# Anyone can explain "false" below

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/anyone-can-explain-false-below/36159>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [December 29, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/anyone-can-explain-false-below/36159 "2021-12-29T16:10:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![davidy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ea924/32.png) [@davidy](https://forum.ansible.com/u/davidy)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/anyone-can-explain-false-below/36159/1 "2021-12-29T16:10:20Z")

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Hi Anyone can explain “false” below. Thank you

sudo nano ansible.cfg  
[defaults]  
inventory = ./hosts  
host\_key checking = false

---

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**Author:** ![Jack\_Morgan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Jack\_Morgan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Jack_Morgan)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/anyone-can-explain-false-below/36159/2 "2021-12-29T16:24:36Z")

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“Set this to “False” if you want to avoid host key checking by the underlying tools Ansible uses to connect to the host” per the link below. Most commonly used for SSH connections.

[https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference\_appendices/config.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html)

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**Author:** ![Nico\_Kadel-Garcia](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/nico_kadel-garcia/32/9998_2.png) [@Nico\_Kadel-Garcia](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nico_Kadel-Garcia)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/anyone-can-explain-false-below/36159/3 "2021-12-29T20:31:56Z")

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> "Set this to “False” if you want to avoid host key checking by the underlying tools Ansible uses to connect to the host" per the link below. Most commonly used for SSH connections.
> 
> [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference\_appendices/config.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html)

Host key checking is a big problem in many environments where a  
disting OS image with distinct SSH keys may wind up assigned a  
previously used IP address.

It can be turned for the Ansible server by editing ~/.ssh/config for  
the account running ansible on that host, with:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Host \*  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;StrictHostKeyChecking no  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;LogLevel ERROR

I've been suggesting this for complex environments since.... the  
1990's, where the "hosts have stable DNS and stable individual keys"  
has never been reliable. There have been demands in various  
environments to publish or sign host keys, but the bootstrap to get  
those keys under management needs a tool like ansible running \*first\*,  
or it becomes a nasty bootstrap operation.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![davidy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ea924/32.png) [@davidy](https://forum.ansible.com/u/davidy)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/anyone-can-explain-false-below/36159/4 "2022-01-03T21:57:39Z")

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Thank you!!