Introduction

Ansible Collections are a powerful way to organize and distribute your Ansible content, including modules, plugins, roles, and more. They allow you to package and share your automation resources in a structured and reusable manner. In this tutorial, we'll walk you through the process of creating a new Ansible Collection using the ansible-galaxy command-line tool.

Links

  • [Creating collections](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/dev_guide/developing_collections_creating.html)
  • [Developing collections](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/dev_guide/developing_collections.html)

Step by step

Step 1: Installation and Prerequisites

Before you start, ensure that you have Ansible and the ansible-galaxy command-line tool installed on your system. If not, you can install Ansible by following the official documentation. Once installed, you'll be ready to create your new Ansible Collection.

Step 2: Initialize a New Collection

To create a new collection, open your terminal and run the following command:

``bash

ansible-galaxy collection init test.test

`

This command initializes a new collection named test.test. You should see an output confirming that the collection was created successfully.

`bash

ansible-galaxy collection init test.test

  • Collection test.test was created successfully

`

Step 3: Explore the Collection Structure

After creating the collection, navigate to the collection's directory. You can use the following command:

`bash

cd test/test

`

Inside this directory, you'll find several subdirectories and files that make up your Ansible Collection's structure:

  • docs/: This directory is where you can add documentation related to your collection.
  • galaxy.yml: This file contains metadata about your collection, including its name, description, and author information.
  • meta/: This directory stores files related to the metadata of your collection, such as the runtime configuration.
  • plugins/: This directory is where you can add custom plugins.
  • README.md: This file provides information about your collection and its usage.
  • roles/: This directory is where you can add roles specific to your collection.

Content of the "test/test" directory:

`bash

.

└── test

└── test

├── docs

├── galaxy.yml

├── meta

│ └── runtime.yml

├── plugins

│ └── README.md

├── README.md

└── roles

6 directories, 4 files

`

Step 4: Making Necessary Changes

At this point, you can start making the necessary changes to your collection. You can add new modules, plugins, roles, or any other content your automation requires. Modify the galaxy.yml` file to reflect your collection's information accurately.

Step 5: Building the Collection

It's time to build the collection once you've made the required changes and added your content. Building the collection packages all your content into a distributable archive. In your c