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Working with Ansible Ad-Hoc Commands on EXOS Devices

Sections:

Introduction

An ad-hoc command is something that you might type in order to do something really quick, but don’t want to save for later.

This is a good place to start to understand the basics of what Ansible can do prior to learning the playbooks language. Ad-hoc commands can also be used to do quick things that you might not necessarily want to write a full playbook for.

This guide will be focused mainly on the application of these commands on Network devices, and in our case its for EXOS devices.

Pre-requisite:

A working setup of Ansible system with at least one EXOS device.

Refer this guide to prepare a similar setup on GNS3

Basic Ansible Commands

Check Ansible Version

ansible --version

Run this command to check the version of ansible currently installed on a system. This also shows other details such as python version, ansible configuration file path etc.

Sample command and output:

(venv) root@Net:~# ansible --version
ansible 2.7.0.dev0 (devel 0102e42272) last updated 2018/06/17 04:22:52 (GMT +000)
  config file = /root/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = [u'/root/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /root/ansible/lib/ansible
  executable location = /root/ansible/bin/ansible
  python version = 2.7.12 (default, Dec  4 2017, 14:50:18) [GCC 5.4.0 20160609]

Check available hosts in Ansible Inventory

ansible --list-hosts all

Run this command to check all the available hosts in Ansible's Inventory. In order to check the hosts available in a particular group, replace the word 'all' with the name of the group.

Sample command and output:

(venv) root@Net:~# ansible --list-hosts all
  hosts (5):
    S1
    S2
    S3
    S4
    S5

Running Ansible Playbook

ansible-playbook <playbook_name>.yaml/yml

Use this command to execute ansible playbooks. Sample below:

ansible-playbook sh_version.yaml

Running Ansible Playbook in Check mode

When ansible-playbook is executed with --check it will not make any changes on remote systems. Instead, any module instrumented to support ‘check mode’ will report what changes they would have made rather than making them. It is always a good practice to first execute the playbook in check/Dry Run mode before runnning it on a production environment. Example below:

ansible-playbook sh_verison.yaml --check

Running Ansible Playbook in Verbose mode

Run ansible playbooks or Ad-Hoc Commands in verbose mode to get the verbose info regarding the execution of the task/s. This comes handy while troubleshooting the playbook execution failures. Refer example below:

ansible-playbook sh_verison.yaml -v

Use -vvv for more and -vvvv to enable connection debugging

Running Ansible Playbook by Limiting the Hosts

ansible-playbook <playbook_name>.yaml/yml --limit <host_name>

This commmand will limit the playbook to get executed only on those hosts which are mentioned after the --limit option, irrespective of whats been there inside the Playbook. Example Below:

ansible-playbook sh_verison.yaml -limit S5

In the above command the playbook will get executed only on host 'S5'

Ansible Documentation

ansible-doc <module_name>

This command shows the documentation of a particular module. This includes, supported arguments, few examples and return values of the module. For example, run below command to get the documentation for "exos_command" module

ansible-doc exos_command

Ansible Help

ansible -h

Run this command to see all the available options under ansible.

Refer this document for more details on working with Command Line Tools

Basic Ansible Ad-Hoc Commands

Pinging Hosts

ansible S1 -m ping

Use this command to check if the hosts are reachable from ansible.

Sample command and output below:

(venv) root@Net:~# ansible S1 -m ping
S1 | SUCCESS => {
    "changed": false,
    "ping": "pong"
}

Get Version Details

ansible <device> -m exos_command -a "commands='show version'"

Above command will return the output of "show version" command from the EXOS devices.

Sample command and output below:

(venv) root@Net:~# ansible S1 -m exos_command -a "commands='show version'"
S1 | SUCCESS => {
    "changed": false,
    "stdout": [
        "Switch      : PN:1N2039    SN:123456   Rev 01 BootROM: 1.2        IMG: 22.5.1.7  \nPSUCTRL-1   : PN:MEAD      SN:MD1      Rev 01 BootROM: 2.1       \nPSUCTRL-2   : PN:MEAD      SN:MD2      Rev 11 BootROM: 2.3       \nmouse-usb   : PN:MOUSE     SN:4321     Rev 11 BootROM: 4.3       \nfloppy-A    :\nPSU-1       : Internal PSU-2 PN:1N2039 SN:12345\nPSU-2       : Internal PSU-3 PN:1N2039 SN:12345\n\nImage   : ExtremeXOS version 22.5.1.7 by release-manager\n          on Tue May 22 11:01:38 EDT 2018\nBootROM : 1.2\nCertified Version : EXOS Linux  3.18.48, FIPS fips-ecp-2.0.16"
    ],
    "stdout_lines": [
        [
            "Switch      : PN:1N2039    SN:123456   Rev 01 BootROM: 1.2        IMG: 22.5.1.7  ",
            "PSUCTRL-1   : PN:MEAD      SN:MD1      Rev 01 BootROM: 2.1       ",
            "PSUCTRL-2   : PN:MEAD      SN:MD2      Rev 11 BootROM: 2.3       ",
            "mouse-usb   : PN:MOUSE     SN:4321     Rev 11 BootROM: 4.3       ",
            "floppy-A    :",
            "PSU-1       : Internal PSU-2 PN:1N2039 SN:12345",
            "PSU-2       : Internal PSU-3 PN:1N2039 SN:12345",
            "",
            "Image   : ExtremeXOS version 22.5.1.7 by release-manager",
            "          on Tue May 22 11:01:38 EDT 2018",
            "BootROM : 1.2",
            "Certified Version : EXOS Linux  3.18.48, FIPS fips-ecp-2.0.16"
        ]
    ]
}

NOTE: "stdout" and "stdout_lines" are the return values of "exos_command". They both have the same result except the way the output is formatted.

Passing Multiple show Commands

ansible <device> -m exos_command -a "commands='<command_1>,<command_2>'"

Use the above format to pass multiple show commands in a single ad-hoc command. Example below:

ansible S1 -m exos_command -a "commands='show version,show accounts'"

Logging in with a different User

Use below command if you wish to login to the device with a different user as opposed to what has been configured in the "group_vars" directory.

ansible <device> -m exos_command -a "commands='show version'" -u <username> -k

Filtering Output

One can also make use of "grep" to filter the output. For example, use below command to just get the details of the Image:

ansible S1 -m exos_command -a "commands='show version | grep Image'"

Sample command and output below:

root@Net:~# ansible S1 -m exos_command -a "commands='show version | grep Image'"
S1 | SUCCESS => {
    "changed": false,
    "stdout": [
        "Image   : ExtremeXOS version 22.5.1.7 by release-manager"
    ],
    "stdout_lines": [
        [
            "Image   : ExtremeXOS version 22.5.1.7 by release-manager"
        ]
    ]
}

NOTE: For all the above examples in this section, command show version can be replaced with any other valid show command. For example, use below command to check the details of Default VLAN.

ansible S1 -m exos_command -a "commands='show ipconfig vlan Default'"

Saving Output in a File

root@Net:~# ansible S1 -m exos_command -a "commands='show version'" > sh_ver.txt

Above command will save the contents of show version command in a file named as "sh_ver.txt" instead of displaying it on the console. Run command ls to check if the file has been created or not. Once confirmed, open it using cat sh_ver.txt or more sh_ver.txt and verify the contents. Below is the sample command and output:

(venv) root@Net:~# ansible S1 -m exos_command -a "commands='show version'" > sh_ver.txt
(venv) root@Net:~# ls
ansible  ansible.cfg  playbooks  sh_ver.txt

Conclusion

At the time of writing this guide, there is no support for running configuration commands on EXOS devices. As we expect to release an exos_config module soon, this guide will be updated accordingly with some more configuration-related Ad-Hoc Commands.