Ansible is an open-source automation tool that simplifies the configuration management of systems, networks, and applications. It follows a declarative language-based approach, allowing users to define the desired state of their systems, and then automating the steps required to achieve that state.

Automated configuration management with Ansible involves several key components. First, users define tasks in Ansible playbooks, which are written in YAML format. Playbooks contain a series of tasks, each with specific actions to be performed on target hosts.