Ansible has a copy
module that works really well for moving a small set of files around. But it can rapidly slow down your playbook since it does not scale well with hundreds of files. So how can you move a big set of files and folder without losing too much time? Well, you use another module namedsynchronize
for this.
synchronize
uses a tool named rsync
under the hood, so you first have to ensure it is installed on your machine, and on the targeted host (it comes with most Unixes). If you are using macOS or Ubuntu, it should be already there. Otherwise start by installing it on your computer.
To be sure it is installed on your targeted server you should add a task to install it before you use the synchronize
module in your playbook. Here it is an example for Ubuntu or Debian hosts:
- name: Install rsync running synchronize later
apt:
name: rsync
state: present
By default synchronize
just require a src
and a dest
, but like a lot of Ansible modules there are many more options for finer control.
Here is a minimal example of using the module:
- name: Synchronize a local folder to my remote server
synchronize:
src: path/to/my/local/folder
dest: /absolute/path/to/my/destination/folder
And with that you can copy a gazillion files (at least) without worrying that your copy will be slow!
Happy syncing π
This post was originally published on my website: mayeu.me.
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