An Ansible inventory identifies the managed hosts that automation targets. It is usually a YAML file and may organize hosts into groups with variables assigned to individual hosts or groups. section 25.2.1 section 25.3
Use the inventory as the host foundation for Ansible automation:
- Define the hosts Ansible manages. section 25.3
- Organize hosts into groups for shared targeting and variables. section 25.2.1
- Connect inventory targets to playbooks, which define management tasks and procedures. section 25.2.1
Figure 25.5 Basic Ansible operations. Inventory, template, and variable files define configurations, and playbooks define actions. The control node uses SSH to connect and push configurations to managed devices.
Trace how inventory, templates, variables, and playbooks combine at the control node before SSH pushes configurations to managed devices. section 25.2.1
