<s>
Ansible	B-Language
is	O
a	O
suite	O
of	O
software	O
tools	O
that	O
enables	O
infrastructure	B-Architecture
as	I-Architecture
code	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
open-source	B-Application
and	O
the	O
suite	O
includes	O
software	O
provisioning	B-Operating_System
,	O
configuration	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
application	B-Application
deployment	I-Application
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
written	O
by	O
Michael	B-Language
DeHaan	I-Language
and	O
acquired	O
by	O
Red	O
Hat	O
in	O
2015	O
,	O
Ansible	B-Language
is	O
designed	O
to	O
configure	O
both	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
is	O
agentless	B-General_Concept
,	O
relying	O
on	O
temporary	O
remote	O
connections	O
via	O
SSH	B-Protocol
or	O
Windows	B-Application
Remote	O
Management	O
which	O
allows	O
PowerShell	B-Application
execution	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Ansible	B-Language
control	O
node	O
runs	O
on	O
most	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
that	O
are	O
able	O
to	O
run	O
Python	B-Language
,	O
including	O
Windows	B-Application
with	O
Windows	B-Application
Subsystem	O
for	O
Linux	B-Application
installed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
System	O
configuration	O
is	O
defined	O
in	O
part	O
by	O
using	O
its	O
own	O
declarative	B-Language
language	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
"	O
ansible	B-Language
"	O
was	O
coined	O
by	O
Ursula	O
K	O
.	O
Le	O
Guin	O
in	O
her	O
1966	O
novel	O
Rocannon	O
's	O
World	O
,	O
and	O
refers	O
to	O
fictional	O
instantaneous	O
communication	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Ansible	B-Language
tool	O
was	O
developed	O
by	O
Michael	B-Language
DeHaan	I-Language
,	O
the	O
author	O
of	O
the	O
provisioning	B-Operating_System
server	O
application	O
Cobbler	B-Device
and	O
co-author	O
of	O
the	O
Fedora	O
Unified	O
Network	O
Controller	O
(	O
Func	O
)	O
framework	O
for	O
remote	O
administration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
(	O
originally	O
AnsibleWorks	O
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
)	O
was	O
the	O
company	O
founded	O
in	O
2013	O
by	O
DeHaan	O
,	O
Timothy	O
Gerla	O
,	O
and	O
Saïd	O
Ziouani	O
to	O
commercially	O
support	O
and	O
sponsor	O
Ansible	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Red	O
Hat	O
acquired	O
Ansible	B-Language
in	O
October	O
2015	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
is	O
included	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Fedora	O
distribution	O
of	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
owned	O
by	O
Red	O
Hat	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
also	O
available	O
for	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Enterprise	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
CentOS	O
,	O
openSUSE	B-Operating_System
,	O
SUSE	O
Linux	B-Application
Enterprise	O
,	O
Debian	O
,	O
Ubuntu	B-Operating_System
,	O
Scientific	B-Application
Linux	I-Application
,	O
and	O
Oracle	O
Linux	B-Application
via	O
Extra	O
Packages	O
for	O
Enterprise	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
for	O
other	O
operating	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
helps	O
to	O
manage	O
multiple	O
machines	O
by	O
selecting	O
portions	O
of	O
Ansible	B-Language
's	O
inventory	O
stored	O
in	O
simple	O
plain	O
text	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
inventory	O
is	O
configurable	O
,	O
and	O
target	O
machine	O
inventory	O
can	O
be	O
sourced	O
dynamically	O
or	O
from	O
cloud-based	O
sources	O
in	O
different	O
formats	O
(	O
YAML	B-Protocol
,	O
INI	B-Protocol
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sensitive	O
data	O
can	O
be	O
stored	O
in	O
encrypted	O
files	O
using	O
Ansible	B-Language
Vault	O
since	O
2014	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
software	I-Language
not	O
normally	O
running	O
or	O
even	O
installed	O
on	O
the	O
controlled	O
node	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Instead	O
,	O
Ansible	B-Language
orchestrates	O
a	O
node	O
by	O
installing	O
and	O
running	O
modules	O
on	O
the	O
node	O
temporarily	O
via	O
SSH	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
the	O
duration	O
of	O
an	O
orchestration	O
task	O
,	O
a	O
process	O
running	O
the	O
module	O
communicates	O
with	O
the	O
controlling	O
machine	O
with	O
a	O
JSON-based	O
protocol	O
via	O
its	O
standard	O
input	O
and	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Ansible	B-Language
is	O
not	O
managing	O
a	O
node	O
,	O
it	O
does	O
not	O
consume	O
resources	O
on	O
the	O
node	O
because	O
no	O
daemons	B-Operating_System
are	O
run	O
or	O
software	O
installed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
requires	O
Python	B-Language
to	O
be	O
installed	O
on	O
all	O
managing	O
machines	O
,	O
including	O
pip	B-Application
package	O
manager	O
along	O
with	O
configuration-management	O
software	O
and	O
its	O
dependent	O
packages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Managed	O
network	O
devices	O
require	O
no	O
extra	O
dependencies	O
and	O
are	O
agentless	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Control	O
nodes	O
can	O
be	O
run	O
from	O
Linux	B-Application
and	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
(	O
including	O
MacOS	B-Application
)	O
;	O
Windows	B-Application
OSs	O
are	O
only	O
supported	O
through	O
the	O
Windows	B-Application
Subsystem	O
for	O
Linux	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
does	O
not	O
require	O
a	O
single	O
controlling	O
machine	O
for	O
orchestration	O
,	O
ensuring	O
that	O
disaster	O
recovery	O
is	O
simple	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nodes	O
are	O
managed	O
by	O
the	O
controlling	O
node	O
over	O
SSH	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
design	O
goals	O
of	O
Ansible	B-Language
include	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
Ansible	B-Language
,	O
one	O
should	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
create	O
consistent	O
environments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
does	O
not	O
deploy	O
agents	O
to	O
nodes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Only	O
OpenSSH	B-Language
and	O
Python	B-Language
are	O
required	O
on	O
the	O
managed	O
nodes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
carefully	O
written	O
,	O
an	O
Ansible	B-Language
playbook	O
can	O
be	O
idempotent	O
,	O
to	O
prevent	O
unexpected	O
side	O
effects	O
on	O
the	O
managed	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Playbooks	O
use	O
an	O
easy	O
and	O
descriptive	O
language	O
based	O
on	O
YAML	B-Protocol
and	O
Jinja	B-Language
templates	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Modules	O
are	O
mostly	O
standalone	O
and	O
can	O
be	O
written	O
in	O
a	O
standard	O
scripting	O
language	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
Python	B-Language
,	O
Perl	B-Language
,	O
Ruby	B-Language
,	O
Bash	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Location	O
of	O
target	O
nodes	O
is	O
specified	O
through	O
inventory	O
configuration	O
lists	O
(	O
INI	B-Protocol
or	O
YAML	B-Protocol
formatted	O
)	O
located	O
at	O
(	O
on	O
Linux	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
configuration	O
file	O
lists	O
either	O
the	O
IP	B-Protocol
address	I-Protocol
or	O
hostname	B-Protocol
of	O
each	O
node	O
that	O
is	O
accessible	O
by	O
Ansible	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
example	O
inventory	O
(	O
INI	B-Protocol
format	I-Protocol
)	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
configuration	O
file	O
specifies	O
three	O
nodes	O
:	O
the	O
first	O
node	O
is	O
specified	O
by	O
an	O
IP	B-Protocol
address	I-Protocol
,	O
and	O
the	O
latter	O
two	O
nodes	O
are	O
specified	O
by	O
hostnames	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
can	O
also	O
use	O
a	O
custom	O
Dynamic	O
Inventory	O
script	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
dynamically	O
pull	O
data	O
from	O
a	O
different	O
system	O
,	O
and	O
supports	O
groups	O
of	O
groups	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Playbooks	O
are	O
YAML	B-Protocol
files	O
that	O
store	O
lists	O
of	O
tasks	O
for	O
repeated	O
executions	O
on	O
managed	O
nodes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
role	O
is	O
represented	O
by	O
calls	O
to	O
Ansible	B-Language
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Roles	O
provide	O
a	O
way	O
to	O
simplify	O
and	O
streamline	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
creating	O
Ansible	B-Language
playbooks	O
by	O
providing	O
an	O
organized	O
framework	O
for	O
organizing	O
tasks	O
,	O
variables	O
,	O
handlers	O
,	O
templates	O
,	O
and	O
other	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Ansible	B-Language
Automation	O
Platform	O
(	O
AAP	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
REST	B-Protocol
API	I-Protocol
,	O
web	O
service	O
,	O
and	O
web-based	B-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
application	O
)	O
designed	O
to	O
make	O
Ansible	B-Language
more	O
accessible	O
to	O
people	O
with	O
a	O
wide	O
range	O
of	O
IT	O
skillsets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AAP	O
is	O
a	O
commercial	O
product	O
supported	O
by	O
Red	O
Hat	O
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
but	O
derived	O
17+	O
upstream	B-General_Concept
open	O
source	O
projects	O
including	O
the	O
AWX	O
upstream	B-General_Concept
project	O
(	O
formerly	O
Ansible	B-Language
Tower	O
derived	O
from	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
has	O
been	O
open	O
source	O
since	O
September	O
2017	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
was	O
also	O
another	O
open	O
source	O
alternative	O
to	O
Tower	O
,	O
Semaphore	O
,	O
written	O
in	O
Go	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Control	O
machines	O
have	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
Linux/Unix	O
host	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
,	O
CentOS	O
,	O
Debian	O
,	O
macOS	B-Application
,	O
Red	O
Hat	O
Enterprise	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
SUSE	O
Linux	B-Application
Enterprise	O
,	O
Ubuntu	B-Operating_System
)	O
,	O
and	O
Python	B-Language
2.7	O
or	O
3.5	O
is	O
required	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Managed	O
nodes	O
,	O
if	O
they	O
are	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
,	O
must	O
have	O
Python	B-Language
2.4	O
or	O
later	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
managed	O
nodes	O
with	O
Python	B-Language
2.5	O
or	O
earlier	O
,	O
the	O
python-simplejson	O
package	O
is	O
also	O
required	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
version	O
1.7	O
,	O
Ansible	B-Language
can	O
also	O
manage	O
Windows	B-Application
nodes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
case	O
,	O
native	O
PowerShell	B-Application
remoting	O
supported	O
by	O
the	O
WS-Management	O
protocol	O
is	O
used	O
instead	O
of	O
SSH	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ansible	B-Language
can	O
deploy	O
to	O
bare	O
metal	O
hosts	O
,	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
,	O
and	O
cloud	O
environments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
AnsibleFest	O
is	O
an	O
annual	O
conference	O
of	O
the	O
Ansible	B-Language
community	O
of	O
users	O
,	O
contributors	O
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
