raw – Executes a low-down and dirty SSH command

Synopsis

  • Executes a low-down and dirty SSH command, not going through the module subsystem. This is useful and should only be done in a few cases. A common case is installing python on a system without python installed by default. Another is speaking to any devices such as routers that do not have any Python installed. In any other case, using the shell or command module is much more appropriate. Arguments given to raw are run directly through the configured remote shell. Standard output, error output and return code are returned when available. There is no change handler support for this module.
  • This module does not require python on the remote system, much like the script module.
  • This module is also supported for Windows targets.

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
executable
-
change the shell used to execute the command. Should be an absolute path to the executable.
when using privilege escalation (become), a default shell will be assigned if one is not provided as privilege escalation requires a shell.
free_form
- / required
the raw module takes a free form command to run. There is no parameter actually named 'free form'; see the examples!

Notes

Note

  • If using raw from a playbook, you may need to disable fact gathering using gather_facts: no if you’re using raw to bootstrap python onto the machine.
  • If you want to execute a command securely and predictably, it may be better to use the command or shell modules instead.
  • the environment keyword does not work with raw normally, it requires a shell which means it only works if executable is set or using the module with privilege escalation (become).
  • This module is also supported for Windows targets.

Examples

- name: Bootstrap a host without python2 installed
  raw: dnf install -y python2 python2-dnf libselinux-python

- name: Run a command that uses non-posix shell-isms (in this example /bin/sh doesn't handle redirection and wildcards together but bash does)
  raw: cat < /tmp/*txt
  args:
    executable: /bin/bash

- name: safely use templated variables. Always use quote filter to avoid injection issues.
  raw: "{{package_mgr|quote}} {{pkg_flags|quote}} install {{python|quote}}"

Status

Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

Authors

  • Ansible Core Team
  • Michael DeHaan

Hint

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