What is Ansible and how do I use it in Linux DevOps

Ansible is an open-source automation tool that simplifies cloud provisioning, configuration management, and application deployment. It's designed to automate manual processes, increase efficiency, and reduce the likelihood of errors in IT operations.

In a Linux DevOps environment, Ansible can be utilized for automating tasks such as:

• Provisioning servers and instances
• Configuration management
• Application deployment
• Orchestration of complex workflows

To get started with Ansible, you need to follow these steps:

1. Install Ansible on your control machine.
2. Create an inventory file that lists the servers you want to manage.
3. Write playbooks, which are YAML files containing the tasks you want to automate.
4. Run the playbooks using the ansible-playbook command.

Here’s a simple example of an Ansible playbook that installs Apache on a target server:

- hosts: webservers
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Install Apache
      apt: 
        name: apache2 
        state: present
    - name: Start Apache Service
      service:
        name: apache2
        state: started
        enabled: yes