10 Ansible Best Practices Every DevOps Engineer Should Know

1. Use Roles for Organization

Organize your playbooks into reusable roles with a standard directory structure:

roles/
├── webserver/
│   ├── tasks/
│   ├── handlers/
│   ├── templates/
│   ├── files/
│   ├── vars/
│   └── defaults/

2. Always Use Version Control

Store your Ansible code in Git. This enables:

• Change tracking and history
• Collaboration with team members
• Rollback capabilities
• CI/CD integration

3. Leverage Ansible Vault for Secrets

Never commit plain-text passwords. Use Ansible Vault:

# Encrypt sensitive variables
ansible-vault encrypt vars/secrets.yml

# Use in playbook
ansible-playbook site.yml --ask-vault-pass

4. Make Playbooks Idempotent

Ensure playbooks can be run multiple times safely:

- name: Good - Idempotent
  apt:
    name: nginx
    state: present  # ✓ Safe to run multiple times

- name: Bad - Not idempotent
  shell: apt-get install nginx  # ✗ Might cause issues

5. Use Tags Strategically

Tag tasks for selective execution:

- name: Install packages
  apt:
    name: "{{ item }}"
  loop:
    - nginx
    - mysql
  tags: [install, packages]

- name: Configure services
  template:
    src: nginx.conf.j2
    dest: /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
  tags: [config]

6. Test with --check Mode

Always dry-run before executing in production:

ansible-playbook site.yml --check --diff

7. Use Meaningful Variable Names

# Good
nginx_worker_processes: 4
mysql_max_connections: 200

# Bad
wp: 4
mc: 200

8. Document Your Playbooks

Use comments and README files:

---
# Deploy web application stack
# Requirements: Ubuntu 20.04+, Python 3.8+
# Usage: ansible-playbook -i inventory deploy.yml

- name: Deploy web stack
  hosts: webservers
  # Install and configure nginx, php-fpm, and mysql

9. Limit Playbook Scope

Use --limit to target specific hosts:

# Test on staging first
ansible-playbook site.yml --limit staging

# Then production
ansible-playbook site.yml --limit production

10. Use Ansible Lint

Catch common mistakes before they cause problems:

pip install ansible-lint
ansible-lint playbook.yml

Conclusion

Following these best practices will help you write better Ansible automation that's maintainable, secure, and reliable. Start implementing them today and your future self will thank you!