Ansible Inventory & Configuration Management Flashcards

What makes an inventory script 'dynamic' in Ansible?

Answer: It is executable and returns JSON inventory data when called

A dynamic inventory script must be executable and output valid JSON when called with --list or --host arguments.

Which command-line argument does Ansible pass to a dynamic inventory script to retrieve all hosts and groups?

Answer: --list

Ansible calls the dynamic inventory script with --list to get a full JSON structure of all groups, hosts, and variables.

In a YAML inventory file, how do you define a host with a variable?

Answer: hosts:\n server1:\n ansible_user: admin

YAML inventory uses a nested structure under 'hosts' where each host key can have variable key-value pairs beneath it.

What special group in Ansible contains every host in the inventory?

Answer: all

The built-in 'all' group implicitly contains every host defined in the inventory.

Which Ansible command can be used to verify and display the parsed inventory?

Answer: ansible-inventory --list

The ansible-inventory --list command outputs the fully parsed inventory as JSON, useful for debugging.

Which inventory variable sets the Python interpreter Ansible uses on a managed host?

Answer: ansible_python_interpreter

Setting ansible_python_interpreter tells Ansible which Python binary to use on the target host (e.g., /usr/bin/python3).