Ansible

Setup openssh (prerequisites) Before using ansible to manage windows, make sure that openssh is installed and enabled. If not, you can use this powershell script to do so: $sshServer = Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object Name -like 'OpenSSH.Server*' if ($sshServer.State -ne 'Installed') { Write-Host "Installing OpenSSH Server..." Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name $sshServer.Name } else { Write-Host "OpenSSH Server is already installed." } # Set default shell to powershell for ansible if (-not (Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) { Write-Host "Set default shell to powershell..." New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShell -Value "C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -PropertyType String -Force New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" -Name DefaultShellCommandOption -Value "/c" -PropertyType String -Force } else { Write-Host "Default shell already configured." } # Optional: Reconfigure the firewall to allow SSH traffic to port 2222 (default one is 22) Write-Host "Configuring firewall to allow SSH traffic..." Remove-NetFirewallRule -Name "OpenSSH-Server-In-TCP" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue New-NetFirewallRule -Name "OpenSSH-Server-In-TCP" -Description "Inbound rule for OpenSSH SSH Server (sshd)" -DisplayName "OpenSSH Server (sshd)" -Group "OpenSSH Server" -Enabled True -Direction Inbound -Protocol TCP -Action Allow -LocalPort 2222 # Start the OpenSSH server service Write-Host "Starting OpenSSH Server service..." Restart-Service sshd ## Set the OpenSSH server service to start automatically on boot Write-Host "Configuring OpenSSH Server service to start automatically..." Set-Service -Name sshd -StartupType 'Automatic' Write-Host "OpenSSH setup completed." Run one command ansible -m win_shell -a "hostname" win_group That’s it! ...

NB: As an example, the machines are defined in file inventory.yaml with the following content: # VMs all: hosts: vm01: vm02: vm03: vm04: vm05: vm06: # Groups dev: hosts: vm01: vm02: test: hosts: vm03: vm04: prod: hosts: vm05: vm06: # Parent Groups lan: children: dev: test: wan: children: prod: ⚠ If you did not name your inventory file inventory.yaml at root folder, you’ll need to add the argument -i <inventory_filename> to all the commands in the following post. ...

Type of data structures Since Ansible is based on Python. There are two main data structures in Ansible: list and dictionary. List Initialization of a list - name: Initialize an empty list set_fact: list: [] Result is: {"list": []} Append element to a list - name: Append element to list set_fact: list: "{{ list + [ 'element_1' ] }}" Result is: {"list": ["element_1"]} Append multiple elements to a list - name: Get list of files in current directory shell: "ls" register: ls_files - name: Append filtered elements (only yaml file) to list set_fact: list: "{{ list + [ item ] }}" loop: "{{ ls_files.stdout_lines }}" when: "'yaml' in item" Result is: {"list": ["element_1", "list.yaml"]} if your current directory is for instance composed of: ...