SSH settings
ansible.cfg
[ssh_connection]
ssh_args = -o PreferredAuthentications=publickey -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s
pipelining = True
PreferredAuthentications helps to initiate the connection faster (without trying rare gssapi-with-mic,gssapi-keyex,hostbased methods).
ControlMaster and ControlPersist allows multiplexing existing connections to the server.
Useful links: https://serverfault.com/questions/929222/ansible-where-do-preferredauthentications-ssh-settings-come-from
Facts caching
ansible.cfg
[defaults]
gathering = smart
fact_caching=yaml
fact_caching_timeout=86400
fact_caching_connection=./ansible-cache
These options enable fact caching for 1 day and tell Ansible not gather facts in they already presented in the cache.
Useful links:
- https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/plugins/cache.html#enabling-fact-cache-plugins
- https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html#default-gathering
Profiling
The most important part, in my opinion. There is no universal way, but I have some recomemndations:
- Try to make tasks idempotent as possible. No need to do a useless job;
- Delete duplicating tasks. For example, you’re may try to enable the firewall every time when you’re installing something. These tasks may be idempotent, but they still consume execution time;
- Use something like Ara to visualize the playbook execution. Ara provides a good web interface and allows to sort tasks for execution time.
Useful links: https://github.com/openstack/ara