Ansible Playbook Structure and Variables Flashcards

In an Ansible playbook, what is the purpose of the 'become: true' directive?

Answer: It enables privilege escalation so tasks run as a different user (e.g., root)

'become: true' enables privilege escalation, typically via sudo, allowing tasks to run as root or another privileged user.

What is the difference between 'import_playbook' and 'include_playbook' in Ansible?

Answer: import_playbook is static (processed at parse time) while include_playbook is dynamic (processed at runtime)

Static imports are processed when the playbook is parsed, enabling features like --list-tasks. Dynamic includes are processed during execution, enabling conditional logic.

How do you reference a variable named 'app_port' inside a task's module arguments in an Ansible playbook?

Answer: {{ app_port }}

Ansible uses Jinja2 templating syntax with double curly braces to reference variables within task arguments.

What keyword in a playbook task definition allows you to run a task only when a specific condition is true?

Answer: when

The 'when' keyword evaluates a Jinja2 expression and only runs the task if it evaluates to true.

What is the purpose of 'vars_prompt' in an Ansible playbook?

Answer: It prompts the user for variable values interactively at playbook runtime

'vars_prompt' enables interactive playbook runs by asking the user to enter values for specified variables before task execution begins.

In Ansible, what is a 'magic variable' and which one contains the hostname of the current managed host?

Answer: Magic variables are special built-in variables set by Ansible; 'inventory_hostname' contains the current host's name

'inventory_hostname' is a magic variable that holds the name of the current host as defined in the inventory.