The quick start Ansible tutorial offers a practical introduction to Ansible, an open-source configuration management tool known for its ease of use and wide support for various resources. It guides users from basic concepts like playbooks and modules to practical exercises, such as installing software, updating configuration files, and managing resources across different environments. Ansible is particularly beneficial in heterogeneous environments, allowing for unified management of Windows, Linux, and resources across multiple cloud providers. The tutorial explains the setup of Ansible Control on a Linux or MacOS machine and the configuration needed for managing nodes, highlighting its limited support for Windows but noting workarounds using PowerShell. The tutorial also includes a step-by-step example of setting up a test environment with Ansible, demonstrating tasks such as installing Apache on a managed node and deploying a static site, while emphasizing the importance of proper syntax and the utility of tools like ansible-lint for error checking. The name "Ansible" is inspired by a science fiction concept of a faster-than-light communication device, symbolizing its capability to manage remote servers effectively.