* notes on ansible

* installing ansible via pip
** <2023-10-23 Mon>

bash-5.2$ python3 -m pip install --user ansible
Collecting ansible
  Downloading ansible-8.5.0-py3-none-any.whl (47.5 MB)
     ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 47.5/47.5 MB 10.5 MB/s eta 0:00:00
Collecting ansible-core~=2.15.5
  Downloading ansible_core-2.15.5-py3-none-any.whl (2.2 MB)
     ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 2.2/2.2 MB 11.4 MB/s eta 0:00:00
Collecting resolvelib<1.1.0,>=0.5.3
  Downloading resolvelib-1.0.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl (17 kB)
Collecting cryptography
  Downloading cryptography-41.0.4-cp37-abi3-manylinux_2_28_x86_64.whl (4.4 MB)
     ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 4.4/4.4 MB 11.2 MB/s eta 0:00:00
Requirement already satisfied: PyYAML>=5.1 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (6.0)
Requirement already satisfied: packaging in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (21.3)
Collecting importlib-resources<5.1,>=5.0
  Downloading importlib_resources-5.0.7-py3-none-any.whl (24 kB)
Requirement already satisfied: jinja2>=3.0.0 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (3.0.3)
Requirement already satisfied: MarkupSafe>=2.0 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from jinja2>=3.0.0->ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (2.0.1)
Requirement already satisfied: cffi>=1.12 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from cryptography->ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (1.15.0)
Requirement already satisfied: pyparsing!=3.0.5,>=2.0.2 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from packaging->ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (2.4.7)
Requirement already satisfied: pycparser in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from cffi>=1.12->cryptography->ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (2.21)
Installing collected packages: resolvelib, importlib-resources, cryptography, ansible-core, ansible
  WARNING: The scripts ansible, ansible-config, ansible-connection, ansible-console, ansible-doc, ansible-galaxy, ansible-inventory, ansible-playbook, ansible-pull and ansible-vault are installed in '/home/dpierre/.local/bin' which is not on PATH.
  Consider adding this directory to PATH or, if you prefer to suppress this warning, use --no-warn-script-location.
  WARNING: The script ansible-community is installed in '/home/dpierre/.local/bin' which is not on PATH.
  Consider adding this directory to PATH or, if you prefer to suppress this warning, use --no-warn-script-location.
Successfully installed ansible-8.5.0 ansible-core-2.15.5 cryptography-41.0.4 importlib-resources-5.0.7 resolvelib-1.0.1
bash-5.2$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/lib64/libexec/kf5:/usr/lib64/qt5/bin
bash-5.2$ export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin
bash-5.2$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/lib64/libexec/kf5:/usr/lib64/qt5/bin:/home/dpierre/.local/bin
bash-5.2$ 
bash-5.2$ 
bash-5.2$ python3 -m pip install --user ansible
Requirement already satisfied: ansible in /home/dpierre/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages (8.5.0)
Requirement already satisfied: ansible-core~=2.15.5 in /home/dpierre/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible) (2.15.5)
Requirement already satisfied: cryptography in /home/dpierre/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (41.0.4)
Requirement already satisfied: PyYAML>=5.1 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (6.0)
Requirement already satisfied: jinja2>=3.0.0 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (3.0.3)
Requirement already satisfied: resolvelib<1.1.0,>=0.5.3 in /home/dpierre/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (1.0.1)
Requirement already satisfied: importlib-resources<5.1,>=5.0 in /home/dpierre/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (5.0.7)
Requirement already satisfied: packaging in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (21.3)
Requirement already satisfied: MarkupSafe>=2.0 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from jinja2>=3.0.0->ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (2.0.1)
Requirement already satisfied: cffi>=1.12 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from cryptography->ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (1.15.0)
Requirement already satisfied: pyparsing!=3.0.5,>=2.0.2 in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from packaging->ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (2.4.7)
Requirement already satisfied: pycparser in /usr/lib64/python3.9/site-packages (from cffi>=1.12->cryptography->ansible-core~=2.15.5->ansible) (2.21)
bash-5.2$ ll ~/.local/bin
bash: ll: command not found
bash-5.2$ alias ll='ls -al'
bash-5.2$ ll ~/.local/bin
total 56
drwxr-xr-x 2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:18 .
drwx------ 5 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:18 ..
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  216 Oct 23 12:18 ansible
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  236 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-community
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  217 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-config
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  246 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-connection
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  218 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-console
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  214 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-doc
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  217 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-galaxy
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  220 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-inventory
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  219 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-playbook
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  215 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-pull
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users 1700 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-test
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  216 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-vault

bash-5.2$ ansible --version
ansible [core 2.15.5]
  config file = None
  configured module search path = ['/home/dpierre/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /home/dpierre/.local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /home/dpierre/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /home/dpierre/.local/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.9.18 (main, Sep 15 2023, 12:58:45) [GCC 13.2.0] (/usr/bin/python3)
  jinja version = 3.0.3
  libyaml = True


bash-5.2$ ansible-community --version
Ansible community version 8.5.0


bash-5.2$ python3 -m pip install --user argcomplete
Collecting argcomplete
  Downloading argcomplete-3.1.2-py3-none-any.whl (41 kB)
     ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 41.5/41.5 kB 2.3 MB/s eta 0:00:00
Installing collected packages: argcomplete
Successfully installed argcomplete-3.1.2


bash-5.2$ pip3 list
Package                       Version
----------------------------- ---------
alabaster                     0.7.12
ansible                       8.5.0
ansible-core                  2.15.5
appdirs                       1.4.4
argcomplete                   3.1.2
Babel                         2.10.1
Brotli                        1.1.0
build                         0.10.0
caca                          0.99b20
certifi                       2021.10.8
cffi                          1.15.0
chardet                       4.0.0
charset-normalizer            2.0.10
cryptography                  41.0.4
cupshelpers                   1.0
Cython                        0.29.36
distro                        1.6.0
dnspython                     2.1.0
docutils                      0.17.1
doxypypy                      0.8.8.6
doxyqml                       0.5.1
flit_core                     3.9.0
future                        0.18.2
getmail6                      6.18.13
glad2                         2.0.4
gyp                           0.1
idna                          3.3
imagesize                     1.3.0
importlib-metadata            5.0.0
importlib-resources           5.0.7
include_server                3.4
installer                     0.7.0
Jinja2                        3.0.3
kapidox                       5.111.0
libwebp                       0.0
lxml                          4.9.3
M2Crypto                      0.38.0
Mako                          1.1.6
Markdown                      3.3.4
MarkupSafe                    2.0.1
mercurial                     6.5.2
meson                         1.2.3
netsnmp-python                1.0a1
nftables                      0.1
notify2                       0.3.1
packaging                     21.3
pbr                           5.8.0
Pillow                        8.4.0
pip                           22.2.2
ply                           3.11
pssh                          2.3.5
pycairo                       1.20.1
pycparser                     2.21
pycups                        2.0.1
pycurl                        7.44.1
Pygments                      2.10.0
PyGObject                     3.44.1
pyparsing                     2.4.7
pyproject_hooks               1.0.0
PyQt5                         5.15.2
PyQt5_sip                     4.19.25
pysol-cards                   0.12.0
python-sane                   2.9.1
pytz                          2022.1
pyxdg                         0.27
PyYAML                        6.0
QScintilla                    2.11.6
random2                       1.0.1
requests                      2.26.0
resolvelib                    1.0.1
rpm                           4.18.1
SCons                         4.5.2
setuptools                    65.1.1
setuptools-scm                6.4.2
sip                           4.19.25
six                           1.16.0
snowballstemmer               2.2.0
Sphinx                        4.5.0
sphinxcontrib-applehelp       1.0.2
sphinxcontrib-devhelp         1.0.2
sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp        2.0.0
sphinxcontrib-jsmath          1.0.1
sphinxcontrib-qthelp          1.0.3
sphinxcontrib-serializinghtml 1.1.5
tomli                         1.2.2
tomli_w                       1.0.0
undervolt                     0.3.0
urllib3                       1.26.8
wheel                         0.41.1
zenmap                        7.94
zipp                          3.8.0


bash-5.2$ ll ~/.local/bin
total 72
drwxr-xr-x 2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:30 .
drwx------ 5 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:18 ..
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users 4707 Oct 23 12:30 activate-global-python-argcomplete
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  216 Oct 23 12:18 ansible
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  236 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-community
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  217 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-config
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  246 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-connection
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  218 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-console
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  214 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-doc
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  217 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-galaxy
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  220 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-inventory
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  219 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-playbook
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  215 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-pull
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users 1700 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-test
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users  216 Oct 23 12:18 ansible-vault
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users 2605 Oct 23 12:30 python-argcomplete-check-easy-install-script
-rwxr-xr-x 1 dpierre users 1993 Oct 23 12:30 register-python-argcomplete


bash-5.2$ acivate-global-python-argcomplete --user
bash: acivate-global-python-argcomplete: command not found
(failed reverse-i-search)`': ll ~/^Cocal/bin
bash-5.2$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/lib64/libexec/kf5:/usr/lib64/qt5/bin:/home/dpierre/.local/bin
bash-5.2$ ~/.local/bin/activate-global-python-argcomplete --user
Argcomplete was installed in the user site local directory. Defaulting to user installation.
Adding shellcode to /home/dpierre/.zshenv...
Added.
Adding shellcode to /home/dpierre/.bash_completion...
Added.
Please restart your shell or source the installed file to activate it.
bash-5.2$ 
bash-5.2$ 
bash-5.2$ ll
total 104
drwx--x--x 18 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:38 .
drwxr-xr-x  5 root    root  4096 Oct  9 13:23 ..
-rw-------  1 dpierre users   63 Oct 23 11:55 .Xauthority
drwxr-xr-x  3 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:26 .ansible
-rw-r--r--  1 dpierre users  165 Oct 23 12:38 .bash_completion
-rw-------  1 dpierre users  403 Oct 22 18:25 .bash_history
drwx------ 20 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:34 .cache
drwxr-xr-x 15 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:38 .config
drwx------  3 dpierre users 4096 Oct 17 14:20 .dbus
drwx------  3 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:23 .emacs.d
-rw-r--r--  1 dpierre users  270 Oct 23 11:55 .gtkrc-2.0
drwxr-xr-x  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 11:55 .hplip
-rw-------  1 dpierre users   20 Oct 17 14:16 .lesshst
drwx------  5 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:18 .local
drwx------  4 dpierre users 4096 Oct 17 14:29 .mozilla
-rw-r--r--  1 dpierre users 3729 Feb  1  2022 .screenrc
-rw-------  1 dpierre users   63 Oct 23 11:55 .serverauth.1719
-rw-r--r--  1 dpierre users  160 Oct 23 12:38 .zshenv
drwxr-xr-x  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 23 12:34 Desktop
drwxr-xr-x  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 17 14:20 Documents
drwxr-xr-x  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 17 14:20 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 17 14:20 Music
drwxr-xr-x  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 17 14:20 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 17 14:20 Public
drwxr-xr-x  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 17 14:20 Templates
drwxr-xr-x  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 17 14:20 Videos
bash-5.2$ 


since i installed ansible locally i assume much of my configurations
are local as well. In the docs
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/installation_guide/intro_configuration.html#getting-the-latest-configuration
it states that one can view the configuration in
'/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg'

bash-5.2$ ansible-config list
...
...
...


bash-5.2$ ansible-config view
ERROR! Invalid or no config file was supplied


after viewing
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/cli/ansible-config.html

seems i need to create an '~/.ansible.cfg' that will override any
other config files created 'globally'. There is no global one in my
case.

more info on configuration precedence can be found here.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html


bash-5.2$ ansible-config init --disabled -t all > ansible.cfg
bash-5.2$ cp -arv ansible_all.cfg .ansible.cfg
bash-5.2$ chmod 600 .ansible.cfg

to get a list of all configuration options w/ my setup

bash-5.2$ ansible-config list > ansible-config-list.txt


reviewing building our inventory
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/inventory_guide/intro_inventory.html

bash-5.2$
bash-5.2$
bash-5.2$
bash-5.2$

** <2023-10-24 Tue>

decided it would be nice to have another host to play around with so
i dusted off 'bbox' and logged into it from 'boom2'

bash-5.2$ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "bbox test from boom2" -f ~/.ssh/20231024bbox
Generating public/private ed25519 key pair.
Created directory '/home/dpierre/.ssh'.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): 
Enter same passphrase again: 
Your identification has been saved in /home/dpierre/.ssh/20231024bbox
Your public key has been saved in /home/dpierre/.ssh/20231024bbox.pub
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:UpDK1R9LlJ30unU6vDGyJ0tDFdc/6dHPMlYHTSQZWIs bbox test from boom2
The key's randomart image is:
+--[ED25519 256]--+
|      .o ..+.+=*=|
|      o.. + +oo=o|
|   . o  .o oE +.+|
|    o  .  o  o +=|
|      . S   o oo*|
|       .   . +++o|
|            =.*o |
|           ..+.= |
|            o+.  |
+----[SHA256]-----+
bash-5.2$ 
bash-5.2$ 
bash-5.2$ ssh-keygen -l -f ~/.ssh/20231024bbox
256 SHA256:UpDK1R9LlJ30unU6vDGyJ0tDFdc/6dHPMlYHTSQZWIs bbox test from boom2 (ED25519)
bash-5.2$ ll ~/.ssh/
total 16
drwx------  2 dpierre users 4096 Oct 24 14:16 .
drwx--x--x 19 dpierre users 4096 Oct 24 14:16 ..
-rw-------  1 dpierre users  464 Oct 24 14:16 20231024bbox
-rw-r--r--  1 dpierre users  102 Oct 24 14:16 20231024bbox.pub



i had a little dilemma as i cannot log into 'bbox' w/out using an ssh
key; so i needed to get my newly created pubkey inserted as line entry
inside of 'dpierre@bbox:~/.ssh/authorized_keys'.

since i can log into 'bbox' from 'boom' i copied the
'~/.ssh/20231024bbox.pub' to a USB key. then copied that file over to
'boom' and from there logged into 'bbox' and appended the line inside
of 'dpierre@bbox:~/.ssh/authorized_keys'.

i was able to test it easily...


bash-5.2$ ssh -i ~/.ssh/20231024bbox dpierre@192.168.0.220
The authenticity of host '192.168.0.220 (192.168.0.220)' can't be established.
ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:KIFNv05/0KyoX0hfK8U4ILud0fP+BVeeAhHMlakXumo.
This key is not known by any other names.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.0.220' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
Enter passphrase for key '/home/dpierre/.ssh/20231024bbox': 
Last login: Tue Oct 24 13:31:18 2023 from 192.168.0.148
Linux 5.15.19.

For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they like.
                -- Abraham Lincoln

dpierre@bbox:~$ ll
-bash: ll: command not found
dpierre@bbox:~$ alias ll='ls -al'
dpierre@bbox:~$ ll
...
...
dpierre@bbox:~$ 
logout
Connection to 192.168.0.220 closed.


- edited '~/.ansible.cfg'
  - uncommeted / added the following entry under the [default] entry
      private_key_file=~/.ssh/20231024bbox

  - uncommeted/edited this line from:
      ;inventory=/etc/ansible/hosts

        -to-

      inventory=~/.ansible/hosts

      https://www.educba.com/ansible-hosts-file/

** <2023-10-29 Sun>

- created '~/.ansible/hosts' file like so:

    #+begin_src
      [test]
      192.168.0.220

      [dev]
      192.168.0.220
    #+end_src

- i ran the following commands

ansible all --list-hosts
ansible-inventory --list
ansible-inventory --graph

ansible all -m ping
ansible dev -m ping


- the above reference using the inventory file '~/.ansible/hosts' but
  when executing ansible commands we can use any inventory file as
  long as we use the '-i' switch to explicitly point to it. like so:

    ansible all -i /some/path/to/my/inventory_file -m ping

    ansible-playbook -i /some/path/to/my/inventory_file 01-playbook-hello.yml

  - the following resource shows so many different ways to setup your
    inventory file(s).  it shows detailed ways of organizing nodes
    into groups and subgroups, inventory variables, use patterns to
    target different groups of servers when running commands &
    playbooks.
    https://assets.digitalocean.com/books/how-to-manage-remote-servers-with-ansible.pdf


- create a file on a host using ansible
  https://phoenixnap.com/kb/ansible-create-file

- need to learn a lil something about how playbooks are structured
  https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorial-series/how-to-write-ansible-playbooks

- created the following playbook

    #+name: ~/ansible-practice/01-playbook-hello.yml
    #+begin_src yaml
      ---
      - hosts: all
	tasks:
	  - name: Print message
	    debug:
	      msg: Hello Ansible World
    #+end_src

** <2023-10-30 Mon>

- make sure to setup my path correctly so that the ansible executable
  can be found

bash-5.2$ export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin
bash-5.2$ echo $PATH

- test our recently made playbook

  bash-5.2$ cd ~/ansible-practice/
  bash-5.2$ ansible-playbook 01-playbook-hello.yml

- created a playbook that only works locally and simply prints out the
  current directory
  https://www.middlewareinventory.com/blog/run-ansible-playbook-locally/

    #+name: ~/ansible-practice/02-playbook-local-test.yml
    #+begin_src yaml
      ---
      - name: "Playing with Ansible localhost"
	hosts: localhost
	connection: local
	tasks:
	  - name: "just execute a ls -lrt command"
	    shell: "ls -lrt"
	    register: "output"

	  - debug: var=output.stdout_lines
    #+end_src

  - some other suggestions to run commands locally

    bash-5.2$ ansible localhost -m ping
    bash-5.2$ ansible localhost -m shell -a "ls -alrt"

    - an interesting way to run a playbook meant for external
      hosts...but locally:

      bash-5.2$ ansible-playbook --connection=local --inventory 127.0.0.1, --limit 127.0.0.1 01-playbook-hello.yml

- seems i dont understand YAML well enuf
  https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/YAMLSyntax.html

** <2023-11-02 Thu>

some definitions of things:

- control node    =  my ansible server
- managed node(s) = target systems

** <2023-11-22 Wed>

did a lil research on more resources

https://www.lifewire.com/download-free-books-3482754

https://assets.digitalocean.com/books/how-to-manage-remote-servers-with-ansible.pdf

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/cheatsheets/how-to-use-ansible-cheat-sheet-guide


To execute a command on a node, use the -a option followed by the
command you want to run, in quotes.

some more examples of an adhoc commands that can be run:


dpierre@boom2:~$ ansible all -a "df -Th"

192.168.0.220 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
Filesystem     Type      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root      ext4       98G   17G   77G  18% /
devtmpfs       devtmpfs  3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev
tmpfs          tmpfs      32M  1.2M   31M   4% /run
tmpfs          tmpfs     3.9G     0  3.9G   0% /dev/shm
cgroup_root    tmpfs     8.0M     0  8.0M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/sda1      ext4       89M   82M   73K 100% /boot


dpierre@boom2:~$ ansible all -a "uptime"

192.168.0.220 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
 14:00:39 up 5 min,  1 user,  load average: 0.15, 0.05, 0.01


interesting... we can use a different ssh key with our ansible
commands if we wish like so:

  ansible all -a "df -Th" --private-key=~/.ssh/some/custom_ssh_key

this is also mentioned in the comments within '~/.ansible.cfg' that we
manufactured on <2023-10-23 Mon> 

grrr...so many options!!  we can add a private key directly to the
inventory file we choose to use as well.  there is a variable called
'ansible_ssh_private_key_file=~/.ssh/some/custom_ssh_key'

this resource below mentions this some more:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/cheatsheets/how-to-manage-multiple-servers-with-ansible-ad-hoc-commands

we use the '-m' switch on ansible commands to reference a command via
the 'command module' to execute that command on the remote server(s).

ansible all -m setup
ansible all -m setup -a "gather_subset=min"
ansible all -m setup -a " filter=*ipv* "
ansible all -m setup > ../bbox-system.json