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Tasks & modules

The last lesson printed a message. Now you'll make Ansible change the machine, which is what configuration management is actually for. The unit of change is the task, and the thing that does the work is the module. Watch the PLAY RECAP's changed count after each step.

2 mini lessons

0 of 2 done
  1. Create a file with the copy module
  2. Make a directory with the file module
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ansibleconfiguration-managementmodules

Interview prep

Knowing the difference between changed and ok shows you understand what Ansible is actually doing.

A task reports ok instead of changed. Did it run?

Yes — ok means the module ran and found the machine already in the desired state, so it made no change. changed means it had to act. The task succeeded either way; the difference tells you whether this run actually altered anything, which is how you reason about what a playbook did.