How to install Ansible on Ubuntu 18.04 for IT automation

Updated: 28 September 2026 · Applies to: Ansible (ansible-core 2.16+) on Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 12, AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9

Ubuntu 18.04 is end of life; these steps are for Ubuntu 24.04. Ansible automates server configuration over SSH, without an agent on the servers.

Install Ansible on your control machine

sudo apt install ansible                      # Ubuntu 24.04 / Debian 12 (distribution version)
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ansible/ansible && sudo apt install ansible   # Ubuntu: latest version
sudo dnf install ansible-core                  # AlmaLinux / Rocky 9
pipx install --include-deps ansible            # any system, latest version, per user

Check with ansible --version. Only the control machine needs Ansible; managed servers need SSH and Python 3.

Inventory and first commands

Create inventory.ini:

[web]
web1.example.com
web2.example.com ansible_port=2222

[db]
db1.example.com

[all:vars]
ansible_user=admin

ssh-copy-id admin@web1.example.com                  # key login to each server
ansible all -i inventory.ini -m ping
ansible web -i inventory.ini -a "uptime"
ansible web -i inventory.ini -b -m ansible.builtin.package -a "name=nginx state=present"

A playbook

# site.yml
- hosts: web
  become: true
  tasks:
    - name: Install nginx
      ansible.builtin.package:
        name: nginx
        state: present
    - name: Start nginx
      ansible.builtin.service:
        name: nginx
        state: started
        enabled: true

ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini site.yml --check    # dry run
ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini site.yml