# Identifier for host managed by ansible

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/identifier-for-host-managed-by-ansible/35834>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [October 7, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/identifier-for-host-managed-by-ansible/35834 "2021-10-07T20:17:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Simon\_Gao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Simon\_Gao](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Simon_Gao)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/identifier-for-host-managed-by-ansible/35834/1 "2021-10-07T20:17:22Z")

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Hi,

Is there known or common way to add an identifier on the hosts managed by ansible?

Like indentifying os distribution in /etc/redhat-release or /etc/os-release etc, we would like to add some identifying mark on the hosts managed by ansible.

For SaltStack, we can easily tell by checking salt configuration or salt-minion process. How do people identify the hosts managed via ansible?

Simon

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**Author:** ![John\_Dough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/65b543/32.png) [@John\_Dough](https://forum.ansible.com/u/John_Dough)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/identifier-for-host-managed-by-ansible/35834/2 "2021-10-10T12:19:37Z")

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For a lot of host level information, there is ansible\_facts: [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user\_guide/playbooks\_vars\_facts.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_vars_facts.html)

For ad hoc variables which you want to define you can inventory vars at various levels