Ansible is a free-software platform for configuring and managing computers which combines multi-node software deployment, ad hoc task execution, and configuration management.

It manages nodes (Linux nodes must have Python 2.4 or later installed on them, Windows nodes require PowerShell 3.0 or later) over SSH or over PowerShell^. Modules work over JSON and standard output and can be written in any programming language. The system uses YAML to express reusable descriptions of systems.

Michael DeHaan, the author of the provisioning server application Cobbler and co-author of the Func framework for remote administration, developed the platform.  It is included as part of the Fedora distribution of Linux, owned by Red Hat Inc., and is also available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and Scientific Linux via Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) as well as for other operating systems.

_Bio_:
Brian Kraft, bio forthcoming.