Glossary
A small static program that Volant uploads to each managed host and caches there. It receives tasks from the controller, runs them and streams results back. See Connections and the agent.
The tasks one host runs in a row before it next waits for the others. By default a batch is one task wide. See Cross-host batching.
Controller
Section titled “Controller”The machine you run volant on, and the volant program itself. It reads playbooks, renders templates and drives the agents.
Flush point
Section titled “Flush point”A step where notified handlers run. Every play has three, and meta: flush_handlers adds more. See Handlers.
One open connection from the controller to an agent. A host has its own link, plus one while it escalates and one per delegate.
Pre-flight
Section titled “Pre-flight”The check that names, before any connection, everything this release does not support yet, and stops the run. See What is not supported yet.
The reference
Section titled “The reference”ansible-core 2.19.12, the release whose behavior Volant reproduces. A difference from it is a bug unless a page lists it as deliberate. See decision record 0002.
Splice point
Section titled “Splice point”A step whose followers are only known while the play runs: a handler flush, or a dynamic include_tasks or include_role. The new steps are inserted there. See Includes and imports.
One entry in the flat, numbered list a play is compiled into. Every host walks the same list. See How a play runs.
Synchronization point
Section titled “Synchronization point”A step where every host of a batch waits for the others. Under the default linear behavior, every task is one.
Union blob
Section titled “Union blob”The single archive that carries every Python module a run needs, with the shared code they import. It is sent to each host once. See The warm Python path.
Warm Python server
Section titled “Warm Python server”A Python process the agent keeps running on a host. It loads the shared module code once and forks a child for each task.