Chapter 11: Ansible Introduction
11.2 Inventory — who are we configuring?
Inventory lists hosts and groups. INI style (simple labs):
# inventory/hosts.ini
[badge-api_web]
lab1 ansible_host=203.0.113.10 ansible_user=ec2-user
[badge-api_web:vars]
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3
YAML inventory is also common. Use your real lab IP/DNS name — the sample IP above is documentation-style, not a promise about your account.
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
Group [badge-api_web] |
Logical set of hosts |
ansible_host |
Address SSH reaches |
ansible_user |
SSH login user |
| Group vars | Shared settings for the group |
SSH keys should already work (ssh ec2-user@…). Ansible reuses that trust. If SSH fails, fix SSH first — do not blame YAML yet.
Practice task
Write a two-host inventory group badge-api_web with fake lab hostnames and a shared ansible_user. Mark which line is the group name.