Ansible on Kubernetes 1.31 Automation Complete Guide

Kubernetes 1.31 "Elli" (released August 2024) is a long-supported minor: PV last-phase transition, AppArmor GA, kube-proxy nftables, ImageVolume alpha, and the deprecation of in-tree cloud providers. Ansible automates K8s clusters at two layers: bootstrap (kubeadm, OS prep) with shell/posix modules, and workload (manifests, Helm, RBAC) with the kubernetes.core collection. This is the master Ansible guide for Kubernetes 1.31.

Kubernetes 1.31 release facts

| Item | Value | |---|---| | Codename | Elli | | Released | 2024-08-13 | | Support | until 2025-10 (standard), then maintenance | | New | nftables kube-proxy GA, AppArmor GA, ImageVolume (alpha) |

See also: Ansible on Kubernetes 1.32 Automation Complete Guide

Ansible-core compatibility

Use ansible-core 2.18 LTS with Python kubernetes>=30.1.0:

pip install kubernetes openshift jsonpatch

Collections:

collections:
  - name: kubernetes.core
    version: ">=5.0.0"
  - name: community.general

Inventory

[k8s_control]
cp01 ansible_host=10.0.1.11
cp02 ansible_host=10.0.1.12
cp03 ansible_host=10.0.1.13
[k8s_workers]
w01 ansible_host=10.0.2.11
w02 ansible_host=10.0.2.12

See also: Ansible for Kubernetes: Automate K8s Cluster Management and Application Deployment

Bootstrap a node (containerd + kubeadm)

- name: Prepare K8s node
  hosts: k8s_control:k8s_workers
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Disable swap
      ansible.builtin.shell: |
        swapoff -a
        sed -i.bak '/ swap / s/^/#/' /etc/fstab
      changed_when: false
- name: br_netfilter + sysctl
      ansible.posix.sysctl:
        name: "{{ item.name }}"
        value: "{{ item.value }}"
        sysctl_set: true
        state: present
        reload: true
      loop:
        - { name: net.ipv4.ip_forward, value: '1' }
        - { name: net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables, value: '1' }
- name: Install containerd + kubeadm/kubelet/kubectl
      ansible.builtin.package:
        name:
          - containerd
          - kubeadm=1.31.*
          - kubelet=1.31.*
          - kubectl=1.31.*
        state: present

kubeadm init / join

- name: Initialize control plane
  hosts: cp01
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: kubeadm init
      ansible.builtin.command: >
        kubeadm init
        --kubernetes-version=1.31.0
        --pod-network-cidr=10.244.0.0/16
        --control-plane-endpoint=k8s.lab.example.com
        --upload-certs
      args:
        creates: /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf

See also: Ansible for Kubernetes: Deploy, Manage, and Automate K8s Clusters Complete Guide

Apply manifests

- name: Deploy nginx
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: Namespace
      kubernetes.core.k8s:
        kubeconfig: ~/.kube/config
        state: present
        definition:
          apiVersion: v1
          kind: Namespace
          metadata:
            name: web
- name: Deployment
      kubernetes.core.k8s:
        kubeconfig: ~/.kube/config
        state: present
        namespace: web
        definition:
          apiVersion: apps/v1
          kind: Deployment
          metadata:
            name: nginx
          spec:
            replicas: 3
            selector: { matchLabels: { app: nginx } }
            template:
              metadata: { labels: { app: nginx } }
              spec:
                containers:
                  - name: nginx
                    image: nginx:1.27-alpine
                    ports: [ { containerPort: 80 } ]

Helm charts

- name: Install ingress-nginx via Helm
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: Add repo
      kubernetes.core.helm_repository:
        name: ingress-nginx
        repo_url: https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
- name: Install
      kubernetes.core.helm:
        kubeconfig: ~/.kube/config
        name: ingress-nginx
        chart_ref: ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx
        release_namespace: ingress-nginx
        create_namespace: true
        update_repo_cache: true

Best practices

• Keep K8s bootstrap in one role and workload delivery in another — two different lifecycles. • Use kubernetes.core.k8s with state: present and full manifests; treat YAML in roles as the source of truth. • Wrap Helm releases in kubernetes.core.helm with pinned chart versions. • For GitOps, use Ansible to bootstrap ArgoCD/Flux, then let GitOps own day-2.

Conclusion

Kubernetes 1.31 + kubernetes.core provides a clean automation surface for both cluster lifecycle (kubeadm) and workload delivery (manifests + Helm). Split bootstrap from day-2, pin versions, and hand off to GitOps for sustainable cluster management.