Ansible is a powerful automation tool that simplifies managing Linux servers at scale using declarative, desired state configurations. It ensures seamless, consistent, and reproducible server configurations, making infrastructure management efficient and error-free.

As an example, manually setting up and managing multiple Apache servers can be a daunting and time-consuming task. Configuring each server, installing dependencies, and ensuring services are running properly can quickly become tedious. This is where Ansible comes in – a powerful automation tool that streamlines server configuration, deployment, and management, making the process efficient, repeatable, and hassle-free.

Installing Ansible

Install ansible on your Ubuntu system from PPA or official operating system repositories. This example uses PPA for latest release installation.

sudo apt update
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ansible/ansible
sudo apt install ansible

Successful installation of ansible can be checked by getting version.

ansible --version

You should get an output like below:

ansible [core 2.17.9]
  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/root/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /root/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.12.3 (main, Feb  4 2025, 14:48:35) [GCC 13.3.0] (/usr/bin/python3)
  jinja version = 3.1.2
  libyaml = True

Create a playbook

This playbook installs the Apache web server on an Ubuntu machine provisioned by Vagrant. For a more in-depth understanding of Ansible concepts like roles, collections, and best practices, refer to the official Ansible documentation. These topics are beyond the scope of this example.

In the directory where Vagrantfile lives, create a playbook file named apache-playbook.yaml

nano playbook.yml

Paste the following contents into the file.

---
- name: Configure Apache Web Server on Ubuntu (Vagrant)
  hosts: all
  become: yes
  tasks:
    - name: Ensure Apache is installed
      apt:
        name: apache2
        state: present
        update_cache: yes

    - name: Start and enable Apache service
      service:
        name: apache2
        state: started
        enabled: yes

    - name: Ensure Apache is listening on port 80
      lineinfile:
        path: /etc/apache2/ports.conf
        regexp: '^Listen '
        line: 'Listen 80'
      notify: Restart Apache

    - name: Allow HTTP traffic through UFW firewall
      ufw:
        rule: allow
        port: '80'
        proto: tcp

    - name: Ensure UFW is enabled
      ufw:
        state: enabled
        policy: allow

  handlers:
    - name: Restart Apache
      service:
        name: apache2
        state: restarted

Create or modify existing Vagrantfile to add ansible playbook provisioning.

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  # Set the hostname for the VM
  config.vm.hostname = "webserver.cloudspinx.com"

  # Define the VM named "webserver"
  config.vm.define "webserver" do |webserver|end

  # Specify the base box
  config.vm.box = "alvistack/ubuntu-24.04"
  config.vm.box_check_update = true

  # Configure the provider settings
  config.vm.provider :libvirt do |libvirt, override|
    libvirt.cpu_mode = "host-passthrough"
    libvirt.cpus = 2
    libvirt.memory = 4096
    libvirt.disk_bus = "virtio"
    libvirt.disk_driver :cache => "writeback"
    libvirt.driver = "kvm"
    libvirt.nested = true
    libvirt.nic_model_type = "virtio"
  end

  # Provisioning using ansible
  config.vm.provision "ansible" do |ansible|
    ansible.playbook = "playbook.yml"
  end
end

Start vagrant machine. If up stop before start.

vagrant up

During instance creation and provisioning you will see playbook get executed:

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
==> web: Running provisioner: ansible...
ok: [webserver]

TASK [Ensure Apache is installed] **********************************************
    web: Running ansible-playbook...

PLAY [Configure Apache Web Server on Ubuntu (Vagrant)] *************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *********************************************************
ok: [web]

TASK [Ensure Apache is installed] **********************************************
changed: [webserver]

TASK [Start and enable Apache service] *****************************************
ok: [webserver]

TASK [Ensure Apache is listening on port 80] ***********************************
ok: [webserver]

TASK [Allow HTTP traffic through UFW firewall] *********************************
changed: [webserver]

TASK [Ensure UFW is enabled] ***************************************************
changed: [web]

TASK [Start and enable Apache service] *****************************************
ok: [web]

TASK [Ensure Apache is listening on port 80] ***********************************
ok: [web]

TASK [Allow HTTP traffic through UFW firewall] *********************************
changed: [webserver]

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
webserver                  : ok=6    changed=3    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

changed: [web]

TASK [Ensure UFW is enabled] ***************************************************
changed: [web]

PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
web                        : ok=6    changed=3    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Login to the instance once it’s created.

vagrant ssh

Check the status of apache2 service

systemctl status apache2

It should display as running:

● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-03-14 06:27:42 UTC; 6min ago
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
   Main PID: 2818 (apache2)
      Tasks: 55 (limit: 4608)
     Memory: 5.2M (peak: 5.4M)
        CPU: 141ms
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ├─2818 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─2820 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             └─2821 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

Vagrant management commands with examples

This section highlights commonly used vagrant commands to help you work more efficiently with Vagrant and Libvirt.

Print vagrant version

Print the current version of installed vagrant

vagrant version

Manage vagrant boxes

Download vagrant box

vagrant box add --provider libvirt <box-name-or-url>

List downloaded boxes

vagrant box list

Delete vagrant box

vagrant box remove <box>

Prune older boxes

vagrant box prune

Update a specific box

# Inf Vagrantfile
vagrant box update

# Named box
vagrant box update --box <box>

Repackage box

vagrant box repackage <name> <provider> <version>

Validate Vagrantfile

Validate the configurations in your Vagrantfile by running:

vagrant validate

Start / provision vagrant machine

Start and provision the vagrant environment

vagrant up

To provision the vagrant machine use

vagrant provision

Display information about machines

Display information about all known Vagrant environments on the machine

vagrant global-status

Connect to machine via SSH

To connect to a single instance machine defined in a Vagrantfile

vagrant ssh

If there are multiple machines, specify the name

vagrant ssh <name|id>

It’s also possible to output OpenSSH valid configuration to connect to the machine

vagrant ssh-config

Suspend vagrant machine

A vagrant machine can be suspended by executing the command:

vagrant suspend

Restart vagrant machine

Restart a vagrant machine and load new Vagrantfile configuration

vagrant reload

Resume suspended machine

To resume a suspended vagrant machine, run:

vagrant resume

Stopping Vagrant machine(s)

vagrant halt

VM snapshots management

Create a VM snapshot

vagrant snapshot save <vm-name> <snapshot-name>

List snapshots

vagrant snapshot list <vm-name>

Restore snapshot

vagrant snapshot restore <vm-name> <snapshot>

Delete snapshot

vagrant snapshot delete <vm-name> <snapshot>

• Destroy vagrant machine(s)

vagrant destroy

Agree to destroy the VM using y key:

    ubuntu24: Are you sure you want to destroy the 'ubuntu24' VM? [y/N] y
==> ubuntu24: Removing domain...
==> ubuntu24: Deleting the machine folder

• Remove vagrant boxe(s)

vagrant box remove <box-name>

• Stop and delete all traces of the vagrant machine

# Gracefully
vagrant destroy --graceful <name>

# Forcefully
vagrant destroy --force <name>