Variables

Referenced in the playbook as {{ name }} variables allow for consolidation of playbooks as well as flexibility.

Variables can be defined:

• In the inventory file. Particular values per host or group can be defined and will be picked up

[mygroup]
1.2.3.4 apache_package=apache2 

[mygroup:vars]
other_var=something

• In playbooks themselves using vars block or vars_file for external files

• In a host_vars directory. In this standard directory, each file corresponds to a host (either IP or hostname) and ansible will pick up automatically the variables defined there for each host. Similarly a group_vars directory can be used where the name of the files are the name of the groups in the inventory. More info here