community.windows.win_eventlog – Manage Windows event logs

Note

This plugin is part of the community.windows collection (version 1.3.0).

To install it use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.windows.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.windows.win_eventlog.

Synopsis

• Allows the addition, clearing and removal of local Windows event logs, and the creation and removal of sources from a given event log. Also allows the specification of settings per log and source.

Parameters

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Comments
category_file path		For one or more sources specified, the path to a custom category resource file.
maximum_size string		The maximum size of the event log. Value must be between 64KB and 4GB, and divisible by 64KB. Size can be specified in KB, MB or GB (e.g. 128KB, 16MB, 2.5GB).
message_file path		For one or more sources specified, the path to a custom event message resource file.
name string / required		Name of the event log to manage.
overflow_action string	Choices: DoNotOverwrite OverwriteAsNeeded OverwriteOlder	The action for the log to take once it reaches its maximum size. For DoNotOverwrite, all existing entries are kept and new entries are not retained. For OverwriteAsNeeded, each new entry overwrites the oldest entry. For OverwriteOlder, new log entries overwrite those older than the retention_days value.
parameter_file path		For one or more sources specified, the path to a custom parameter resource file.
retention_days integer		The minimum number of days event entries must remain in the log. This option is only used when overflow_action is OverwriteOlder.
sources list / elements=string		A list of one or more sources to ensure are present/absent in the log. When category_file, message_file and/or parameter_file are specified, these values are applied across all sources.
state string	Choices: absent clear present ←	Desired state of the log and/or sources. When sources is populated, state is checked for sources. When sources is not populated, state is checked for the specified log itself. If state is clear, event log entries are cleared for the target log.

See Also

See also

community.windows.win_eventlog_entry

The official documentation on the community.windows.win_eventlog_entry module.

Examples

- name: Add a new event log with two custom sources
  community.windows.win_eventlog:
    name: MyNewLog
    sources:
      - NewLogSource1
      - NewLogSource2
    state: present

- name: Change the category and message resource files used for NewLogSource1
  community.windows.win_eventlog:
    name: MyNewLog
    sources:
      - NewLogSource1
    category_file: C:\NewApp\CustomCategories.dll
    message_file: C:\NewApp\CustomMessages.dll
    state: present

- name: Change the maximum size and overflow action for MyNewLog
  community.windows.win_eventlog:
    name: MyNewLog
    maximum_size: 16MB
    overflow_action: DoNotOverwrite
    state: present

- name: Clear event entries for MyNewLog
  community.windows.win_eventlog:
    name: MyNewLog
    state: clear

- name: Remove NewLogSource2 from MyNewLog
  community.windows.win_eventlog:
    name: MyNewLog
    sources:
      - NewLogSource2
    state: absent

- name: Remove MyNewLog and all remaining sources
  community.windows.win_eventlog:
    name: MyNewLog
    state: absent

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Returned	Description
entries integer	success	The count of entries present in the event log. Sample: 50
exists boolean	success	Whether the event log exists or not. Sample: True
maximum_size_kb integer	success	Maximum size of the log in KB. Sample: 512
name string	always	The name of the event log. Sample: MyNewLog
overflow_action string	success	The action the log takes once it reaches its maximum size. Sample: OverwriteOlder
retention_days integer	success	The minimum number of days entries are retained in the log. Sample: 7
sources list / elements=string	success	A list of the current sources for the log. Sample: ['MyNewLog', 'NewLogSource1', 'NewLogSource2']
sources_changed list / elements=string	always	A list of sources changed (e.g. re/created, removed) for the log; this is empty if no sources are changed. Sample: ['NewLogSource2']

Authors

• Andrew Saraceni (@andrewsaraceni)