Ansible group Module: Create & Manage Linux Groups (ansible.builtin.group) — Video Tutorial

How to create a group in Linux with Ansible? I'm going to show you a live Playbook with some simple Ansible code. I'm Luca Berton and welcome to today's episode of Ansible Pilot. Ansible creates a group > `ansible.builtin.group` Add or remove groups Today we're talking about the Ansible module group. The full name is `ansible.builtin.group`, which means that is part of the collection of modules "builtin" with Ansible and shipped with it. It's a module pretty stable and out for years. It adds or removes groups. It supports a huge variety of Linux distributions and macOS. It relies on three Linux commands: `groupadd`, `groupdel` and `groupmod`. For Windows, use the `ansible.windows.win_group` module instead. Parameters - `name` string - group name - `state` string - present/absent - `system` boolean - yes/no - `gid` integer - GID to set for the group - `local` string - "local" command alternatives This module has some parameters to perform some tasks. The only required is "`name`", which is the group name. The "`state`" parameter allows us to create or delete a group, in our use case the default it's already set to "present" to create a group. The "`system`" parameter allows for the creation of a system group, default it's not. You could specify the "GID", the group identifier, in using the "`gid`" parameter. The "`local`" parameter allows using the "`local`" command alternatives on platforms that implement it if you have a central authentication system. ## Playbook Let's jump in a real-life Ansible Playbook to create a group. code - create_group.yml ```yaml --- - name: group module Playbook hosts: all become: true vars: mygroup: "example" tasks: - name: create group ansible.builtin.group: name: "{{ mygroup }}" state: present ``` execution ```bash $ ansible-playbook group/create.yml PLAY [group module Playbook] ************************************************************************** TASK [Gathering Facts] **************************************************************************** ok: [demo.example.com] TASK [create group] ******************************************************************************* changed: [demo.example.com] PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************************** demo.example.com : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 ``` verification ```bash $ ssh devops@demo.example.com $ sudo su getent group | grep example example:x:1001: ``` [code with ❤️ in GitHub](https://github.com/lucab85/ansible-pilot/tree/master/create%20file) Conclusion Now you know how to create a group in Linux with Ansible. Create Groups Basic group ```yaml - name: Create developers group ansible.builtin.group: name: developers state: present become: true ``` With specific GID ```yaml - name: Create group with GID ansible.builtin.group: name: appteam gid: 1500 state: