Ansible Playbook Structure and Variables Flashcards

What Ansible keyword allows you to iterate over a list of items in a task?

Answer: loop

The 'loop' keyword (introduced in Ansible 2.5) is the modern way to iterate over a list in a task, replacing older 'with_*' constructs.

How do you register the output of a task into a variable in Ansible?

Answer: Use the 'register' keyword followed by the variable name

The 'register' keyword captures a task's return value into a named variable for use in subsequent tasks.

What is the function of 'block', 'rescue', and 'always' in an Ansible playbook?

Answer: They provide structured error handling—block runs tasks, rescue handles failures, always runs regardless of outcome

'block/rescue/always' implements try/catch/finally style error handling in Ansible playbooks.

In Ansible, what is the difference between 'import_tasks' and 'include_tasks'?

Answer: import_tasks is static (parsed upfront) enabling full tag/check-mode support; include_tasks is dynamic allowing variable-based file names

Static imports are processed at parse time (full feature support), while dynamic includes are processed at runtime (conditional file selection).

What does the 'notify' directive do in an Ansible task, and when does the notified handler execute?

Answer: It triggers a named handler to run at the end of the play, but only if the notifying task reported a change

Handlers are triggered by 'notify' and run once at the end of the play, only when the notifying task made a change.

What is the purpose of the 'delegate_to' directive in an Ansible task?

Answer: It runs the task on a different host than the one currently being processed

'delegate_to' redirects task execution to a specified host while maintaining the context (variables, facts) of the current target host.