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Connection

ansible -i hosts.ini all -m ping
Test connectivity to all hosts defined in the inventory file

ansible-playbook -i hosts.ini playbook.yml
Run a playbook on hosts defined in the inventory file

ansible host -m setup
Gather facts about a specific host

ansible-playbook playbook.yml --limit host
Run a playbook on a specific host

Ad-hoc Commands

ansible all -m command -a 'uptime'
Run the uptime command on all hosts

ansible all -m shell -a 'ls -la /var/log'
Run a shell command on all hosts

ansible all -m copy -a 'src=/local/path dest=/remote/path'
Copy a file to all hosts

ansible all -m file -a 'path=/remote/path state=absent'
Delete a file on all hosts

ansible all -m apt -a 'name=nginx state=present'
Install nginx on Debian/Ubuntu hosts

Playbook Execution

ansible-playbook playbook.yml
Run a playbook

ansible-playbook playbook.yml --check
Perform a dry run without making changes

ansible-playbook playbook.yml --diff
Show differences in changed files

ansible-playbook playbook.yml --tags=tag1,tag2
Run only tasks with specific tags

ansible-playbook playbook.yml --skip-tags=tag1,tag2
Skip tasks with specific tags

ansible-playbook playbook.yml -v
Run with verbose output (-v, -vv, -vvv for more verbosity)

Inventory Management

ansible-inventory --list
List all hosts in inventory

ansible-inventory --graph
Show inventory hosts as a graph

ansible-inventory --host=hostname
Show variables for a specific host

Vault Operations

ansible-vault create file.yml
Create a new encrypted file

ansible-vault edit file.yml
Edit an encrypted file

ansible-vault encrypt file.yml
Encrypt an existing file

ansible-vault decrypt file.yml
Decrypt an encrypted file

ansible-playbook playbook.yml --ask-vault-pass
Run a playbook and prompt for vault password

Troubleshooting

ansible-playbook playbook.yml --syntax-check
Check playbook syntax

ansible-playbook playbook.yml --step
Run playbook step by step

ansible-config dump
Show Ansible configuration

ansible-doc -l
List all available modules

ansible-doc module_name
Get help for a specific module