Top 100 Ansible interview questions with examples 2023 :

A list of 100 Ansible interview questions with examples. Please note that this is a comprehensive list, and not all questions may be asked during a single interview. Interviewers may choose questions based on the specific role and responsibilities of the candidate. Additionally, some questions may be more suitable for entry-level positions, while others are geared towards more experienced Ansible professionals.

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Ansible Basics:

What is Ansible, and how does it differ from other configuration management tools? Ansible is an open-source automation tool used for configuration management, application deployment, and task automation. Unlike other tools, Ansible uses SSH and doesn’t require agent installation on target machines.
Explain the difference between Ansible playbooks and roles. Playbooks are YAML files that define a set of tasks, while roles are a way to organize and reuse playbooks and tasks in a structured manner.
What is an Ansible inventory file, and how is it used? The Ansible inventory file defines the list of target hosts and their attributes. It’s used to specify which hosts to manage and how to connect to them.
How do you install Ansible on a Linux system? *On a Debian-based system: sudo apt-get install ansible *On a Red Hat-based system: sudo yum install ansible
Explain the purpose of an Ansible module. Ansible modules are reusable scripts that perform specific tasks on target hosts, such as managing packages, users, or files.
How can you run an Ansible playbook? Use the ansible-playbook command followed by the playbook file name: ansible-playbook my_playbook.yml
What is idempotence in Ansible, and why is it important? Idempotence means that running a task multiple times has the same result as running it once. Ansible tasks should be idempotent to ensure consistent and predictable behavior.

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Ansible Playbook and Roles:

Create a simple Ansible playbook to install the Nginx web server on a target host.

yaml

---

- name: Install Nginx

  hosts: webserver

  tasks:

    - name: Update package cache

      apt:

        update_cache: yes

- name: Install Nginx apt: name: nginx state: present

How do you pass variables to an Ansible playbook, and why would you do that? *You can pass variables using -e flag: ansible-playbook my_playbook.yml -e "variable_name=value". Variables allow you to make playbooks more flexible and reusable.
Explain how to use Ansible roles to structure your playbook code. Roles are directory structures containing tasks, handlers, variables, and templates. You can include roles in your playbook using the roles keyword.
What is an Ansible role handler, and when would you use it? A role handler is a task that is only executed if notified by other tasks. Handlers are typically used to restart services or perform other actions after configuration changes.
Create an Ansible playbook that copies a file from the control node to a target host.

yaml

---

- name: Copy a file

  hosts: myserver

  tasks:

    - name: Copy file

      copy:

        src: /path/to/local/file

        dest: /path/to/remote/file

Ansible Modules and Tasks:

List some common Ansible modules and their purposes.
- apt/yum: Manages packages on Debian/Red Hat systems.
- file: Manages files and directories.
- user: Manages user accounts.
- service: Manages system services.
How can you conditionally execute a task in Ansible based on a variable? Use the when keyword in the task definition. For example:

yaml

---

- name: Ensure a service is running

  hosts: myserver

  tasks:

    - name: Start service

      service:

        name: myservice

        state: started

      when: my_condition_variable == "true"

Explain the purpose of Ansible facts, and how can you access them? Facts are information about remote hosts collected by Ansible. You can access them using the ansible_facts variable in playbooks.
Create an Ansible playbook that installs multiple packages using a loop.

yaml

---

- name: Install packages

  hosts: myserver

  tasks:

    - name: Install packages

      apt:

        name: "{{ item }}"

        state: present

      with_items:

        - package1

        - package2

        - package3

Ansible Roles and Playbooks:

What is a role dependency in Ansible, and why would you use it? A role dependency is a role that another role depends on. You use it to ensure that the dependent role is executed before the role that depends on it.
How do you include a role with specific variables in an Ansible playbook? You can include a role with variables using the roles keyword and the vars option. For example:

yaml

---

- name: Include a role with variables

  hosts: myserver

  roles:

    - { role: myrole, vars: { var_name: value } }

Explain how Ansible handles task execution order within a playbook. Tasks within a playbook are executed in the order they are defined. Ansible follows a top-down approach when executing tasks.
What is Ansible Galaxy, and how can you use it? Ansible Galaxy is a website and command-line tool for sharing, finding, and reusing Ansible roles. You can use it to download and install roles from the Ansible community.
Create an Ansible playbook that updates all packages on a target host.

yaml

---

- name: Update packages

  hosts: myserver

  tasks:

    - name: Update all packages

      apt:

        upgrade: dist

        state: latest

Ansible Inventory and Dynamic Inventory:

How does Ansible determine the target hosts to execute tasks on? Ansible uses the inventory file specified with the -i flag or the default /etc/ansible/hosts file to determine the target hosts.
Explain what a dynamic inventory script is and why it is useful. A dynamic inventory script generates inventory information dynamically from external sources like cloud providers, databases, or custom scripts. It is useful for managing hosts in dynamic environments.
What is a YAML inventory file in Ansible, and how is it structured? A YAML inventory file is an alternative to the INI-style inventory file. It uses YAML syntax and can be structured hierarchically.
Create a simple Ansible inventory file in YAML format.

yaml

all:

  hosts:

    webserver1:

      ansible_host: 192.168.1.101

    webserver2:

      ansible_host: 192.168.1.102

  vars:

    ansible_user: myuser

Ansible Playbook Best Practices:

Explain why it’s important to use roles and playbooks for organizing Ansible code. Roles and playbooks provide a structured way to organize and reuse code, making it more maintainable and easier to collaborate on.
What is role tagging in Ansible, and how is it useful? Role tagging allows you to apply tags to specific tasks within a role. It’s useful for selectively running tasks based on their tags.
Describe how to use Ansible Vault to encrypt sensitive data. You can use the ansible-vault command to encrypt sensitive data, such as passwords or API keys, in Ansible playbooks and roles.
What is the purpose of Ansible linting, and which tool can you use for it? Ansible linting helps ensure that your playbooks and roles adhere to best practices and style guidelines. You can use tools like ansible-lint for this purpose.
Explain the concept of playbook and role reuse in Ansible. Reuse involves using existing playbooks and roles as templates for new automation tasks, reducing duplication of effort and ensuring consistency.

Ansible Variables and Facts:

What is the difference between Ansible variables and facts? Variables are user-defined values, while facts are automatically gathered information about remote hosts.
How do you define a variable in an Ansible playbook, and how can you reference it? You can define variables in playbooks using the vars section and reference them using {{ variable_name }} syntax.
Create an Ansible playbook that uses a variable to define the package to install.

yaml

---

- name: Install a package based on a variable

  hosts: myserver

  vars:

    package_name: nginx

  tasks:

    - name: Install package

      apt:

        name: "{{ package_name }}"

        state: present

How can you set default values for variables in Ansible playbooks? You can set default values for variables using the default filter. For example: {{ my_variable | default('default_value') }}.

Explain the difference between host_vars and group_vars in Ansible. host_vars and group_vars directories contain YAML files that define variables for individual hosts and host groups, respectively.

Ansible Modules and Tasks (Advanced):

What is the purpose of the delegate_to keyword in Ansible, and how can you use it? The delegate_to keyword allows you to execute a task on a different host than the target host. It’s useful for tasks like running a database backup on a dedicated backup server.
Describe the Ansible async module and how it is used for asynchronous tasks. The async module is used for running tasks asynchronously, allowing Ansible to continue executing other tasks without waiting for the asynchronous task to complete.
How can you use Ansible’s notify keyword and handlers for task chaining? You can use notify to trigger handlers, which are tasks that run when notified by other tasks. This is useful for actions like restarting a service after a configuration change.
What is Ansible Tower (AWX), and how does it enhance Ansible automation? Ansible Tower (AWX) is a web-based interface and automation platform for Ansible. It provides features like role-based access control, scheduling, and job templates, enhancing Ansible automation in enterprise environments.
Explain the use of Ansible conditionals and loops in task execution. Conditionals (e.g., when) and loops (e.g., with_items) allow you to control task execution based on certain conditions or iterate over a list of items.

Ansible Roles and Playbooks (Advanced):

How can you pass variables to an included role in an Ansible playbook? You can pass variables to an included role by specifying them in the vars section when including the role.
Describe Ansible’s role dependencies and how they are defined. Role dependencies are defined in the meta/main.yml file of a role. You specify dependent roles using the dependencies keyword.
Explain how to use Ansible’s import_role and include_role statements. import_role and include_role are used to import or include roles within a playbook. import_role is evaluated at playbook parsing time, while include_role is evaluated at runtime.
What is Ansible’s pre_tasks and post_tasks feature, and when would you use them? pre_tasks and post_tasks are used to define tasks that run before and after the main playbook tasks, respectively. They are useful for performing setup or cleanup actions.
How can you use Ansible Vault to encrypt sensitive data within role variables? You can encrypt sensitive data within role variables using Ansible Vault, just like with playbook variables. Use the ansible-vault encrypt_string command to encrypt variables.

Ansible Best Practices and Troubleshooting:

What is the purpose of Ansible’s --check mode, and how is it used? --check mode allows you to perform a dry run of an Ansible playbook, showing you what changes would be made without actually making them.
How can you debug Ansible playbooks and roles effectively? Ansible provides various debugging tools, including the debug module, ansible-playbook -vvv for verbose output, and log files in /var/log/ansible.
Explain how to handle errors and failures in Ansible playbooks. You can use the failed_when attribute in tasks to specify conditions for failure and use ignore_errors: yes to continue despite errors.
Describe strategies for optimizing Ansible performance in large-scale environments. Optimization strategies include minimizing SSH connections, using parallelism, caching facts, and avoiding unnecessary tasks.
How do you handle different operating systems and distributions in Ansible playbooks? You can use conditional statements based on facts like ansible_os_family or ansible_distribution to adapt playbooks for different systems.

Ansible Networking:

Explain how Ansible can be used for network automation. Ansible can be used to automate network device provisioning, configuration, and management tasks using network modules and roles.
List some common network modules available in Ansible. Examples include ios_command for Cisco devices, nxos_command for Cisco Nexus devices, and netmiko_send_command for multi-vendor support.
Describe Ansible’s support for network device authentication and connection methods. Ansible supports various authentication methods, including SSH key-based authentication and username/password authentication. Connection methods can be specified in the playbook.
Create an Ansible playbook that configures a network device (e.g., a Cisco router) with a basic configuration.

yaml

---

- name: Configure network device

  hosts: network_device

  tasks:

    - name: Configure interface

      ios_config:

        lines:

          - interface GigabitEthernet1

          - ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0

        parents: interface GigabitEthernet1

Ansible Security and Compliance:

How can Ansible be used to enforce security policies and compliance standards? Ansible can be used to define and enforce security configurations and compliance checks using playbooks and roles.
Describe Ansible’s integration with security tools like OpenSCAP and Nessus. Ansible can leverage OpenSCAP and Nessus for automated security scanning and compliance reporting through Ansible modules.
What is Ansible CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmark, and how can it be used? Ansible CIS benchmarks provide pre-defined security configuration guidelines for various platforms. You can use Ansible to apply and enforce these benchmarks.
Create an Ansible playbook that applies security hardening configurations to a Linux server.

yaml

---

- name: Apply security hardening

  hosts: linux_servers

  tasks:

    - name: Ensure root login is disabled

      lineinfile:

        path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config

        regexp: '^PermitRootLogin'

        line: 'PermitRootLogin no'

      notify: Restart SSH

handlers: - name: Restart SSH service: name: sshd state: restarted

Ansible Cloud Integration:

How can Ansible be used for cloud automation and provisioning? Ansible provides modules and roles for automating cloud infrastructure provisioning and management on platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Explain Ansible’s dynamic inventory support for cloud providers. Ansible dynamic inventory scripts can generate inventory information from cloud provider APIs, allowing you to manage cloud resources dynamically.
Create an Ansible playbook that provisions an EC2 instance on AWS.

yaml

---

- name: Provision EC2 instance

  hosts: localhost

  tasks:

    - name: Launch EC2 instance

      ec2:

        key_name: my-key-pair

        instance_type: t2.micro

        image: ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0

        wait: yes

      register: ec2_instance

- name: Add new instance to host group add_host: name: "{{ ec2_instance.instances[0].public_dns_name }}" groups: ec2_instances

How can you use Ansible to manage containers and orchestration platforms like Docker and Kubernetes? Ansible provides modules for managing Docker containers and Kubernetes resources, enabling automation of containerized applications.

Ansible Testing and CI/CD:

Describe the importance of testing Ansible playbooks and roles. Testing ensures that Ansible automation works as expected and prevents issues in production environments.
What is Ansible’s built-in testing framework, and how can you use it? Ansible includes the ansible-test command for running tests against your Ansible code. You can write tests using the testinfra or pytest framework.
Explain how Ansible can be integrated into a CI/CD pipeline. Ansible can be integrated into CI/CD pipelines to automate infrastructure provisioning and configuration as part of the deployment process.
Create a simple test for an Ansible role using the testinfra framework.

python

def test_apache_service(host):

    apache = host.service("apache2")

    assert apache.is_running

    assert apache.is_enabled

Ansible Enterprise Features:

What are some advanced features available in Ansible Tower (AWX)? Ansible Tower (AWX) offers features like job scheduling, multi-team support, role-based access control, and REST API integration.
How does Ansible Galaxy integrate with Ansible Tower (AWX)? Ansible Galaxy roles can be imported into Ansible Tower (AWX) to make them available for use in job templates.
Describe the role of Ansible automation in continuous delivery and continuous integration (CI/CD) pipelines. Ansible can automate infrastructure provisioning, application deployment, and configuration management in CI/CD pipelines, ensuring consistent environments.
What is Ansible’s support for infrastructure as code (IAC), and how does it work? Ansible can be used to define infrastructure configurations as code, enabling the automated provisioning and management of infrastructure resources.

Ansible Use Cases:

Provide an example of a use case for Ansible in application deployment. Ansible can be used to automate the deployment of web applications, ensuring consistency and reducing manual errors.
How can Ansible be used for disaster recovery planning and execution? Ansible playbooks can automate disaster recovery procedures, including backup restoration, data replication, and failover processes.
Describe a use case for Ansible in automating database operations. Ansible can automate database provisioning, backup, scaling, and maintenance tasks, reducing manual database management effort.
Give an example of using Ansible for compliance auditing and reporting. Ansible can be used to enforce security policies and compliance standards, automatically auditing systems and generating compliance reports.
How can Ansible be used for log management and monitoring tasks? Ansible can automate log configuration, collection, and forwarding to central log management systems for real-time monitoring and analysis.

Ansible Performance Optimization:

Explain how to optimize Ansible performance for large inventories. Performance optimization techniques for large inventories include using dynamic inventories, caching facts, and limiting concurrent connections.
What is Ansible’s “smart inventory” feature, and how does it work? The smart inventory feature allows Ansible to query external sources (e.g., cloud providers) to dynamically generate inventory information.
Describe strategies for optimizing Ansible playbooks for faster execution. Optimization strategies include using async tasks, minimizing the number of tasks, and using efficient modules.
Explain how to use Ansible’s built-in profiling and benchmarking tools. Ansible provides tools like ansible-inventory, ansible-doc, and ansible-playbook --profile to profile and benchmark playbook execution.
How can you reduce the impact of network latency on Ansible performance? Reducing network latency can be achieved by using the pipelining option and optimizing SSH settings for Ansible connections.

Ansible Security Best Practices:

Describe best practices for securely storing credentials and secrets in Ansible playbooks. Use Ansible Vault to encrypt sensitive data, and avoid hardcoding credentials in plain text in playbooks.
What is Ansible’s support for two-factor authentication (2FA)? Ansible supports two-factor authentication for SSH connections, providing an additional layer of security.
Explain the role of Ansible in security incident response and mitigation. Ansible can be used to automate security incident response procedures, including isolating compromised hosts and collecting forensics data.
How can Ansible help in ensuring compliance with security standards like PCI DSS and HIPAA? Ansible can automate security hardening, monitoring, and reporting tasks to ensure compliance with security standards.
Describe best practices for securing Ansible Tower (AWX) in production environments. Best practices include securing access, enabling RBAC, using HTTPS, and regularly updating Ansible Tower (AWX).

Ansible Containerization and Orchestration:

How can Ansible be used to automate container deployment with Docker? Ansible provides Docker modules for building, deploying, and managing containers, making it suitable for container automation.
Explain how Ansible integrates with container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes. Ansible can use Kubernetes modules to automate the deployment and management of Kubernetes resources, including pods, services, and deployments.
What are some advantages of using Ansible for container orchestration over dedicated tools? Ansible offers flexibility in orchestrating containers across different platforms and can be integrated into existing Ansible automation workflows.
Describe a use case for Ansible in managing microservices-based applications. Ansible can automate the deployment, scaling, and configuration of microservices and their dependencies.
How can Ansible be used to manage containerized applications at scale in a production environment? Ansible can automate tasks like rolling updates, scaling, and load balancing for containerized applications in a production environment.

Ansible Networking and Security:

Explain how Ansible can be used to automate network device provisioning. Ansible can automate the configuration and provisioning of network devices, making it suitable for network automation.
Describe a use case for Ansible in network security. Ansible can automate security policy enforcement, patch management, and vulnerability scanning for network devices.
What is network automation testing, and how can Ansible assist in this area? Network automation testing involves verifying that network configurations and policies are applied correctly. Ansible can automate testing procedures to ensure network security and compliance.
How can Ansible be used to enforce network access control policies? Ansible can enforce network access control policies by automating the configuration of firewall rules, ACLs, and security groups.
Explain the role of Ansible in software-defined networking (SDN) and network virtualization. Ansible can automate the provisioning and management of SDN controllers and network virtualization environments, making it easier to scale and manage networks.

Ansible Troubleshooting and Debugging:

What are some common challenges and issues you might encounter when using Ansible? Common issues include SSH connectivity problems, playbook syntax errors, and misconfigured inventory files.
How can you troubleshoot Ansible playbooks that fail to execute correctly? Troubleshooting involves using verbose mode (-vvv), examining logs, and isolating tasks to identify the root cause of failures.
Explain how to debug Ansible playbooks using the debug module. The debug module allows you to print variable values or debug information during playbook execution to diagnose issues.
What is “idempotent execution,” and how can it help in troubleshooting Ansible tasks? Idempotent execution ensures that running a task multiple times has the same result as running it once, helping to avoid unexpected changes and simplifying troubleshooting.
Describe best practices for documenting Ansible playbooks and roles to aid troubleshooting and maintenance. Documentation should include clear descriptions of tasks, variables, and role dependencies, making it easier for team members to understand and troubleshoot Ansible code.

In conclusion, these 100 Ansible interview questions cover a wide range of topics, from basic Ansible concepts to more advanced automation strategies and use cases. Preparing for an Ansible interview with these questions and examples will help you demonstrate your expertise and readiness to tackle automation challenges in a variety of environments.