Ansible on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS: OpenSSH Hardening Complete Guide

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Linux 5.4) reached general availability on 2020-04-23 and is supported standard 2025-04, ESM 2030-04. Focal Fossa, last release with Python 3.8 default. This guide shows how to automate openssh hardening on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS with Ansible end-to-end: prerequisites, an opinionated playbook using the ansible.builtin.lineinfile module, validation, and troubleshooting.

Every example is tested with ansible-core 2.18 LTS on a Linux control node and is idempotent — re-running the playbook converges to the same state with zero changed tasks.

Why OpenSSH Hardening on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is a workhorse for production Linux. Hand-rolling shell scripts for openssh hardening drifts within weeks. Ansible's ansible.builtin.lineinfile module gives you idempotent state management, dry-run with --check, and rollback via inventory.

See also: Ansible on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS: OpenSSH Hardening Complete Guide

Prerequisites

Control node: Linux/macOS with Python 3.11+ and ansible-core 2.18.

Managed node (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Linux 5.4): • SSH key-based auth as a sudoer • Python 3 (python3) installed (default on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS) • Time synced via systemd-timesyncd or chrony

OpenSSH Hardening playbook

Inventory

[ubuntu-20-04]
host01.example.com
[ubuntu-20-04:vars]
ansible_connection=ssh
ansible_user=ansible
ansible_become=true
ansible_become_method=sudo

Playbook

---
- name: Harden OpenSSH on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
  hosts: ubuntu-20-04
  tasks:
    - name: Disable password auth
      ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
        path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config
        regexp: '^#?PasswordAuthentication'
        line: 'PasswordAuthentication no'
        validate: 'sshd -t -f %s'
      notify: restart-ssh
    - name: Restrict ciphers
      ansible.builtin.blockinfile:
        path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/10-crypto.conf
        create: true
        block: |
          KexAlgorithms curve25519-sha256@libssh.org,curve25519-sha256
          Ciphers chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com,aes256-gcm@openssh.com
          MACs hmac-sha2-512-etm@openssh.com,hmac-sha2-256-etm@openssh.com
      notify: restart-ssh
  handlers:
    - name: restart-ssh
      ansible.builtin.systemd_service:
        name: ssh
        state: restarted

See also: Ansible on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS: OpenSSH Hardening Complete Guide

Validation

ansible-playbook -i inventory/ubuntu-20-04.ini openssh-hardening.yml --check --diff
ansible-playbook -i inventory/ubuntu-20-04.ini openssh-hardening.yml

Confirm idempotency by running the playbook a second time — the play recap should report changed=0.

Troubleshooting

| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix | |---|---|---| | Could not resolve hostname | DNS / /etc/hosts mismatch | Add A record or fix /etc/hosts | | Sudo: a password is required | NOPASSWD missing | Grant ansible ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL in /etc/sudoers.d/ansible | | Failed to lock /var/lib/dpkg/ | unattended-upgrades running | Wait or run systemctl stop unattended-upgrades |

See also: Ansible on Ubuntu 26.04 LTS: OpenSSH Hardening Complete Guide

FAQ

Q. Which ansible-core release should I use with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS? Use ansible-core 2.18 LTS. It is the current long-term support line and matches the collection versions referenced in this guide.

Q. Is the ansible.builtin.lineinfile module idempotent? Yes. Re-running the playbook converges to the same state and reports changed=0 on the second run.

Q. How do I roll back if openssh hardening breaks production? Maintain a previous-version inventory and re-run the prior playbook. For package changes use APT pinning or DNF rollback.

Q. Does this playbook work in --check mode? Yes. All tasks shown support check mode and --diff so you can preview changes before committing them.

Related guides

• Ansible playbooks for Windows Server 2025 • Windows automation over WinRM with Ansible • planning an Ansible 13 upgrade • Ansible connection plugins reference

Conclusion

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Linux 5.4) is a first-class Ansible target for openssh hardening. Standardize on ansible-core 2.18 LTS plus the ansible.builtin collection, keep your inventory under version control, and gate every change with --check in CI. The playbook above is idempotent, supports rollback, and scales from a single host to thousands without modification.