Let’s use a more flexible directory structure for an Ansible project

Ansible is an open-source automation tool that allows you to automate IT tasks such as configuration management, application deployment, and orchestration. Ansible uses a simple YAML syntax called playbooks to define automation tasks.

With tweaking our project directory a bit we can achieve a very flexible and comfortable structure.

Ansible playbooks are organized into directories and files that define the structure of our automation project. The directory structure of our Ansible project can have a significant impact on how easy it is to manage our automation tasks.

The advanced directory structure for Ansible projects includes several directories and files that help us organize our playbooks and other automation files.

Here’s an example of an advanced directory structure for an Ansible project:

myproject/
├── ansible.cfg
├── inventory/
│   ├── production/
│   │   ├── group_vars/
│   │   │   └── all
│   │   ├── host_vars/
│   │   │   ├── host1.yml
│   │   │   └── host2.yml
│   │   └── hosts
│   └── staging/
│       ├── group_vars/
│       │   └── all
│       ├── host_vars/
│       │   ├── host3.yml
│       │   └── host4.yml
│       └── hosts
├── library/
├── roles/
│   ├── common/
│   │   ├── files/
│   │   ├── handlers/
│   │   ├── meta/
│   │   ├── tasks/
│   │   ├── templates/
│   │   └── vars/
│   └── webservers/
│       ├── files/
│       ├── handlers/
│       ├── meta/
│       ├── tasks/
│       ├── templates/
│       └── vars/
├── site.yml
└── vars/

Here is what each directory does:

• ansible.cfg: This file contains configuration settings for Ansible.
• inventory/: This directory contains inventory files that define the hosts and groups that Ansible will manage.
• library/: This directory contains custom modules that we can use in your playbooks.
• roles/: This directory contains reusable collections of tasks, files, templates, and variables that we can use in our playbooks.
• site.yml: This file defines the main playbook for our project.
• vars/: This directory contains variable files that we can use in our playbooks.

Using this advanced directory structure can help us organize our Ansible projects more effectively and make it easier to manage our automation tasks.