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Server Setup

Ansible Tricks

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Ansible is something I really love to use. It makes server setups a breeze, provided you know how to code a decent playbook.

I present you with an always up-to-date list of Ansible tricks. Learn how to easily achieve tasks which are not available using standard modules.

Ensure directory is empty

Make an empty directory on your ansible host and synchronize it to remote dir:

- name: Empty remote directory
  synchronize:
    src: empty/
    dest: "{{ remote_dir }}/"
    delete: yes
    recursive: yes

Credit: Original post

Ensure file is empty

- name: "ensure empty log file exists (important for fail2ban)"
  copy:
    content: ""
    dest: /var/log/example.log
    force: yes
    owner: root
    group: root
    mode: 0600

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