---
layout: "docs"
page_title: "Ansible Local - Provisioning"
sidebar_current: "provisioning-ansible-local"
description: |-
  The Vagrant Ansible Local provisioner allows you to provision the guest using Ansible playbooks by executing "ansible-playbook" directly on the guest
  machine.
---

# Ansible Local Provisioner

**Provisioner name: `ansible_local`**

The Vagrant Ansible Local provisioner allows you to provision the guest using [Ansible](http://ansible.com) playbooks by executing **`ansible-playbook` directly on the guest machine**.

<div class="alert alert-warning">
  <strong>Warning:</strong> If you are not familiar with Ansible and Vagrant already,
  I recommend starting with the <a href="/docs/provisioning/shell.html">shell
  provisioner</a>. However, if you are comfortable with Vagrant already, Vagrant
  is a great way to learn Ansible.
</div>

## Setup Requirements

The main advantage of the Ansible Local provisioner in comparison to the [Ansible (remote) provisioner](/docs/provisioning/ansible.html) is that it does not require any additional software on your Vagrant host.

On the other hand, [Ansible must obviously be installed](https://docs.ansible.com/intro_installation.html#installing-the-control-machine) on your guest machine(s).

**Note:** By default, Vagrant will *try* to automatically install Ansible if it is not yet present on the guest machine (see the `install` option below for more details).

## Usage

This page only documents the specific parts of the `ansible_local` provisioner. General Ansible concepts like Playbook or Inventory are shortly explained in the [introduction to Ansible and Vagrant](/docs/provisioning/ansible_intro.html).

The Ansible Local provisioner requires that all the Ansible Playbook files are available on the guest machine, at the location referred by the `provisioning_path` option. Usually these files are initially present on the host machine (as part of your Vagrant project), and it is quite easy to share them with a Vagrant [Synced Folder](/docs/synced-folders/).

### Simplest Configuration

To run Ansible from your Vagrant guest, the basic `Vagrantfile` configuration looks like:

```ruby
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  # Run Ansible from the Vagrant VM
  config.vm.provision "ansible_local" do |ansible|
    ansible.playbook = "playbook.yml"
  end
end
```

**Requirements:**

  - The `playbook.yml` file is stored in your Vagrant's project home directory.

  - The [default shared directory](/docs/synced-folders/basic_usage.html) is enabled (`.` &rarr; `/vagrant`).

## Options

This section lists the _specific_ options for the Ansible Local provisioner. In addition to the options listed below, this provisioner supports the [**common options** for both Ansible provisioners](/docs/provisioning/ansible_common.html).

- `install` (boolean) - Try to automatically install Ansible on the guest system.

    This option is enabled by default.

    Vagrant will try to install (or upgrade) Ansible when one of these conditions are met:

    - Ansible is not installed (or cannot be found).
    - The `version` option is set to `"latest"`.
    - The current Ansible version does not correspond to the `version` option.

    **Attention:** There is no guarantee that this automated installation will replace a custom Ansible setup, that might be already present on the Vagrant box.

- `install_mode` (`:default`, `:pip`, or `:pip_args_only`) - Select the way to automatically install Ansible on the guest system.

  - `:default`: Ansible is installed from the operating system package manager. This mode doesn't support `version` selection. For many platforms (e.g Debian, FreeBSD, OpenSUSE) the official package repository is used, except for the following Linux distributions:
      - On Ubuntu-like systems, the latest Ansible release is installed from the `ppa:ansible/ansible` repository.
      - On RedHat-like systems, the latest Ansible release is installed from the [EPEL](http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL) repository.

  - `:pip`: Ansible is installed from [PyPI](https://pypi.python.org/pypi) with [pip](https://pip.pypa.io) package installer. With this mode, Vagrant will systematically try to [install the latest pip version](https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/installing/#installing-with-get-pip-py). With the `:pip` mode you can optionally install a specific Ansible release by setting the [`version`](#version) option.

        Example:

        ```ruby
        config.vm.provision "ansible_local" do |ansible|
          ansible.playbook = "playbook.yml"
          ansible.install_mode = "pip"
          ansible.version = "2.2.1.0"
        end
        ```
        With this configuration, Vagrant will install `pip` and then execute the command

        ```shell
        sudo pip install --upgrade ansible==2.2.1.0
        ```

  - `:pip_args_only`: This mode is very similar to the `:pip` mode, with the difference that in this case no pip arguments will be automatically set by Vagrant.

        Example:

        ```ruby
        config.vm.provision "ansible_local" do |ansible|
          ansible.playbook = "playbook.yml"
          ansible.install_mode = "pip_args_only"
          ansible.pip_args = "-r /vagrant/requirements.txt"
        end
        ```

        With this configuration, Vagrant will install `pip` and then execute the command

        ```shell
        sudo pip install -r /vagrant/requirements.txt
        ```

    The default value of `install_mode` is `:default`, and any invalid value for this option will silently fall back to the default value.

- `pip_args` (string) - When Ansible is installed via pip, this option allows the definition of additional pip arguments to be passed along on the command line (for example, [`--index-url`](https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/reference/pip_install/#cmdoption-i)).

    By default, this option is not set.

    Example:

    ```ruby
    config.vm.provision "ansible_local" do |ansible|
      ansible.playbook = "playbook.yml"
      ansible.install_mode = :pip
      ansible.pip_args = "--install-url https://pypi.internal"
    end
    ```

    With this configuration, Vagrant will install `pip` and then execute the command

    ```shell
    sudo pip install --index-url https://pypi.internal --upgrade ansible
    ```

- `provisioning_path` (string) - An absolute path on the guest machine where the Ansible files are stored. The `ansible-galaxy` and `ansible-playbook` commands are executed from this directory. This is the location to place an [ansible.cfg](http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/intro_configuration.html) file, in case you need it.

    The default value is `/vagrant`.

- `tmp_path` (string) - An absolute path on the guest machine where temporary files are stored by the Ansible Local provisioner.

    The default value is `/tmp/vagrant-ansible`

- `version` (string) - The expected Ansible version.

    This option is disabled by default.

    When an Ansible version is defined (e.g. `"1.8.2"`), the Ansible local provisioner will be executed only if Ansible is installed at the requested version.

    When this option is set to `"latest"`, no version check is applied.

    **Warning:** It is currently possible to use this option to specify which version of Ansible must be automatically installed, but only in combination with the `install_mode` set to `:pip`.

## Tips and Tricks

### Ansible Parallel Execution from a Guest

With the following configuration pattern, you can install and execute Ansible only on a single guest machine (the `"controller"`) to provision all your machines.

```ruby
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|

  config.vm.box = "ubuntu/trusty64"

  config.vm.define "node1" do |machine|
    machine.vm.network "private_network", ip: "172.17.177.21"
  end

  config.vm.define "node2" do |machine|
    machine.vm.network "private_network", ip: "172.17.177.22"
  end

  config.vm.define 'controller' do |machine|
    machine.vm.network "private_network", ip: "172.17.177.11"

    machine.vm.provision :ansible_local do |ansible|
      ansible.playbook       = "example.yml"
      ansible.verbose        = true
      ansible.install        = true
      ansible.limit          = "all" # or only "nodes" group, etc.
      ansible.inventory_path = "inventory"
    end
  end

end
```

You need to create a static `inventory` file that corresponds to your `Vagrantfile` machine definitions:

```
controller ansible_connection=local
node1      ansible_ssh_host=172.17.177.21 ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/vagrant/.vagrant/machines/node1/virtualbox/private_key
node2      ansible_ssh_host=172.17.177.22 ansible_ssh_private_key_file=/vagrant/.vagrant/machines/node2/virtualbox/private_key

[nodes]
node[1:2]
```

And finally, you also have to create an [`ansible.cfg` file](https://docs.ansible.com/intro_configuration.html#openssh-specific-settings) to fully disable SSH host key checking. More SSH configurations can be added to the `ssh_args` parameter (e.g. agent forwarding, etc.)

```
[defaults]
host_key_checking = no

[ssh_connection]
ssh_args = -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o IdentitiesOnly=yes
```