Ansible-Playbook - Save output to a remote server - ansible

I'm new to all the Ansible stuff. So most of the time I'm in "Trial and Error"-Mode.
Now I'm facing a challenge with a playbook and I do not know to look further.
The main task of this playbook should be to get a "Show run" from a Cisco Device and save this in a text file on a backup server (which is a remote server).
The only task, which is not working, is the Backup Task.
Here is my playbook:
- hosts: IOSGATEWAY
gather_facts: no
connection: local
tasks:
- name: GET CREDENTIALS
include_vars: path/to/all/all.yml
- name: DEFINE CONNECTION TO GW
set_fact:
connection:
host: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
username: "{{ creds['username'] }}"
password: "{{ creds['password'] }}"
- name: GET SHOW RUN
ios_command:
provider: "{{ connection }}"
commands:
- show run
register: show_run
- name: SAVE TO BACKUP SERVER
copy:
content: "{{ show_run.stdout[0] }}"
dest: "path/to/Directory/{{ inventory_hostname }}.txt"
delegate_to: BACKUPSERVER
Can someone hint me in the right direction?

You set connection: local for the playbook, so everything you do is executed locally (which is correct for ios_... modules, but not what you actually want for copy module).
I'd recommend to define ansible_connection variable in your inventory per group of hosts/devices, so Ansible will use local connection for your ios devices, and ssh for backup-server.

Related

Ansible AWX workflow

I am new to ansible and AWX. Making good progress with my project but am getting stuck with one part and hoping you guys can help.
I have a Workflow Template as follows
Deploy VM
Get IP of the VM Deployed & create a temp host configuration
Change the deployed machine hostname
Where I am getting stuck is once I create the hostname when the next template kicks off the hostname group is missing. I assume this is because of some sort of runspace. How do I move this information around? I need this as later on I want to get into more complicated flows.
What I have so far:
1.
- name: Deploy VM from Template
hosts: xenservers
tasks:
- name: Deploy VM
shell: xe vm-install new-name-label="{{ vm_name }}" template="{{ vm_template }}"
- name: Start VM
shell: xe vm-start vm="{{ vm_name }}"
---
- name: Get VM IP
hosts: xenservers
remote_user: root
tasks:
- name: Get IP
shell: xe vm-list name-label="{{ vm_name }}" params=networks | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' | head -1
register: vm_ip
until: vm_ip.stdout != ""
retries: 15
delay: 5
Here I was setting the hosts and this works locally to the template but when it moves on it fails. I tried this in a task and a play.
- name: Add host to group
add_host:
name: "{{ vm_ip.stdout }}"
groups: deploy_vm
- hosts: deploy_vm
- name: Set hosts
hosts: deployed_vm
tasks:
- name: Set a hostname
hostname:
name: "{{ vm_name }}"
when: ansible_distribution == 'Rocky Linux'
Thanks

Setting Ansible vars with set_fact results

Im running ansible 2.9.18 on RHEL7.
I am using hvac to retrieve usernames and passwords from a Hashicorp vault.
vars:
- creds: "{{ lookup('hashi_vault', 'secret=tst2/data/cisco token= url=http://10.80.23.81:8200') }}"
tasks:
- name: set Cisco creds
set_fact:
cisco: "{{ creds['data'] }}"
- name: Get nxos facts
nxos_command:
username: "{{ cisco['username'] }}"
password: "{{ cisco['password'] }}"
commands: show ver
timeout: 30
register: ver_out
- debug: msg="{{ ver_out.stdout }}"
But username and password are deprecated and I am trying to figure out how to pass the username, password as a "provider" variable. And this code doesn't work:
vars:
asa_api:
- creds: "{{ lookup('hashi_vault', 'secret=tst2/data/cisco token= url=http://10.80.23.81:8200') }}"
set_fact:
cisco: "{{ creds['data'] }}"
username: "{{ cisco['username'] }}"
password: "{{ cisco['password'] }}"
tasks:
- name: show run
asa_command:
commands: show run
provider: "{{ asa_api }}"
register: run
become: yes
tags:
- show_run
I cannot figure how syntax for making this work. I would greatly appreciate any help.
Thanks,
Steve
Disclaimer: This is a generic answer. I do not have any network device to test this fully so you might have to adapt a bit after reading the documentation
Your are taking this the wrong way. You don't need set_fact at all and both method you are trying to use (user/pass or provider dict) are actually deprecated. Ansible treats you network device as any host and will use the available user and password you have configured if they exist.
In the following example, I'm assuming your playbook only targets network devices and that the login/pass stored in your vault is the same on all devices.
- name: Untested network device connection configuration demo
hosts: my_network_device_group
vars:
# This indicates which connection plugin to use. Default is ssh
# An other possible value is httpapi. See above documentation link
ansible_connection: network_cli
vault_secret: tst2/data/cisco
vault_token: verysecret
vault_url: http://10.80.23.81:8200
vault_options: "secret={{ vault_secret }} token={{ vault_token }} url={{ vault_url }}"
creds: "{{ lookup('hashi_vault', vault_options).data }}"
# These are the user and pass used for connection.
ansible_user: "{{ creds.username }}"
ansible_password: "{{ creds.password }}"
tasks:
- name: Get nxos version
nxos_command:
commands: show ver
timeout: 30
register: ver_cmd
- name: show version
debug:
msg: "NXOS version on {{ inventory_hostname }} is {{ ver_cmd.stdout }}"
- name: An other task to play on targets
debug:
msg: "Task played on {{ inventory_hostname }}"
Rather than vars at play level, you can store this information in your inventory for all hosts or for a specific group, even for each host. See how to organise your group and host variables if you want to use that feature.

Ansible creates directory in the control machine even if delegate_to set to remote when running the playbook with local connection

I'm running an ansible-playbook configured to provision ec2 and configure the machine. I set the connection to local for the playbook because no machine to manage before the script runs. Once provisioned, I supposed to create directory in the remote server. Since the playbook runs in local connection, I set to delete_to: {{ remote_host }} so this directory creation executed in remote host but it still creates the directory in the control machine.
- name: provision instance for Apache
hosts: localhost
connection: local
remote_user: ubuntu
gather_facts: false
vars_files:
- vars/env.yml
vars:
allow_world_readable_tmpfiles: true
key_name: ansible-test
region: us-east-2
image: ami-0e82959d4ed12de3f # Ubuntu 18.04
id: "practice-akash-ajay"
sec_group: "{{ id }}-sec"
remote_host: ansible-test
remaining_days: 20
acme_directory: https://acme-staging-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
# acme_directory: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
cert_name: "{{ app_slug }}.{{ app_domain}}"
intermediate_path: /etc/pki/letsencrypt/intermediate.pem
cert:
common_name: "{{ app_slug }}.{{ app_domain}}"
organization_name: PearlThoughts
email_address: "{{ letsencrypt_email }}"
subject_alt_name:
- "DNS:{{ app_slug }}.{{ app_domain}}"
roles:
- aws
- name: Create certificate storage directory
file:
dest: "{{item.path}}"
mode: 0750
state: directory
delegate_to: {{ remote_host }}
with_items:
- path: ~/lets-seng-test
When you set connection explicitly on the play, it will be used for all tasks in that play. So don't do that. Ansible will by default use a local connection for localhost unless you have explicitly changed that in your inventory (and again, don't do that).
If you remove the connection setting on your play, delegate_to might work the way you expect...but I don't think you want to do that.
If you have your playbook provisioning a new host for you, the way to target that host with Ansible is to have a new play with that host (or it's corresponding group) listed in the target hosts: for the play. Conceptually, you want:
- host: localhost
tasks:
- name: provisiong an AWS instance
aws_ec2: [...]
register: hostinfo
- add_host:
name: myhost
ansible_host: "{{ hostinfo... }}"
- hosts: myhost
tasks:
- name: do something on the new host
command: uptime
You probably need some logic in between provisioning the host and executing tasks against it to ensure that it is up and ready to service requests.
Instead of using the add_host module, a better solution is often to rely on the appropriate inventory plugin.

Switching user for delegation to host outside of inventory with Ansible/awx

I am trying to do the following using Ansible 2.8.4 and awx:
Read some facts from Cisco IOS devices (works)
Put results into a local file using a template (works)
Copy/Move the resulting file to a different server
Since I have to use a different user to access IOS devices and servers, and the servers in question aren't part of the inventory used for the playbook, I am trying to achieve this using become_user and delegate_to.
The initial user (defined in the awx template) is allowed to connect to the IOS devices, while different_user can connect to servers using a ssh private key.
The playbook:
---
- name: Read Switch Infos
hosts: all
gather_facts: no
tasks:
- name: Gather IOS Facts
ios_facts:
- debug: var=ansible_net_version
- name: Set Facts IOS
set_fact:
ios_version: "{{ ansible_net_version }}"
- name: Create Output file
file: path=/tmp/test state=directory mode=0755
delegate_to: 127.0.0.1
run_once: true
- name: Run Template
template:
src: ios_firmware_check.j2
dest: /tmp/test/output.txt
delegate_to: 127.0.0.1
run_once: true
- name: Set up keys
become: yes
become_method: su
become_user: different_user
authorized_key:
user: different_user
state: present
key: "{{ lookup('file', '/home/different_user/.ssh/key_file') }}"
delegate_to: 127.0.0.1
run_once: true
- name: Copy to remote server
remote_user: different_user
copy:
src: /tmp/test/output.txt
dest: /tmp/test/output.txt
delegate_to: remote.server.fqdn
run_once: true
When run, the playbook fails in the Set up keys task trying to access the home directory with the ssh key:
TASK [Set up keys] *************************************************************
task path: /tmp/awx_2206_mz90qvh9/project/IOS/ios_version.yml:23
[WARNING]: Unable to find '/home/different_user/.ssh/key_file' in expected paths
(use -vvvvv to see paths)
File lookup using None as file
fatal: [host]: FAILED! => {
"msg": "An unhandled exception occurred while running the lookup plugin 'file'. Error was a <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleError'>, original message: could not locate file in lookup: /home/different_user/.ssh/key_file"
}
I'm assuming my mistake is somehow related to which user is trying to access the /home/ directory on which device.
Is there a better/more elegant/working way of connecting to a different server using an ssh key to move around files?
I know one possibility would be to just scp using the shell module, but that always feels a bit hacky.
(sort of) solved using encrypted variables in hostvars with Ansible vault.
How to get there:
Encrypting the passwords:
This needs to be done from any commandline with Ansible installed, for some reason this can't be done in tower/awx
ansible-vault encrypt_string "password"
You'll be prompted for a password to encrypt/decrypt.
If you're doing this for Cisco devices, you'll want to encrypt both the ssh and the enable password using this method.
Add encrypted passwords to inventory
For testing, I put it in hostvars for a single switch, should be fine to put it into groupvars and use it on multiple switches as well.
ansible_ssh_pass should be the password to access the switch, ansible_become_pass is the enable password.
---
all:
children:
Cisco:
children:
switches:
switches:
hosts:
HOSTNAME:
ansible_host: ip-address
ansible_user: username
ansible_ssh_pass: !vault |
$ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
[encrypted string]
ansible_connection: network_cli
ansible_network_os: ios
ansible_become: yes
ansible_become_method: enable
ansible_become_pass: !vault |
$ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.1;AES256
[encrypted string]
Adding the vault password to tower/awx
Add a new credential with credential type "Vault" and the password you used earlier to encrypt the strings.
Now, all you need to do is add the credential to your job template (the template can have one "normal" credential (machine, network, etc.) and multiple vaults).
The playbook then automagically accesses the vault credential to decrypt the strings in the inventory.
Playbook to get Switch Infos and drop template file on a server
The playbook now looks something like below, and does the following:
Gather Facts on all Switches in Inventory
Write all facts into a .csv using a template, save the file on the ansible host
Copy said file to a different server using a different user
The template is configured with the user able to access the server, the user used to access switches with a password is stored in the inventory as seen above.
---
- name: Read Switch Infos
hosts: all
gather_facts: no
tasks:
- name: Create Output file
file: path=/output/directory state=directory mode=0755
delegate_to: 127.0.0.1
run_once: true
- debug:
var: network
- name: Gather IOS Facts
remote_user: username
ios_facts:
- debug: var=ansible_net_version
- name: Set Facts IOS
set_fact:
ios_version: "{{ ansible_net_version }}"
- name: Run Template
template:
src: ios_firmware_check.csv.j2
dest: /output/directory/filename.csv
delegate_to: 127.0.0.1
run_once: true
- name: Create Destination folder on remote server outside inventory
remote_user: different_username
file: path=/destination/directory mode=0755
delegate_to: remote.server.fqdn
run_once: true
- name: Copy to remote server outside inventory
remote_user: different_username
copy:
src: /output/directory/filename.csv
dest: /destination/directory/filename.csv
delegate_to: remote.server.fqdn
run_once: true

Trying to include a list of tasks from an playbook in Ansible

My folder structure:
First I'll give you this so you can see how this is laid out and reference it when reading below:
/environments
/development
hosts // Inventory file
/group_vars
proxies.yml
/custom_tasks
firewall_rules.yml // File I'm trying to bring in
playbook.yml // Root playbook, just brings in the plays
rev-proxy.yml // Reverse-proxy playbook, included by playbook.yml
playbook.yml:
---
- include: webserver.yml
- include: rev-proxy.yml
proxies.yml just contains firewall_custom_include_file: custom_tasks/firewall_rules.yml
firewall_rules.yml:
tasks:
- name: "Allowing traffic from webservers on 80"
ufw: src=10.10.10.3, port=80, direction=in, rule=allow
- name: "Allowing traffic all on 443"
ufw: port=443, rule=allow
and finally rev-proxy.yml play:
---
- hosts: proxies
become: yes
roles:
- { role: firewall }
- { role: geerlingguy.nginx }
pre_tasks:
# jessie-backports for nginx-extras 1.10
- name: "Adding jessie-backports repo"
copy: content="deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main" dest="/etc/apt/sources.list.d/jessie-backports.list"
- name: Updating apt-cache.
apt: update_cache="yes"
- name: "Installing htop"
apt:
name: htop
state: present
- name: "Coopying SSL certificates"
copy: src=/vagrant/ansible/files/ssl/ dest=/etc/ssl/certs force=no
tasks:
- name: "Including custom firewall rules."
include: "{{ inventory_dir }}/{{ firewall_custom_include_file }}.yml"
when: firewall_custom_include_file is defined
vars_files:
- ./vars/nginx/common.yml
- ./vars/nginx/proxy.yml
What I'm trying to do:
Using Ansible 2.2.1.0
I'm trying to include a list of tasks that will be run if a variable firewall_custom_include_file is set. The list is included relative to the inventory directory by doing "{{ inventory_dir }}/{{ firewall_custom_include_file }}.yml" - in this case that works out to /vagrant/ansible/environments/development/custom_tasks/firewall_rules.yml
Essentially the idea here is that I need to have different firewall rules be executed based on what environment I'm in, and what hosts are being provisioned.
To give a simple example: I might want to whitelist a database server IP on the production webserver, but not on the reverse proxy, and also not on my development box.
The problem:
Whenever I include firewall_rules.yml like above, it tells me:
TASK [Including custom firewall rules.] ****************************************
fatal: [proxy-1]: FAILED! => {"failed": true, "reason": "included task files must contain a list of tasks"}
I'm not sure what it's expecting, I tried taking out the tasks: at the beginning of the file, making it:
- name: "Allowing traffic from webservers on 80"
ufw: src=10.10.10.3, port=80, direction=in, rule=allow
- name: "Allowing traffic all on 443"
ufw: port=443, rule=allow
But then it gives me the error:
root#ansible-control:/vagrant/ansible# ansible-playbook -i environments/development playbook.yml
ERROR! Attempted to execute "/vagrant/ansible/environments/development/custom_tasks/firewall_rules.yml" as inventory script: problem running /vagrant/ansible/environments/development/custom_tasks/firewall_rules.yml --list ([Errno 8] Exec format error)
Attempted to read "/vagrant/ansible/environments/development/custom_tasks/firewall_rules.yml" as YAML: 'AnsibleSequence' object has no attribute 'keys'
Attempted to read "/vagrant/ansible/environments/development/custom_tasks/firewall_rules.yml" as ini file: /vagrant/ansible/environments/development/custom_tasks/firewall_rules.yml:2: Expected key=value host variable assignment, got: name:
At this point I'm not really sure what it's looking for in the included file, and I can't seem to really find clear documentation on this, or other people having this issue.
Try to execute with -i environments/development/hosts instead of directory.
But I bet that storing tasks file inside inventory is far from best practices.
You may want to define list of custom rules as inventory variable, e.g.:
custom_rules:
- src: 10.10.10.3
port: 80
direction: in
rule: allow
- port: 443
rule: allow
And instead of include task, make something like this:
- ufw:
port: "{{ item.port | default(omit) }}"
rule: "{{ item.rule | default(omit) }}"
direction: "{{ item.direction | default(omit) }}"
src: "{{ item.src | default(omit) }}"
with_items: "{{ custom_rules }}"

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