# Best practices to separate provision and operation tasks

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/best-practices-to-separate-provision-and-operation-tasks/17452>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [February 5, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/best-practices-to-separate-provision-and-operation-tasks/17452 "2015-02-05T03:59:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Le\_Van1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@Le\_Van1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Le_Van1)\
**Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/best-practices-to-separate-provision-and-operation-tasks/17452/1 "2015-02-05T03:59:51Z")

</div>

Hi,

Is there a way (best practice) to separate playbook to provision tasks ( setup only) and operation tasks ( backup db, restore db, restart app,…)

One example is

site.yml ( for provisioning)  
rolling-update.yml ( for deploy,…)  
dbtasks.yml ( for other tasks,…)  
apptasks.yml ( for handle app)  
…

What a proposed directory layout for it?

Thanks,  
Pilgrim

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![James\_Cammarata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7c8e57/32.png) [@James\_Cammarata](https://forum.ansible.com/u/James_Cammarata)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 6:30am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/best-practices-to-separate-provision-and-operation-tasks/17452/2 "2015-02-10T06:30:50Z")

</div>

Hi Le Van, this is typically what tags are used for. The other alternative is to simply create separate playbooks for them, though there is not really any best practice guideline for that. It’s mostly a matter of personal preference.

Thanks!