NXOS Ansible "Connection failure: timed out" - ansible

Question

I am very new to Ansible and am trying to run my first playbook against a nexus 5600. I am using the cisco-programmable-fabric playbook I have connectivity to the N5K, and can ping it from the Centos7 VM. I can also access the NXAPI sandbox via the browser.
When I run the playbook I the errors shown in the picture. One host gets gets a connection timed out error. The host "mt-l1" has an error with a redirect.
Ansible version is 2.5.1 and python version is 2.7.5.
Errors
NXAPI Config
hosts file
etc/hosts file
# config file for ansible -- https://ansible.com/
# ===============================================
# nearly all parameters can be overridden in ansible-playbook
# or with command line flags. ansible will read ANSIBLE_CONFIG,
# ansible.cfg in the current working directory, .ansible.cfg in
# the home directory or /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg, whichever it
# finds first
[defaults]
# some basic default values...
inventory = /etc/ansible/hosts
library = /usr/share/my_modules/
module_utils = /usr/share/my_module_utils/
remote_tmp = ~/.ansible/tmp
local_tmp = ~/.ansible/tmp
plugin_filters_cfg = /etc/ansible/plugin_filters.yml
forks = 5
poll_interval = 15
#sudo_user = root
#ask_sudo_pass = True
#ask_pass = True
transport = smart
remote_port = 22
module_lang = C
module_set_locale = False
# plays will gather facts by default, which contain information about
# the remote system.
#
# smart - gather by default, but don't regather if already gathered
# implicit - gather by default, turn off with gather_facts: False
# explicit - do not gather by default, must say gather_facts: True
#gathering = implicit
# This only affects the gathering done by a play's gather_facts directive,
# by default gathering retrieves all facts subsets
# all - gather all subsets
# network - gather min and network facts
# hardware - gather hardware facts (longest facts to retrieve)
# virtual - gather min and virtual facts
# facter - import facts from facter
# ohai - import facts from ohai
# You can combine them using comma (ex: network,virtual)
# You can negate them using ! (ex: !hardware,!facter,!ohai)
# A minimal set of facts is always gathered.
#gather_subset = all
# some hardware related facts are collected
# with a maximum timeout of 10 seconds. This
# option lets you increase or decrease that
# timeout to something more suitable for the
# environment.
# gather_timeout = 10
# additional paths to search for roles in, colon separated
#roles_path = /etc/ansible/roles
# uncomment this to disable SSH key host checking
#host_key_checking = False
# change the default callback, you can only have one 'stdout' type enabled at a time.
#stdout_callback = skippy
## Ansible ships with some plugins that require whitelisting,
## this is done to avoid running all of a type by default.
## These setting lists those that you want enabled for your system.
## Custom plugins should not need this unless plugin author specifies it.
# enable callback plugins, they can output to stdout but cannot be 'stdout' type.
#callback_whitelist = timer, mail
# Determine whether includes in tasks and handlers are "static" by
# default. As of 2.0, includes are dynamic by default. Setting these
# values to True will make includes behave more like they did in the
# 1.x versions.
#task_includes_static = False
#handler_includes_static = False
# Controls if a missing handler for a notification event is an error or a warning
#error_on_missing_handler = True
# change this for alternative sudo implementations
#sudo_exe = sudo
# What flags to pass to sudo
# WARNING: leaving out the defaults might create unexpected behaviours
#sudo_flags = -H -S -n
# SSH timeout
#timeout = 10
# default user to use for playbooks if user is not specified
# (/usr/bin/ansible will use current user as default)
#remote_user = root
# logging is off by default unless this path is defined
# if so defined, consider logrotate
#log_path = /var/log/ansible.log
# default module name for /usr/bin/ansible
#module_name = command
# use this shell for commands executed under sudo
# you may need to change this to bin/bash in rare instances
# if sudo is constrained
#executable = /bin/sh
# if inventory variables overlap, does the higher precedence one win
# or are hash values merged together? The default is 'replace' but
# this can also be set to 'merge'.
#hash_behaviour = replace
# by default, variables from roles will be visible in the global variable
# scope. To prevent this, the following option can be enabled, and only
# tasks and handlers within the role will see the variables there
#private_role_vars = yes
# list any Jinja2 extensions to enable here:
#jinja2_extensions = jinja2.ext.do,jinja2.ext.i18n
# if set, always use this private key file for authentication, same as
# if passing --private-key to ansible or ansible-playbook
#private_key_file = /path/to/file
# If set, configures the path to the Vault password file as an alternative to
# specifying --vault-password-file on the command line.
#vault_password_file = /path/to/vault_password_file
# format of string {{ ansible_managed }} available within Jinja2
# templates indicates to users editing templates files will be replaced.
# replacing {file}, {host} and {uid} and strftime codes with proper values.
#ansible_managed = Ansible managed: {file} modified on %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S by {uid} on {host}
# {file}, {host}, {uid}, and the timestamp can all interfere with idempotence
# in some situations so the default is a static string:
#ansible_managed = Ansible managed
# by default, ansible-playbook will display "Skipping [host]" if it determines a task
# should not be run on a host. Set this to "False" if you don't want to see these "Skipping"
# messages. NOTE: the task header will still be shown regardless of whether or not the
# task is skipped.
#display_skipped_hosts = True
# by default, if a task in a playbook does not include a name: field then
# ansible-playbook will construct a header that includes the task's action but
# not the task's args. This is a security feature because ansible cannot know
# if the *module* considers an argument to be no_log at the time that the
# header is printed. If your environment doesn't have a problem securing
# stdout from ansible-playbook (or you have manually specified no_log in your
# playbook on all of the tasks where you have secret information) then you can
# safely set this to True to get more informative messages.
#display_args_to_stdout = False
# by default (as of 1.3), Ansible will raise errors when attempting to dereference
# Jinja2 variables that are not set in templates or action lines. Uncomment this line
# to revert the behavior to pre-1.3.
#error_on_undefined_vars = False
# by default (as of 1.6), Ansible may display warnings based on the configuration of the
# system running ansible itself. This may include warnings about 3rd party packages or
# other conditions that should be resolved if possible.
# to disable these warnings, set the following value to False:
#system_warnings = True
# by default (as of 1.4), Ansible may display deprecation warnings for language
# features that should no longer be used and will be removed in future versions.
# to disable these warnings, set the following value to False:
#deprecation_warnings = True
# (as of 1.8), Ansible can optionally warn when usage of the shell and
# command module appear to be simplified by using a default Ansible module
# instead. These warnings can be silenced by adjusting the following
# setting or adding warn=yes or warn=no to the end of the command line
# parameter string. This will for example suggest using the git module
# instead of shelling out to the git command.
# command_warnings = False
# set plugin path directories here, separate with colons
#action_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/action
#cache_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/cache
#callback_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/callback
#connection_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/connection
#lookup_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/lookup
#inventory_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/inventory
#vars_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/vars
#filter_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/filter
#test_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/test
#terminal_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/terminal
#strategy_plugins = /usr/share/ansible/plugins/strategy
# by default, ansible will use the 'linear' strategy but you may want to try
# another one
#strategy = free
# by default callbacks are not loaded for /bin/ansible, enable this if you
# want, for example, a notification or logging callback to also apply to
# /bin/ansible runs
#bin_ansible_callbacks = False
# don't like cows? that's unfortunate.
# set to 1 if you don't want cowsay support or export ANSIBLE_NOCOWS=1
#nocows = 1
# set which cowsay stencil you'd like to use by default. When set to 'random',
# a random stencil will be selected for each task. The selection will be filtered
# against the `cow_whitelist` option below.
#cow_selection = default
#cow_selection = random
# when using the 'random' option for cowsay, stencils will be restricted to this list.
# it should be formatted as a comma-separated list with no spaces between names.
# NOTE: line continuations here are for formatting purposes only, as the INI parser
# in python does not support them.
#cow_whitelist=bud-frogs,bunny,cheese,daemon,default,dragon,elephant-in-snake,elephant,eyes,\
# hellokitty,kitty,luke-koala,meow,milk,moofasa,moose,ren,sheep,small,stegosaurus,\
# stimpy,supermilker,three-eyes,turkey,turtle,tux,udder,vader-koala,vader,www
# don't like colors either?
# set to 1 if you don't want colors, or export ANSIBLE_NOCOLOR=1
#nocolor = 1
# if set to a persistent type (not 'memory', for example 'redis') fact values
# from previous runs in Ansible will be stored. This may be useful when
# wanting to use, for example, IP information from one group of servers
# without having to talk to them in the same playbook run to get their
# current IP information.
#fact_caching = memory
# retry files
# When a playbook fails by default a .retry file will be created in ~/
# You can disable this feature by setting retry_files_enabled to False
# and you can change the location of the files by setting retry_files_save_path
#retry_files_enabled = False
#retry_files_save_path = ~/.ansible-retry
# squash actions
# Ansible can optimise actions that call modules with list parameters
# when looping. Instead of calling the module once per with_ item, the
# module is called once with all items at once. Currently this only works
# under limited circumstances, and only with parameters named 'name'.
#squash_actions = apk,apt,dnf,homebrew,pacman,pkgng,yum,zypper
# prevents logging of task data, off by default
#no_log = False
# prevents logging of tasks, but only on the targets, data is still logged on the master/controller
#no_target_syslog = False
# controls whether Ansible will raise an error or warning if a task has no
# choice but to create world readable temporary files to execute a module on
# the remote machine. This option is False by default for security. Users may
# turn this on to have behaviour more like Ansible prior to 2.1.x. See
# https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/become.html#becoming-an-unprivileged-user
# for more secure ways to fix this than enabling this option.
#allow_world_readable_tmpfiles = False
# controls the compression level of variables sent to
# worker processes. At the default of 0, no compression
# is used. This value must be an integer from 0 to 9.
#var_compression_level = 9
# controls what compression method is used for new-style ansible modules when
# they are sent to the remote system. The compression types depend on having
# support compiled into both the controller's python and the client's python.
# The names should match with the python Zipfile compression types:
# * ZIP_STORED (no compression. available everywhere)
# * ZIP_DEFLATED (uses zlib, the default)
# These values may be set per host via the ansible_module_compression inventory
# variable
#module_compression = 'ZIP_DEFLATED'
# This controls the cutoff point (in bytes) on --diff for files
# set to 0 for unlimited (RAM may suffer!).
#max_diff_size = 1048576
# This controls how ansible handles multiple --tags and --skip-tags arguments
# on the CLI. If this is True then multiple arguments are merged together. If
# it is False, then the last specified argument is used and the others are ignored.
# This option will be removed in 2.8.
#merge_multiple_cli_flags = True
# Controls showing custom stats at the end, off by default
#show_custom_stats = True
# Controls which files to ignore when using a directory as inventory with
# possibly multiple sources (both static and dynamic)
#inventory_ignore_extensions = ~, .orig, .bak, .ini, .cfg, .retry, .pyc, .pyo
# This family of modules use an alternative execution path optimized for network appliances
# only update this setting if you know how this works, otherwise it can break module execution
#network_group_modules=eos, nxos, ios, iosxr, junos, vyos
# When enabled, this option allows lookups (via variables like {{lookup('foo')}} or when used as
# a loop with `with_foo`) to return data that is not marked "unsafe". This means the data may contain
# jinja2 templating language which will be run through the templating engine.
# ENABLING THIS COULD BE A SECURITY RISK
#allow_unsafe_lookups = False
# set default errors for all plays
#any_errors_fatal = False
[inventory]
# enable inventory plugins, default: 'host_list', 'script', 'yaml', 'ini'
#enable_plugins = host_list, virtualbox, yaml, constructed
# ignore these extensions when parsing a directory as inventory source
#ignore_extensions = .pyc, .pyo, .swp, .bak, ~, .rpm, .md, .txt, ~, .orig, .ini, .cfg, .retry
# ignore files matching these patterns when parsing a directory as inventory source
#ignore_patterns=
# If 'true' unparsed inventory sources become fatal errors, they are warnings otherwise.
#unparsed_is_failed=False
[privilege_escalation]
#become=True
#become_method=sudo
#become_user=root
#become_ask_pass=False
[paramiko_connection]
# uncomment this line to cause the paramiko connection plugin to not record new host
# keys encountered. Increases performance on new host additions. Setting works independently of the
# host key checking setting above.
#record_host_keys=False
# by default, Ansible requests a pseudo-terminal for commands executed under sudo. Uncomment this
# line to disable this behaviour.
#pty=False
# paramiko will default to looking for SSH keys initially when trying to
# authenticate to remote devices. This is a problem for some network devices
# that close the connection after a key failure. Uncomment this line to
# disable the Paramiko look for keys function
#look_for_keys = False
# When using persistent connections with Paramiko, the connection runs in a
# background process. If the host doesn't already have a valid SSH key, by
# default Ansible will prompt to add the host key. This will cause connections
# running in background processes to fail. Uncomment this line to have
# Paramiko automatically add host keys.
#host_key_auto_add = True
[ssh_connection]
# ssh arguments to use
# Leaving off ControlPersist will result in poor performance, so use
# paramiko on older platforms rather than removing it, -C controls compression use
#ssh_args = -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s
# The base directory for the ControlPath sockets.
# This is the "%(directory)s" in the control_path option
#
# Example:
# control_path_dir = /tmp/.ansible/cp
#control_path_dir = ~/.ansible/cp
# The path to use for the ControlPath sockets. This defaults to a hashed string of the hostname,
# port and username (empty string in the config). The hash mitigates a common problem users
# found with long hostames and the conventional %(directory)s/ansible-ssh-%%h-%%p-%%r format.
# In those cases, a "too long for Unix domain socket" ssh error would occur.
#
# Example:
# control_path = %(directory)s/%%h-%%r
#control_path =
# Enabling pipelining reduces the number of SSH operations required to
# execute a module on the remote server. This can result in a significant
# performance improvement when enabled, however when using "sudo:" you must
# first disable 'requiretty' in /etc/sudoers
#
# By default, this option is disabled to preserve compatibility with
# sudoers configurations that have requiretty (the default on many distros).
#
#pipelining = False
# Control the mechanism for transferring files (old)
# * smart = try sftp and then try scp [default]
# * True = use scp only
# * False = use sftp only
#scp_if_ssh = smart
# Control the mechanism for transferring files (new)
# If set, this will override the scp_if_ssh option
# * sftp = use sftp to transfer files
# * scp = use scp to transfer files
# * piped = use 'dd' over SSH to transfer files
# * smart = try sftp, scp, and piped, in that order [default]
#transfer_method = smart
# if False, sftp will not use batch mode to transfer files. This may cause some
# types of file transfer failures impossible to catch however, and should
# only be disabled if your sftp version has problems with batch mode
#sftp_batch_mode = False
# The -tt argument is passed to ssh when pipelining is not enabled because sudo
# requires a tty by default.
#use_tty = True
[persistent_connection]
# Configures the persistent connection timeout value in seconds. This value is
# how long the persistent connection will remain idle before it is destroyed.
# If the connection doesn't receive a request before the timeout value
# expires, the connection is shutdown. The default value is 30 seconds.
#connect_timeout = 30
# Configures the persistent connection retry timeout. This value configures the
# the retry timeout that ansible-connection will wait to connect
# to the local domain socket. This value must be larger than the
# ssh timeout (timeout) and less than persistent connection idle timeout (connect_timeout).
# The default value is 15 seconds.
#connect_retry_timeout = 15
# The command timeout value defines the amount of time to wait for a command
# or RPC call before timing out. The value for the command timeout must
# be less than the value of the persistent connection idle timeout (connect_timeout)
# The default value is 10 second.
#command_timeout = 10
[accelerate]
#accelerate_port = 5099
#accelerate_timeout = 30
#accelerate_connect_timeout = 5.0
# The daemon timeout is measured in minutes. This time is measured
# from the last activity to the accelerate daemon.
#accelerate_daemon_timeout = 30
# If set to yes, accelerate_multi_key will allow multiple
# private keys to be uploaded to it, though each user must
# have access to the system via SSH to add a new key. The default
# is "no".
#accelerate_multi_key = yes
[selinux]
# file systems that require special treatment when dealing with security context
# the default behaviour that copies the existing context or uses the user default
# needs to be changed to use the file system dependent context.
#special_context_filesystems=nfs,vboxsf,fuse,ramfs,9p
# Set this to yes to allow libvirt_lxc connections to work without SELinux.
#libvirt_lxc_noseclabel = yes
[colors]
#highlight = white
#verbose = blue
#warn = bright purple
#error = red
#debug = dark gray
#deprecate = purple
#skip = cyan
#unreachable = red
#ok = green
#changed = yellow
#diff_add = green
#diff_remove = red
#diff_lines = cyan
[diff]
# Always print diff when running ( same as always running with -D/--diff )
# always = no
# Set how many context lines to show in diff
# context = 3
Any ideas on what I am doing wrong? Help is greatly appreciated!
"Connection failure: timed out", "status": -1, "url" :"http://192.168.77.15:80/ins"

Answer 1

It appears from your error message that the connection to the devices using the nxos_config module is attempting to use a proxy server. I'm guessing that since you are manipulating /etc/hosts on your local machine that these devices are not registered in DNS, and therefore the proxy would not be able to reach them.
As a quick test, I would run the following commands and re-run your playbook.
unset HTTP_PROXY
unset HTTPS_PROXY
unset http_proxy
unset https_proxy
Assuming that works, you could have a peek here for a more elegant fix
HTH