresses of nodes. We create a playbook and write code in the YAML script. The group name we have to mention in the playbook and then we execute the playbook. By default, the playbook will be executed in all those nodes which are under this group. This is how ansible converts code into infrastructure.

  1. What do you mean by Ad-Hoc commands in Ansible?

These are simple one-liner Linux commands we use to meet temporary requirements without actually saving for later. Here we don’t use Ansible modules. So there, Idempotency will not work with Ad-Hoc commands. If at all we don’t get the required YAML module to write to create infrastructure, then we go for it. Without using playbooks we can use these Ad-Hoc commands for temporary purposes.

  1. Differences between Chef and Ansible?

Ansible chef

Playbook – Recipe
Module – Resource
Host – Node
Setup – Ohai
Ssh – Knife
Push-Pull

  1. What is Playbook in Ansible?

The playbook is a file where we write a YAML script to create infrastructure in nodes. Here, we use modules to create
infrastructure. We create so many sections in the playbook. We mention all modules in the task section. You can create any no of playbooks. There is no limit. Each playbook defines one scenario. All sections begin with “-” & its attributes & parameters beneath it.

11. Mention some list of sections that we mention in the Playbook?

  1. Target section
  2. Task section
  3. Variable section
  4. Handler section

12. What is the Target section in the Ansible playbook?

This is one of the important sections in Playbook. In this section, we mention the group name which contains either IP addresses or Hostnames of nodes. When we execute the playbook, then the code will be pushed to all nodes which are there in the group that we mention in the Target section. We use the “all” keyword to refer all groups.

  1. What is Task section in Ansible playbook?

This is the second most important section in the playbook after the target section. In this section, we are going to mention the list of all modules. All tasks we mention in this task section. We can mention any no of modules in one playbook. There is no limit. If there is only one task, then instead of going with the big playbook, simply we can go with arbitrary command where we can use one module at a time. If more than one module, then there is no option except going with a big playbook.

  1. What is Variable section?

In this section, we are going to mention variables. Instead of hard coding, we can mention variables so that during runtime it pulls the actual value in place of key. We have this concept in each and every programming language and scripting language. We use the “vars” keyword to use variables.

  1. What is Handler section?

All tasks we mention in the tasks section. But some tasks where dependency is there, we should not mention it in the tasks section. That is not good practice. For example, installing the package is one task, and starting the service is one more task. But there is a dependency between them. I.e. after installing the package only, we have to start service. Otherwise, it throws an error. This kind of task, we mention in the handler section. In the above example, the package
the task we mention in task section and service task we mention in the handler section so that after installing the task only service will be started.

  1. What is Dry run in playbook?

A dry run is to test the playbook. Before executing the playbook in nodes, we can test whether the code in the playbook is written properly or not. Dry run won’t actually execute playbook, but it shows the output as if it executed playbook. Then by seeing the output, we can come to know whether the playbook is written properly or not. It checks whether the playbook is formatted correctly or not. It tests how the playbook is going to behave without running the tasks.

  1. Why are we using loops concept in Ansible?

Sometimes we might need to deal with multiple tasks. For instance, Installing multiple packages, Creating many users, creation many groups..etc. In this case, mentioning module for every task is complex process. So, to address this issue, we have a concept of loops. We have to use variables in combination with
loops.

  1. Where do we use conditionals in Playbooks?

Sometimes, your nodes could be mixture of different flavors of Linux OS. Linux commands vary in different Linux operating systems. In this case, we can’t execute common set of commands in all machines, at the same time, we can’t execute different commands in each node separately. To address this issue, we have conditionals concept where commands will be executed based up on certain condition that we give.

  1. What is Ansible vault?

Sometimes, we use sensitive information in playbooks like passwords, keys …etc. So any one can open these playbooks and get to know about this sensitive information. So we have to protect our playbooks from being read by others. So by using Ansible vault, we encrypt playbooks so that, those who ever is having password, only those can read this information. It is the way of protecting playbooks by encrypting them.

  1. What do you mean by Roles in Ansible?

Adding more & more functionality to the playbooks will make it difficult to maintain in a single file. To address this issue, we organize playbooks into a directory structure called “roles”. We create separate file to each section and we just mention the names of those sections in playbook instead of mentioning all modules in main playbook. When you call main playbook, main playbook will call all sections files respectively in the order
whatever order you mention in playbook. So, by using this Roles, we can maintain small playbook without any complexity.

  1. Write a sample playbook to install any package?
--- # My First YAML playbook
- hosts: demo
 user: ansible
 become: yes
 connection: ssh
 tasks:
 - name: Install HTTPD on centos 7
 action: yum name=httpd state=installed        
  1. Write a sample playbook by mentioning variables instead of
    hard coding?
--- # My First YAML playbook
- hosts: demo
 user: ansible
 become: yes
 connection: ssh
 vars:
 pkgname: httpd
 tasks:
 - name: Install HTTPD server on centos 7
 action: yum name=‘{{pkgname}}’ state=installed

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