Answer:- Ansible is an open-source tool that automates and streamlines mundane, time-consuming tasks like configuration management, provisioning, and application deployment. It can also provide resources, install services and applications within your cloud.

Answer:- • No agent requirement: Ansible does not require any agents installed on the remote servers. It is an agentless, control-node based automation tool that runs on a control node which remotely administrates Unix or Linux machines and other systems from the control node using SSH authentication. Ansible is also a vendor or consultant’s best choice because of its ability to manage systems without installing new agents. • Better network security: Ansible is less vulnerable to attacks because it doesn’t require any remote server agents. The only software you need to execute is the OpenSSH daemon or the WinRM service, which are both among the most critically acclaimed services in the world and form the backbone of encrypted communication access on their respective platforms. • A modular automation tool: Ansible automates, deploys, configures, and orchestrates IT infrastructure using modules. Ansible has roughly 750+ modules built-in.Modules (also known as task or library plugins) are small pieces of code that can be run from the command line or a playbook job. Ansible runs each module usually on the remote-controlled node and collects the resultant values. • Python support: In order to cater to a wide range of machines, Ansible is able to detect and use Python on many platforms that come with it. You may control nodes with the Ansible Python API, allow Ansible to respond to various Python events, develop plugins, and import inventory data from external data sources. • Ansible Playbooks and YAML: Playbooks can finely manage different phases of your infrastructure mesh, with precise control over how many computers to tackle at any given point of time. It makes use of a quite plain language, YAML, in the form of Ansible Playbooks, which allow you to identify your automation tasks in a pattern similar to layman terms.

Answer:- • In comparison to some of its more well-known competitors, Ansible is still in its early stages as an open-source automation tool. It often requires the need to create new modules or use them for other purposes. • Ansible is dependent on Python modules on the system that runs the ansible tasks and on the host that runs the playbooks. So, you can’t use Ansible on a host machine without making a provision for it. • In case you have a playbook with a lot of tasks to run, it will run tasks one at a time which can be a time-consuming process due to the long time taken between each individual task. • One of the major drawbacks of this automation tool is its lack of proper Windows support. Ansible employs native Windows PowerShell remoting rather than SSH in the case of Windows. In short, if you want to manage Windows hosts, you’ll need a Linux-controlled machine. • Ansible Tower, which is an upgrade from the previous GUI known as AWX, leaves a lot to be desired. The problems include inconsistent query results generated often to the UI being out of sync with the command line. Overall, it still cant keep up with the command line interface.

Answer:- Configuration management refers to the process of keeping computer systems, servers, and software in a well maintained state. It’s a method of ensuring that a system continues to perform as expected despite the changes occur over time.

Answer:- The automated configuration, coordination and management of applications, systems, and services is referred to as orchestration. IT can more easily manage and control workflows and complex tasks with orchestration.

Answer:- Infrastructure as Code (IaC) is the process of provisioning and managing infrastructure via code rather than manual processes.

Answer:- Ansible connects to your nodes and sends small units, known as modules, to them. In Ansible, modules are used to complete automation tasks. These units are designed to be resource models for the suitable state of system. Ansible then runs these modules and then gets rid of them once theyre done.

Answer:- The “CI” in CI/CD stands for continuous integration, which is an automation procedure used by the developers. The “CD” in CI/CD stands for continuous delivery or continuous deployment, referring to the automation process in later phases of the pipeline.

Answer:- Ansible playbooks are pre-written code that developers can use on the fly or as a starting point. Ansible playbooks are used to automate complicated IT tasks, infrastructure (like operating system/Kubernetes platforms), security systems, and networks on a regular basis. An Ansible inventory is made up of a group, classification, or set of hosts that are all executed by Ansible playbooks.

Answer:- Ansible Galaxy is a collection of Ansible Roles that can be brought directly into your Playbooks to speed up your automation projects.

Answer:- In its codebase, Ansible supports a variety of module types. Some of these are meant for backward compatibility, while others provide flexibility. • Action Plugins Action plugins may seem like modules while using playbooks, however, both of them are different. Some action plugins handle everything, while the modules only give out the documentation. Some of these plugins even execute modules. The documentation for the majority of action plugins is to be found in a module with the same name. The controller is where all the action plugins run. • New style modules Modules that get shipped with Ansible come under this category. All official Ansible modules use Windows PowerShell or Python. New-style modules come with module arguments, while old-style modules require copying another folder to a controlled node which reduces the efficiency and requires two over the wired connectivity.

Answer:- Ansible Tower (previously known as AWX) is an internet-based solution that makes Ansible easier to use for IT departments of all types. Its intended to serve as the central hub for all of your automation projects.

Answer:- Ansible was built for multi-level deployments, and instead of managing one system at a time, it models your IT infrastructure by defining how all of your systems interact.

Answer:- Ad-hoc commands are one-line commands that are used to accomplish a particular task. Ad Hoc commands can be thought of as a replacement for playbooks. The following is an example of an Ad Hoc command: ansible host -m netscaler -a "nsc_host=nsc.xyz.com user=apiuser password=apipass" The above Ad Hoc command terminates the server by accessing the netscaler module.