Accelerating Ansible: Key Optimization Methods

When managing IT infrastructure at scale, every second counts. Ansible, while powerful, can become slow if not configured properly. The good news is that with a few smart tweaks, you can dramatically speed up your playbooks and reduce deployment time.

Here are the most effective ways to optimize Ansible for faster, smoother automation.

1. Choose the Right Execution Strategy

By default, Ansible runs tasks in a linear strategy, executing them host by host. For large environments, switching to free can save time since tasks run on all hosts simultaneously wherever possible.

✅ Tip: Use linear for critical sequential operations, but switch to free when scaling across many servers.

2. Enable SSH Pipelining

Each Ansible task normally creates a new SSH session, which adds overhead. Turning on pipelining reduces this by reusing connections.

In your ansible.cfg, add:

pipelining = True

✅ Benefit: Faster task execution with fewer SSH handshakes.

3. Cache Facts for Reuse

Collecting system facts on every run can be time-consuming. Instead, cache them locally with:

fact_caching = jsonfile

✅ Benefit: Subsequent playbook runs will reuse stored facts, cutting down on redundant data gathering.

4. Reduce the Number of Tasks

Too many small, repetitive tasks slow things down. Whenever possible, combine related commands into a single task using modules like shell or command.

✅ Example: Instead of running three separate package installations, merge them into one task.

5. Use Tags for Selective Runs

Large playbooks don’t always require every task to execute. By applying tags, you can target only what’s necessary.

✅ Example: Run only database updates with --tags "db" instead of re-executing the entire playbook.

6. Run Long Operations Asynchronously

Don’t let time-intensive tasks block your workflow. With async tasks, Ansible can continue running other jobs while the long one finishes in the background.

✅ Use Case: Database migrations, large file transfers, or backups.

Final Thoughts

Even small adjustments to your Ansible configuration and playbook structure can make deployments much faster and more efficient. By combining strategies like pipelining, fact caching, and selective task execution, you’ll see noticeable improvements in speed and scalability.

🚀 Looking to get more from your automation tools? Explore expert IT infrastructure tips at 1it.pro or dive deeper into automation best practices on blog.1it.pro.