Ansible provdies a rich set of built-in modules for automating system administration tasks. You can list all available modules with ansible-doc -l and view detailed documentation for any module using ansible-doc <module_name>.

ping

Verifies connectivity to target hosts.

ansible all -m ping

command

Executes commands on remote nodes without invoking a shell.

Key parameters:

• chdir: Change directory before running the command.
• creates: Skip execution if the specified file exists.
• removes: Skip execution if the specified file does not exist.
• warn: Suppress warnings about potential security issues.

ansible all -m command -a "date"
ansible zxserver -a "chdir=/tmp ls"
ansible zxserver -a "creates=/tmp/flag.txt echo 'done'"

copy

Copies files or directories from the control node too managed hosts.

Common options:

• src: Local path to source file or directory.
• content: Inline content to write too destination file.
• dest: Absolute path on the remote host.
• backup: Create a backup before overwriting.
• mode, owner, group: Set file permissions and ownership.

ansible all -m copy -a 'src=/etc/hosts dest=/tmp/hosts mode=644'
ansible zxserver -m copy -a 'content="Managed by Ansible" dest=/etc/motd'
ansible zxserver -m copy -a 'src=/app/config.ini dest=/etc/app.conf backup=yes'

yum

Manages packages on RHEL/CentOS systems.

Key parameters:

• name: Package name or group.
• state: Desired state (present, absent, latest).
• update_cache: Refresh metadata before installing.

ansible all -m yum -a "name=htop state=present"

file

Manages files, directories, and symbolic links.

Important options:

• path: Target path (required).
• state: Type of object (file, directory, link, absent, touch).
• recurse: Apply recursively to directories.
• src: Source path for symbolic links.

ansible zxserver -m file -a "path=/opt/data state=directory owner=appuser"
ansible zxserver -m file -a "path=/var/log/app.log state=touch mode=0600"
ansible zxserver -m file -a "src=/usr/bin/python3 dest=/usr/local/bin/python state=link"
ansible zxserver -m file -a "path=/tmp/tempfile state=absent"

user

Manages user accounts.

ansible grp1 -m user -a "name=jdoe shell=/bin/bash"
ansible grp1 -m user -a "name=jdoe state=absent remove=yes"

cron

Manages scheduled jobs in crontab.

Parameters include time fields (minute, hour, etc.), job, user, and special_time (e.g., reboot, daily).

ansible zxserver -m cron -a 'name="cleanup" hour=2 minute=0 job="/usr/local/bin/clean.sh"'
ansible zxserver -m cron -a 'name="onboot" special_time=reboot job="/sbin/modprobe mydriver"'

shell

Executes commands through the shell, enabling pipes, redirects, and environment variables.

ansible zxserver -m shell -a "echo 'Hello' > /tmp/greeting && chmod 600 /tmp/greeting"

service

Controls system services.

Key options:

• name: Service name.
• state: started, stopped, restarted, reloaded.
• enabled: Enable/disable at boot.

ansible zxserver -m service -a "name=nginx state=started enabled=yes"

get_url

Downloads files from HTTP/HTTPS/FTP servers.

ansible zxserver -m get_url -a "url=https://example.com/config.yaml dest=/etc/myapp/config.yaml"