Ansible is a powerful, open-source automation engine used for tasks such as configuration management, application deployment, and orchestration. One of its key strengths is its agentless architecture and extensive library of modules, which allows it to manage a heterogeneous, multi-vendor environment. A single Ansible playbook can contain tasks that target different network devices (e.g., Juniper, Cisco, Arista) by leveraging vendor-specific collections and conditional logic. As an open-source project, sponsored by Red Hat, the core Ansible tool is freely available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute, fostering a large and active community.

B. Ansible and the vast majority of its modules are written in Python. While modules can be written in other languages, Python is the standard.

D. The core Ansible engine is free and open-source. A paid license is only required for the enterprise-grade Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, not Ansible itself.

1. Juniper Networks TechLibrary

"Ansible for Junos OS Overview." This official Juniper document states

"Ansible is an open source IT automation tool that automates provisioning

configuration management

application deployment

orchestration

and many other IT processes." The document's context

describing Ansible as a tool for Junos

implicitly supports its use in multi-vendor environments

which is a primary driver for adopting such platforms.

2. Red Hat Ansible Documentation

"What is Ansible?" This official source confirms Ansible's nature: "Ansible is an open source

command-line IT automation software application written in Python." It also highlights its ability to manage diverse systems

stating it can "configure systems

deploy software

and orchestrate more advanced IT tasks such as continuous deployments or zero downtime rolling updates."

3. Ansible Documentation

"Developing modules." The official development guide specifies the language requirement: "While you can write Ansible modules in any language... we recommend writing modules in Python." This directly refutes the claim that modules must be written in Go.