Part 6: Running Ansible from Jenkins

Jenkins CI/CD Series

Part	Article
1	Install Jenkins with Docker
2	Creating Your First Jenkins Pipeline
3	Jenkins SSH Remote Execution
4	Automating MySQL Backup to AWS S3
5	Making Jenkins Automation Scalable
6	Running Ansible from Jenkins
7	Jenkins Pipeline from GitHub
8	Multibranch Pipelines
9	Parameterized Pipelines
10	Environment Variables in Pipelines

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Goal

Enable Jenkins to execute Ansible automation tasks by integrating Ansible into the Jenkins container, allowing centralized orchestration of remote infrastructure using playbooks.

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Purpose

The purpose of this part is to extend your CI/CD pipeline capabilities by introducing configuration management with Ansible.

By the end of this setup, you will:

• Run Ansible commands directly from Jenkins

• Manage remote systems using Ansible inventory + playbooks

• Automate infrastructure tasks via Jenkins jobs

• Establish a foundation for Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

This bridges the gap between CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure automation, which is a core DevOps skill.

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Prerequisites

Before starting this part, ensure you have:

• Ready to use Host and the directory structure to run Dockerfiles and docker-compose.yml (Refer to Part 1)

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Step-by-step implementation

Install Ansible on Docker (on an existing Jenkins Container)

Create another folder /home/jenkins/jenkins_home/jenkins-ansible$

• Create a customized Dockerfile for Jenkins to create a Jenkins container to support Ansible

FROM jenkins/jenkins
USER root

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install python3-pip -y

# New lines to set up a virtual environment
####
ENV ANSIBLE_VENV=/ansible_venv
RUN mkdir $ANSIBLE_VENV && \
    chown jenkins:jenkins $ANSIBLE_VENV && \
    apt-get install python3-venv -y
####

USER jenkins

# Activate the virtual environment
RUN python3 -m venv $ANSIBLE_VENV

# Use the venv to install Ansible
RUN $ANSIBLE_VENV/bin/pip3 install ansible

# Ensure the Ansible binary is accessible
ENV PATH=\(PATH:\)ANSIBLE_VENV/bin

• Go back to one more directory, where we have our Docker Compose file, and update the content to fetch details from the Dockerfile we created in the earlier step.

/home/jenkins/jenkins_home/docker-compose.yml

services:
  jenkins:
    container_name: jenkins
    image: jenkins-ansible
    build:
      context: jenkins-ansible
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - $PWD/jenkins_home:/var/jenkins_home
    networks:
      - net

  remote_host:
    container_name: remote-host
    image: remote-host
    build:
      context: centos7
    volumes:
      - "$PWD/aws-s3.sh:/tmp/script.sh"
    networks:
      - net

  db_host:
    container_name: db
    image: mysql:8.0
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: 1234
    volumes:
      - $PWD/db_data:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - net

networks:
  net:

Tips - Update Jenkins block (image: jenkins-ansible, build: context: jenkins-ansible)

docker compose build

Note- Always run the docker compose from the directory where we have docker-compose.yml

• The new Jenkins Image has been built

• Create a Jenkins container by using this Image

#Below commands used to vrify Jenkins container has ansible installed

docker compose up -d
docker ps
docker exec -it jenkins bash
ansible

Note- Typing ansible will show avaible options to run any command means, its installed

Created an Ansible folder for the Ansible home directory

/home/jenkins/jenkins_home/ansible

Note- /jenkins_home is acting as an volumes for our jenkins container since we have given same context in docker-compose.yml

• Copy the remote key to the Ansible folder directly

home/jenkins/jenkins_home$ sudo cp centos7/remote-key jenkins_home/ansible/

Since we're moving around the remote-key file, it's always a good idea to ensure that Jenkins has the correct permissions for it.

• Run the following command to set the right permissions:

docker exec # Asks Docker to run a command 
-u root # Using the root user 
jenkins # On the container named jenkins 
bash # Using bash 
-c "chmod 400 /var/jenkins_home/ansible/remote-key && chown 1000:1000 /var/jenkins_home/ansible -R" # Set proper permissions

• What does this do?

chmod 400 /tmp/remote-key → Sets read-only permissions for the key file.

chown 1000:1000 /tmp/remote-key → Ensures Jenkins (user ID 1000) owns the key.

This step prevents permission issues when using the key inside the container.

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• Create Inventory in Ansible

Create a file named hosts on /home/jenkins/jenkins_home/jenkins-ansible and add the below content

[all:vars]

ansible_connection - ssh

[test] 
test1 ansible_host=remote_host ansible_user=remote_user ansible_private_key_file=/var/jenkins_home/ansible/remote-key

• Copy the hosts file to the Jenkins container in jenkins_home/ansible folder

cp hosts ../jenkins_home/ansible

• Log in to the Jenkins container and run the command

docker exec -it jenkins bash

• Verify files

• Run the inventory

ansible -i hosts -m ping test1

Note - Run ansible command from where is the inventory file located

any issues to connect, it must be SSH key permission issue or when connecting to from jenkins to remote_host

ssh -i /var/jenkins_home/ansible/remote-key remote_user@remote_host

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Create a Playbook play.yml at the host directory /home/jenkins/jenkins_home/jenkins-ansible

- name: Test playbook 
  hosts: test1 
  tasks:
    - name: Create file using shell 
      shell: echo Hello World > /tmp/ansible-file

• Copy play.yml to the Jenkins container

cp play.yml ../jenkins_home/ansible/

• Log in to the Jenkins container

• Check if the file is present

• Run the play.yml

ansible-playbook -i hosts play.yml

• Check where the file is generated?

Here it is on the remote-host

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Jenkins and Ansible Integration

• Log in to the Jenkins console and install the Ansible plugin.

• Create Freestyle pipeline ansible-test

• Click on Build Now and Console Output

• Verify output

Done!!!

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Conclusion

In this part, you successfully integrated Ansible with Jenkins, transforming your CI/CD pipeline into a powerful automation engine capable of managing infrastructure.

You have:

• Installed Ansible inside a custom Jenkins container

• Configured secure SSH access using private keys

• Created and tested Ansible inventory and playbooks

• Executed automation tasks on remote systems

• Integrated Ansible execution into Jenkins jobs

This is a major milestone in your DevOps journey — you are no longer just building pipelines, but automating infrastructure at scale.

This setup reflects real-world practices where Jenkins acts as an orchestrator, and Ansible handles configuration management and deployment.

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🔗 Continue the Series

⬅️ Previous Article: Part 5 Making Jenkins Automation Scalable
➡️ Next Article: Part 7 Jenkins Pipeline from GitHub

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