A list of managed nodes provided by one or more 'inventory sources'. Your inventory can specify information specific to each node, like IP address.
It is also used for assigning groups, that both allow for node selection in the Play and bulk variable assignment.
To learn more about inventory, see :ref:`the Working with Inventory<intro_inventory>` section. Sometimes an inventory source file is also referred to as a 'hostfile'.
They contain Plays (which are the basic unit of Ansible execution). This is both an 'execution concept' and how we describe the files on which ``ansible-playbook`` operates.
To use any Role resource, the Role itself must be imported into the Play.
Tasks
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The definition of an 'action' to be applied to the managed host. Tasks must always be contained in a Play, directly or indirectly (Role, or imported/included task list file).
Each module has a particular use, from administering users on a specific type of database to managing VLAN interfaces on a specific type of network device.
You can invoke a single module with a task, or invoke several different modules in a playbook.
Ansible modules are grouped in collections. For an idea of how many collections Ansible includes, see the :ref:`list_of_collections`.
A format in which Ansible content is distributed that can contain playbooks, roles, modules, and plugins. You can install and use collections through `Ansible Galaxy <https://galaxy.ansible.com>`_. To learn more about collections, see :ref:`collections`. Collection resources can be used independently and discretely from each other.
Short for 'Ansible Automation Platform'. This is a product that includes enterprise level features and integrates many tools of the Ansible ecosystem: ansible-core, awx, galaxyNG, and so on.