Modules

Help on modules

ansible-doc -l # all installed modules list
ansible-doc <module-name> # module man
ansible-doc -s <module-name> # playbook snippets code examples on module

Module examples

Copy module

  • Copies a file from the local box to a remote system - useful for copying config files to remote system
  • can do backups
  • can do remote validation

Fetch module

  • Copy a file from remote system to local box
  • validate file using md5 checksum

Setup module

  • Gather info and facts on remote system
  • Inventory analysis of the system
ansible -i inventory web1 -m setup # gather all available system info
ansible -i inventory web1 -m setup -a "filter=ansible_eth*" # gather info on NICs
ansible -i inventory all -m setup --tree ./setup # form an inventory of files in /setup/ folder with info on targeted systems

Apt module (for Debian systems) / Yum module (RedHat systems)

  • Install, update, delete packages
  • Can update entire system Example for Yum:
ansible webservers -i inventory -m yum -a "name=httpd state=present" -u vagrant --sudo
# name - name of package (Apache)
# present - if package is not there, install. If it is there - do nothing and report "changed: false" (idempotence test)

Service module

  • Start/stop/restart services
  • Set autostart option for services
ansible webservers -i inventory -m service -a "name=httpd state=started enabled=yes" -u vagrant --sudo

# name - name of service (Apache)
# state = started/stopped - make idempotence test and change if necessary
# enabled = yes/no - autostart on system boot