Roles & project structure

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Lesson 08 / 13

One playbook with 200 tasks in it is unreadable and unreusable. A role packages related tasks, templates, files, variables, and handlers into a standard folder structure — "the nginx role," "the postgres role" — that any playbook can pull in with one line.

roles/
  nginx/
    tasks/main.yml       # the actual steps
    handlers/main.yml    # restart nginx, etc.
    templates/nginx.conf.j2
    defaults/main.yml    # default variable values, easy to override
    vars/main.yml        # variables not meant to be overridden
    files/                # static files to copy as-is


# site.yml — now just a short list of which roles apply where
- name: Configure web tier
  hosts: webservers
  roles:
    - nginx
    - app

- name: Configure db tier
  hosts: dbservers
  roles:
    - postgres


# scaffold the folder structure for you
ansible-galaxy role init nginx

Same shape as roles/modules everywhere else in this track: a Docker Compose service, a Helm chart, an Ansible role — all the same idea of "package it once, parameterize it, reuse it everywhere" wearing a different hat.

Try it yourselfRun ansible-galaxy role init myrole and look at the folder tree it generates. Recognizing that structure on sight is most of what you need to read anyone else's roles later.

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