Ansible Configuration Settings

Let's dive into the most common configuration settings used in the ansible.cfg file. This file plays a crucial role in customizing Ansible's behavior. Here are some key points and settings:

1. Configuration File Locations:

   • Ansible searches for configuration files in the following order:

     • Environment Variable (ANSIBLE_CONFIG): If set, Ansible looks for the path specified in the ANSIBLE_CONFIG environment variable.

     • Current Directory (ansible.cfg): Ansible checks for an ansible.cfg file in the current working directory.

     • User-Specific (~/.ansible.cfg): The user-specific configuration file takes precedence over the system-wide configuration. Customize it to your needs.

     • System-Wide (/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg): The system-wide configuration file applies to all users.

   • Ansible processes this list and uses the first file found, ignoring the others.

2. INI Format:

   • The ansible.cfg file follows an INI format.

   • Both the hash sign (#) and semicolon (;) are allowed as comment markers when the comment starts the line.

   • If the comment is inline with regular values, only the semicolon is allowed to introduce the comment. For example:

     # Some basic default values...
     inventory = /etc/ansible/hosts  ; This points to the file that lists your hosts

3. Generating a Sample ansible.cfg File:

   • You can create a fully commented-out example ansible.cfg file using the following commands:

     • Generate a minimal file:

       $ ansible-config init --disabled > ansible.cfg

     • Generate a more complete file that includes existing plugins:

       $ ansible-config init --disabled -t all > ansible.cfg

   • Use these generated files as starting points to create your own customized ansible.cfg.

4. Security Considerations:

   • Avoid placing ansible.cfg in a world-writable current working directory. Loading a config file from such a directory could create security risks.

   • Restrict access to your Ansible directories to specific users or groups to mitigate this risk.

Reference

official Ansible documentation