Low Risk

find-best-node

Find the best node for VM placement based on resources and preferences

How to control find-best-node ↓

What find-best-node does on Ansible

AI agents call find-best-node to retrieve information from Ansible without modifying anything — typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

Low Risk

Why find-best-node needs a policy

This tool retrieves and analyzes node/resource information to recommend optimal placement. It reads system state (resource availability, preferences) and returns a recommendation but does not create, modify, delete, or execute any infrastructure changes. No side effects occur from invoking this tool. This is a query/analysis function, making it a Read category with low severity.

From the tool's definition Tool description: 'Find the best node for VM placement based on resources and preferences' — performs resource querying and analysis without modifying infrastructure.

Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access find-best-node gives an agent:

How to control find-best-node

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Ansible, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for find-best-node:

policy.json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "find-best-node": {}
  }
}

find-best-node is read-only, so it stays allowed — but everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

  1. Create a free account and register Ansible — nothing to install.
  2. Add this policy — paste it, or build it visually.
  3. Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, anything) at your gateway URL.
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Related tools and policies

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Questions about find-best-node

What does the find-best-node tool do? +

Find the best node for VM placement based on resources and preferences. It is categorised as a Read tool in the Ansible MCP Server, which means it retrieves data without modifying state.

How do I enforce a policy on find-best-node? +

Register the Ansible MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for find-best-node: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Ansible. Nothing to install.

What risk level is find-best-node? +

find-best-node is a Read tool with low risk. Read-only tools are generally safe to allow by default.

Can I rate-limit find-best-node? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the find-best-node rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.

How do I block find-best-node completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for find-best-node. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.

What MCP server provides find-best-node? +

find-best-node is provided by the Ansible MCP server (washyu/ansible-mcp-server). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policy on every Ansible tool call.

Start from Ansible, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.

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90 Ansible tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.

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