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installation-and-setup

⚙️ Ansible Installation and Setup​

This guide will walk you through installing Ansible, creating an Ansible-specific user, and setting up SSH key-based authentication for seamless automation.

🖥️ Overview: Control Node vs Target Nodes​

  • ✅ Ansible Server (Control Node):

    • Install Ansible.
    • Generate SSH keys.
    • Configure inventory.
    • Run playbooks.

  • 🎯 Target Machines (Managed Nodes):

    • Create an ansible user.
    • Allow SSH access.
    • Provide sudo privileges (optional but recommended).
    • Ensure Python is installed (required by Ansible modules).

🖥️ Step 1: Install Ansible on Control Node​

🔹 On Ubuntu / Debian​

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ansible

🔹 On CentOS / RHEL​

sudo dnf install -y epel-release
sudo dnf install -y ansible

🔹 On MacOS (via Homebrew)​

brew install ansible

You can verify installation with:

ansible --version

👤 Step 2: Create Ansible User on Target Nodes​

Run these commands on each target machine:

sudo adduser ansible
sudo usermod -aG sudo ansible

⚠️ Ensure that the sudo group is correctly set for privilege escalation.

🔐 Step 3: Set Up SSH Key-Based Authentication​

🔹 On the Control Node:​

Generate an SSH key:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "ansible@control"

Accept the default path (~/.ssh/id_rsa).

🔹 Copy the public key to each Target Node:​

ssh-copy-id ansible@<managed-node-ip>

🔑 This adds your public key to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file of the ansible user on the managed host.

🔹 Test the connection:​

ssh ansible@<managed-node-ip>

You should be logged in without needing a password.

📁 Step 4: Create Inventory File on Control Node​

Create a simple hosts.ini file:

[webservers]
192.168.1.101
192.168.1.102

Test a ping:

ansible -i hosts.ini all -m ping -u ansible

Expected output:

192.168.1.101 | SUCCESS => {
    "changed": false,
    "ping": "pong"
}

✅ Summary​

🔵 On the Control Node:

  • Install Ansible.
  • Generate and manage SSH keys.
  • Set up and manage inventory.
  • Run and test Ansible commands.

🟢 On Target Nodes:

  • Create ansible user.
  • Enable SSH access.
  • Grant sudo privileges.
  • Make sure Python is installed.

With this setup, you are now ready to write and execute Ansible playbooks!