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A highly popular DevOps tool, Ansible, is a product from Red Hat and has multiple features. And as automation has become a vital part of the software cycle, tools like Ansible are just making the process simpler and simpler.
Ansible has become a part of many tech interviews due to its popularity. You'll need to be well-prepped if you’re getting ready for an interview based on the tool. To help you out, we have listed some of the most important Ansible interview questions and answers.
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In this article, we’ll be covering:
If you’re a beginner looking to get an entry-level job at the company, here are some sample Ansible interview questions and answers:
An open-source platform, Ansible carries out configuration management, task automation, or application deployment. It's a valuable DevOps tool written using Python and powered by Red Hat.
Some advantages of using Ansible are:
Ansible is the ideal platform for both these processes because it gives them a stable infrastructure to supply the target environment and then deploy the application.
A unit action of Ansible is known as a task. This action helps break down a configuration policy into smaller blocks of code or files. These blocks help in automating a process.
For instance, when installing a package or updating software.
Install <package_name>, update <software_name>
Simple, one-line commands that are given to carry out specific tasks are called Ad-hoc commands. These commands can be thought of as an alternative to writing playbooks. One example of an Adhoc command has been given below:
ansible host -m netscaler -a "nsc_host=nsc.example.com user=apiuser password=apipass"
If you’re applying for a mid-level job, some Ansible interview questions and answers are:
An important feature of Ansible, idempotency, helps prevent unnecessary changes in the managed hosts. Idempotency executes one or more tasks on a server however many times you need to.
But it doesn’t do anything if it has already been modified or if it’s working correctly. To put it simply, the only changes that’ll be added are those that are needed and not already in place.
To communicate with configured clients, Ansible uses the command line that’s available using the Ansible commands. This command lets you automate configuration with the help of the ansible-playbook command.
Now, to build a base directory structure, you can take the help of a tool coupled with Ansible called ansible-galaxy.
For creating encrypted files, the ‘ansible-vault create’ command is used. For example:
$ ansible-vault create filename.yaml
After that, a prompt will pop up for you to create a password and then input it again for confirmation. You’ll then be able to access the file and add and edit the data.
Ask_pass module is a playbook control module that controls password prompts. By default, it is set to True.
Newly discovered and known system variables, Facts can be found in the playbooks. They are used for the implementation of conditional executions. Further, they also put together ad-hoc system information.
Using the following command, all the facts will be at your disposal:
$ ansible all- m setup
When applying for more senior-level positions, the following type of Ansible questions and answers need to be prepared:
In cases where an extensive playbook is involved, it is deemed more appropriate to run only a certain part of it as opposed to the playbook in its entirety. This is what tags are used for.
The synchronize module is like rsync in Linux machines that are used in playbooks. The features are similar to rsync, such as compress, delete, etc. However, a few limitations are there as well, such as:
A handler is like a regular task in a playbook in Ansible. But it runs only if a task alerts the handler. Handlers are loaded automatically by roles/<role_name>/handlers/main.yaml.
These are run just once, after the completion of all the tasks in a particular play.
Ansible can be upgraded pretty easily. All you need to do is use the command: sudo pip install ansible==<version-number>
If a situation arises where you need to keep secret data but at the same time share it publicly as well, use Vault in playbooks. However, if you’re using -v (verbose) mode and don’t want it to be seen by anyone, then you can use:
name: secret task
shell: /usr/bin/do_something --value={{ secret_value }}
no_log: True
Similar Ansible interview questions will be asked in your tech interview. So make sure that you prepare these questions properly and practice some mock interviews.
Also, if you’re looking to switch career paths, read Best IT Career Paths for Software Professionals in 2022.
Q1. How many modules are there in Ansible?
Ansible consists of a massive toolbox of built-in modules and has well over 750 of them.
Q2. What are Ansible's roles?
Ansible roles let you build reusable automation components by putting them together and encapsulating related automation artifacts, like configuration files, templates, tasks, and handlers.
Q3. Why is Ansible used?
Ansible is a platform or an open-source automation tool used for carrying out IT tasks such as configuration management, application deployment, intra-service orchestration, and provisioning.
Q4. What is Ansible pipelining?
The modern Ansible method that involves the speeding up of your ssh connections across the network to the managed hosts is called pipelining. It is used in place of the former Accelerated Mode.
Q5. What are the components of Ansible?
The different components of Ansible are — inventory, playbooks, plays, tasks, roles, handlers, templates, and variables.
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