ansible ios_command timeout when doing "show conf" on cisco 3850 - ansible

Question

I've got a simple ansible playbook that works fine on most ios devices. It fails on some of my 3850 switches with what looks like a timeout when doing a "show conf". How do I specify a longer, non-default timeout for command completion with the ios_command module (and presumably also ios_config)?
Useful details:
Playbook:
---
- hosts: ios_devices
gather_facts: no
connection: local
tasks:
- name: OBTAIN LOGIN CREDENTIALS
include_vars: secrets.yaml
- name: DEFINE PROVIDER
set_fact:
provider:
host: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
username: "{{ creds['username'] }}"
password: "{{ creds['password'] }}"
- name: LIST NAME SERVERS
ios_command:
provider: "{{ provider }}"
commands: "show run | inc name-server"
register: dns_servers
- debug: var=dns_servers.stdout_lines
successful run:
$ ansible-playbook listnameserver.yaml -i inventory/onehost
PLAY [ios_devices] *****************************************************************************************************************
TASK [OBTAIN LOGIN CREDENTIALS] ****************************************************************************************************
ok: [iosdevice1.example.com]
TASK [DEFINE PROVIDER] *************************************************************************************************************
ok: [iosdevice1.example.com]
TASK [LIST NAME SERVERS] ***********************************************************************************************************
ok: [iosdevice1.example.com]
TASK [debug] ***********************************************************************************************************************
ok: [iosdevice1.example.com] => {
"dns_servers.stdout_lines": [
[
"ip name-server 10.1.1.166",
"ip name-server 10.1.1.168"
]
]
}
PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************************
iosdevice1.example.com : ok=4 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0
unsuccessful run:
$ ansible-playbook listnameserver.yaml -i inventory/onehost
PLAY [ios_devices] *****************************************************************************************************************
TASK [OBTAIN LOGIN CREDENTIALS] ****************************************************************************************************
ok: [iosdevice2.example.com]
TASK [DEFINE PROVIDER] *************************************************************************************************************
ok: [iosdevice2.example.com]
TASK [LIST NAME SERVERS] ***********************************************************************************************************
fatal: [iosdevice2.example.com]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "timeout trying to send command: show run | inc name-server", "rc": 1}
to retry, use: --limit #/home/sample/ansible-playbooks/listnameserver.retry
PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************************
iosdevice2.example.com : ok=2 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1

Answer 1

The default timeout is 10 seconds if the request takes longer than this ios_command will fail.
You can add the timeout as a key in the provider variable, like this:
- name: DEFINE PROVIDER
set_fact:
provider:
host: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
username: "{{ creds['username'] }}"
password: "{{ creds['password'] }}"
timeout: 30

Answer 2

If you've already got a timeout value in provider here's a handy way to update only that key in the variable.
- name: Update existing provider timeout key
set_fact:
provider: "{{ provider | combine( {'timeout': '180'} ) }}"