Ansible Interview Questions and Answers

Ques 1. Explain the difference between Ansible and other configuration management tools.

Ansible is agentless, uses simple YAML syntax, and doesn't require a master-server setup. Other tools like Puppet and Chef rely on agents and a master-server architecture.

Ques 2. Explain the role of an Ansible Handler.

An Ansible Handler is a special task triggered only if another task changes a system state. Handlers are used to restart services or perform similar actions after a change.

Ques 3. What is the purpose of Ansible roles?

Roles in Ansible provide a way to organize and reuse code. They consist of tasks, handlers, variables, and other related files structured in a directory hierarchy.

Ques 4. Explain the concept of idempotence in Ansible.

Idempotence means that the result of an operation is the same regardless of how many times it is executed. Ansible plays and tasks should be designed to be idempotent.

Ques 5. How can you encrypt sensitive data in Ansible?

Ansible provides the 'ansible-vault' command to encrypt sensitive data, such as passwords and secret keys.

Example:

ansible-vault encrypt secret.yml

Ques 6. Explain Ansible facts.

Ansible facts are pieces of system information collected during playbook execution. They provide details about the target system, such as hardware, network, and OS.

Ques 7. What is the purpose of the 'notify' keyword in Ansible?

The 'notify' keyword is used to trigger handlers. It specifies a task or a list of tasks to be executed if the associated task results in a change.

Example:

notify: restart apache

Ques 8. What is the purpose of the 'register' keyword in Ansible?

The 'register' keyword is used to capture the output of a task and store it in a variable. This variable can be used later in the playbook.

Example:

register: result

Ques 9. Explain Ansible dynamic inventories.

Dynamic inventories in Ansible are scripts or programs that generate inventory information dynamically. They are useful in dynamic or cloud environments.

Ques 10. What is the purpose of the 'when' keyword in Ansible?

The 'when' keyword is a conditional statement in Ansible. It is used to execute a task based on a specified condition, improving playbook flexibility.

Example:

when: ansible_os_family == 'Debian'

Ques 11. Explain the purpose of Ansible Tower.

Ansible Tower is a web-based UI and API for managing Ansible. It provides a dashboard, role-based access control, job scheduling, and other features.

Ques 12. Explain the purpose of Ansible Facts caching.

Ansible Facts caching is the process of storing facts about remote systems locally to improve performance. It reduces the need to gather facts on each playbook run.

Ques 13. What is the purpose of the 'delegate_to' keyword in Ansible?

The 'delegate_to' keyword is used to run a task on a different host than the one specified in the playbook. It is useful for offloading tasks to specific hosts.

Example:

delegate_to: backup_server

Ques 14. Explain Ansible dynamic variables.

Dynamic variables in Ansible are variables whose values are generated or fetched dynamically during playbook execution. They provide flexibility in configuration.

Ques 15. Explain Ansible Tower Workflows.

Ansible Tower Workflows allow the creation of complex job workflows by combining multiple playbooks and job templates. They provide a visual representation of the workflow.