What are Ansible templates and how do I use them?

What are Ansible templates and how do I use them?

Ansible templates are files that define the configuration of your systems using the Jinja2 templating language. They allow you to create dynamic configurations.

Can you give me an example of a simple Ansible template?

Sure! Here's a basic example of a Jinja2 template for an Nginx configuration:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name {{ domain_name }};
    location / {
        root {{ document_root }};
    }
}

How do I use this template in my playbook?

You can use the template module in your playbook like this:

- name: Configure Nginx
  template:
    src: nginx.conf.j2
    dest: /etc/nginx/sites-available/{{ domain_name }}

What if I need to pass variables to the template?

You can define variables in your playbook or inventory and pass them to the template. For example:

vars:
  domain_name: example.com
  document_root: /var/www/example