In a nutshell, handlers are special tasks that only get executed when triggered via the notify directive. Handlers are executed at the end of the play, once all tasks are finished. In Ansible, handlers are typically u...

Templates allow you to create new files on the nodes using predefined models based on the Jinja2 templating system. Ansible templates are typically saved as .tpl files and support the use of variables, loops, and cond...

If you were following along with all parts of this series, at this point you should be familiar with installing system packages, applying templates, and using handlers in Ansible playbooks. In this guide, you'll creat...

Automating the installation of required system packages is a common operational task in Ansible playbooks, since a typical application stack requires software from different sources. In this guide, learn more about ho...

It is important to understand how privilege escalation works in Ansible, so that you're able to execute your tasks with appropriate permissions. By default, tasks will run as the connecting user - this might be either...

When automating server setup, sometimes you'll need to repeat the execution of the same task using different values. For instance, you may need to change permissions of multiple files, or create multiple users. To avo...

In Ansible, you can define conditions that will be evaluated before a task is executed. When a condition is not met, the task is then skipped. This is done with the "when" keyword, which accepts expressions that are t...

By default, before starting to execute the set of tasks defined in a playbook, Ansible will take a few moments to gather information about the systems that are being provisioned. These are known as facts. Ansible fact...

Ansible supports the use of variables to better customize the execution of tasks and playbooks. This way, it’s possible to use the same playbook with different targets and environments. Variables can come from differe...

A task is the smaller unit of action you can automate using an Ansible playbook. Playbooks typically contain a series of tasks that serve a goal, such as to set up a web server, or to deploy an application to remote e...

Playbooks use the YAML format to define one or more plays. A play is a set of ordered tasks that are arranged in a way to automate a process, such as setting up a web server or deploying an application to production. ...

Composer is an open source dependency management tool for PHP, created primarily to facilitate the distribution and maintenance of PHP packages as individual application components. It has dramatically changed the PHP...

Docker is a popular open source containerization tool used to provide a portable and consistent runtime environment for software applications, while consuming less resources than a traditional server or virtual machin...

A container is a minimalist, isolated user-space environment that runs at the operating system level and shares system resources with other instances. Containers are designed to provide a portable and consistent runti...

A virtual machine, also commonly referred to as VM, is a guest system running on top of a virtualization software or hypervisor. VirtualBox, VMWare, and QEMU are examples of popular tools that are able to emulate netw...

Ansible is an open source configuration management tool that provides a minimalist server automation framework based on YAML definitions. Its simplified infrastructure requirements and accessible syntax helped make An...

Configuration management is the process of handling changes to a system in a way that assures integrity over time, typically involving tools and processes that facilitate automation and observability. Even though this...

Laravel is a free and open-source PHP framework that provides a set of tools and resources to build modern PHP applications. With a complete ecosystem leveraging its built-in features, and a variety of compatible pack...

The LEMP software stack is a group of software that can be used to serve dynamic web pages and web applications written in PHP. This is an acronym that describes a Linux operating system, with an Nginx (pronounced lik...