# Ansible hello world

You want to start with ansible? Good luck. Bye… Oh no! I’m writing a blog. I must help you. Let’s start.

# Install Ansible

I assume you have python3 / pip / virtualenv working on your system. We don’t want to mess up, so we’re going to use virtualenv.

```bash
virtualenv venv
. venv/bin/activate
pip install ansible
```

That’s it. You can check it out typing `ansible --version`.

# Config file.

Create a config file. `ansible.cfg` in your working directory.

```ini
[defaults]
inventory = testinv.yaml
interpreter_python = auto_silent
nocows = true
```

Let me explain.

`[defaults]` - most of interesting settings goes to this section.

`inventory` - our inventory. We’ll create it in the next step.

`interpreter_python` - suppresses warning about python interpreter.

`nocows` - suppresses using cowsay for displaying messages. Use at your own risk. ;)

# Inventory

Let’s create `testinv.yaml` file. You can also use ini format. I prefer yaml. Up to you.

```yaml
---
all:
  children:
    testgroup:
      hosts:
        testhost:
          ansible_connection: local
```

`all` - the root group name. Everything goes there.

`children` - a group can have subgroups. List them under `children`

`testgoup` - our actual group name

`hosts` - of course group can contain hosts…

`testhosts` - a host. A kind of fake hosts for testing purpose. Normally the names must be resolvable in DNS. Or in `/etc/hosts`. Or be IP addresses.

`ansible_connaction` - Describes way of connecting the host. `local` means localhost. Everything will be executed locally. It means the name from previous line doesn’t really matter.

# The first playbook

Let’s create the file - `hello.yaml'`. Yes. While using ansible - you’re and yaml developer.

```yaml
---
- hosts: testgroup
  tasks:
    - debug:
        msg: Hello World!
```

Quite obvious. The playbook is executed on all boxes listed in the `testgoup` group. We’re going to display “Hello World!” message.

# Run it

The command is simple:

```bash
ansible-playbook hello.yaml
```

If you’re lucky and did not make any silly mistake - you’ll see:

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1766267466657/f8eea1ff-8723-4be9-a550-82945f95a21f.png align="center")

That’s it. I hereby declare you and automation guru. Congratulations.