Ansible 提供一種最簡單的方式用于發布、管理和編排計算機系統的工具，你可在數分鐘內搞定。

Ansible 是一個模型驅動的配置管理器，支持多節點發布、遠程任務執行。默認使用 SSH 進行遠程連接。無需在被管理節點上安裝附加軟件，可使用各種編程語言進行擴展。

Ansible 1.4 改進記錄包括：

新特性：

• Added do-until feature, which can be used to retry a failed task a specified number of times with a delay in-between the retries.
• Added failed_when option for tasks, which can be used to specify logical statements that make it easier to determine when a task has failed, or to make it easier to ignore certain non-zero return codes for some commands.
• Added the "subelement" lookup plugin, which allows iteration of the keys of a dictionary or items in a list.
• Added the capability to use either paramiko or ssh for the inital setup connection of an accelerated playbook.
• Automatically provide advice on common parser errors users encounter.
• Deprecation warnings are now shown for legacy features: when_integer/etc, only_if, include+with_items, etc. Can be disabled in ansible.cfg
• The system will now provide helpful tips around possible YAML syntax errors increasing ease of use for new users.
• warnings are now shown for using {{ foo }} in loops and conditionals, and suggest leaving the variable expressions bare as per docs.
• The roles search path is now configurable in ansible.cfg. 'roles_path' in the config setting.
• Includes with parameters can now be done like roles for consistency: - { include: song.yml, year:1984, song:'jump' }
• The name of each role is now shown before each task if roles are being used
• Adds a "var=" option to the debug module for debugging variable data. "debug: var=hostvars['hostname']" and "debug: var=foo" are all valid syntax.
• Variables in {{ format }} can be used as references even if they are structured data
• Can force binding of accelerate to ipv6 ports.
• the apt module will auto-install python-apt if not present rather than requiring a manual installation
• the copy module is now recursive if the local 'src' parameter is a directory.
• syntax checks now scan included task and variable files as well as main files

新模塊和插件

• cloud: ec2_eip -- manage AWS elastic IPs
• cloud: ec2_vpc -- manage ec2 virtual private clouds
• cloud: elasticcache -- Manages clusters in Amazon Elasticache
• cloud: rax_network -- sets up Rackspace networks
• cloud: rax_facts: retrieve facts about a Rackspace Cloud Server
• cloud: rax_clb_nodes -- manage Rackspace cloud load balanced nodes
• cloud: rax_clb -- manages Rackspace cloud load balancers
• cloud: docker - instantiates/removes/manages docker containers
• cloud: ovirt -- VM lifecycle controls for ovirt
• files: acl -- set or get acls on a file
• files: unarchive: pushes and extracts tarballs
• files: synchronize: a useful wraper around rsyncing trees of files
• system: firewalld -- manage the firewalld configuration
• system: modprobe -- manage kernel modules on systems that support modprobe/rmmod
• system: open_iscsi -- manage targets on an initiator using open-iscsi
• system: blacklist: add or remove modules from the kernel blacklist
• system: hostname - sets the systems hostname
• utilities: include_vars -- dynamically load variables based on conditions.
• packaging: zypper_repository - adds or removes Zypper repositories
• packaging: urpmi - work with urpmi packages
• packaging: swdepot - a module for working with swdepot
• notification: grove - notifies to Grove hosted IRC channels
• web_infrastructure: ejabberd_user: add and remove users to ejabberd
• web_infrastructure: jboss: deploys or undeploys apps to jboss
• source_control: github_hooks: manages GitHub service hooks
• net_infrastructure: bigip_monitor_http: manages F5 BIG-IP LTM http monitors
• net_infrastructure: bigip_monitor_tcp: manages F5 BIG-IP LTM TCP monitors
• net_infrastructure: bigip_pool_member: manages F5 BIG-IP LTM pool members
• net_infrastructure: bigip_node: manages F5 BIG-IP LTM nodes
• net_infrastructure: openvswitch_port
• net_infrastructure: openvswitch_bridge