1. Sysprep removes all redundant information from the image so it is clean when it is deployed. This might include system logs, bash history files, SSH host identification keys, MAC addresses in udev rules—anything that should not be deployed a hundred times across the enterprise.
2. Whenever you need to know something about the underlying system—perhaps the IP address, the operating system, or the disk geometry.
3. Ideally, create a Jinja2 template and deploy it with Ansible using the template module.
4. get_url.
5. You would write two tasks, one that uses the apt module, and one that uses the yum module. Each task should have a when clause and check the Ansible Facts to ensure it runs the correct task on the corresponding operating system.
6. To ensure it was not corrupted when you downloaded it and to ensure it has not been tampered with (for example, malicious software injected).
7. The roles can be reused to audit, validate, and enforce configuration across the enterprise once the template has been deployed.