Best practice

Check syntax 

Check syntax of the playbook

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml --syntax-check

Install yamllint to use the default validation of the created handlers and assembled data. See the variables cl_assemble_validate and cl_handlers_validate in defaults/main.yml. Optionally, use other linter, for example, ansible-lint and change the variables. You can disable the validation by clearing the variables

cl_assemble_validate: ''
cl_handlers_validate: ''

Setup 

Create handlers and assemble data. When you take a look at tasks/main.yml you’ll see that tasks/vars.yml is tagged always. As a result, when you apply the tag cl_setup these tasks will be executed too

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_setup

Vars 

Assemble data.

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_vars

Note

tasks/vars.yml is tagged always.

Sanity 

Test sanity

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_sanity

Debug 

Display variables

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_debug -e cl_debug=true

Manage packages 

Dry-run the management of packages

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_packages -CD

Manage packages

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_packages

Then disable the installation cl_install=false to speedup the playbook execution.

Manage states of files 

Dry-run the management of files’ states

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_states -CD

Set the states (existence and attributes) of the files

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_states

Manage configuration files 

Dry-run the configuration of files

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_files -CD

Create and modify files

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_files

Manage services 

Dry-run the configuration of services

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_services -CD

Configure services

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -t cl_services

Hint

If you know what you are doing skip the above selection of particular tags and run the complete role at once

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml

Idempotency 

The role and the configuration data in the examples are idempotent. When the application is installed and configured there should be no changes reported by ansible-playbook when running the playbook repeatedly. Disable setup, sanity and install to speedup the execution when running the playbook periodically to audit the configuration

shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml -e cl_setup=false \
                               -e cl_sanity=false \
                               -e cl_install=false