ansible.netcommon.cli_command module – Run a cli command on cli-based network devices

Note

This module is part of the ansible.netcommon collection (version 2.6.1).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.netcommon.

To use it in a playbook, specify: ansible.netcommon.cli_command.

New in version 1.0.0: of ansible.netcommon

Synopsis

  • Sends a command to a network device and returns the result read from the device.

Note

This module has a corresponding action plugin.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

answer

list / elements=string

The answer to reply with if prompt is matched. The value can be a single answer or a list of answer for multiple prompts. In case the command execution results in multiple prompts the sequence of the prompt and excepted answer should be in same order.

check_all

boolean

By default if any one of the prompts mentioned in prompt option is matched it won’t check for other prompts. This boolean flag, that when set to True will check for all the prompts mentioned in prompt option in the given order. If the option is set to True all the prompts should be received from remote host if not it will result in timeout.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

command

string / required

The command to send to the remote network device. The resulting output from the command is returned, unless sendonly is set.

newline

boolean

The boolean value, that when set to false will send answer to the device without a trailing newline.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

prompt

list / elements=string

A single regex pattern or a sequence of patterns to evaluate the expected prompt from command.

sendonly

boolean

The boolean value, that when set to true will send command to the device but not wait for a result.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

Notes

Note

Examples

- name: run show version on remote devices
  ansible.netcommon.cli_command:
    command: show version

- name: run command with json formatted output
  ansible.netcommon.cli_command:
    command: show version | json

- name: run command expecting user confirmation
  ansible.netcommon.cli_command:
    command: commit replace
    prompt: This commit will replace or remove the entire running configuration
    answer: yes

- name: run command expecting user confirmation
  ansible.netcommon.cli_command:
    command: show interface summary
    prompt: Press any key to continue
    answer: y
    newline: false

- name: run config mode command and handle prompt/answer
  ansible.netcommon.cli_command:
    command: '{{ item }}'
    prompt:
    - Exit with uncommitted changes
    answer: y
  loop:
  - configure
  - set system syslog file test any any
  - exit

- name: multiple prompt, multiple answer (mandatory check for all prompts)
  ansible.netcommon.cli_command:
    command: copy sftp sftp://user@host//user/test.img
    check_all: true
    prompt:
    - Confirm download operation
    - Password
    - Do you want to change that to the standby image
    answer:
    - y
    - <password>
    - y

Return Values

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

Key

Description

json

dictionary

A dictionary representing a JSON-formatted response

Returned: when the device response is valid JSON

Sample: “{\n \”architecture\”: \”i386\”,\n \”bootupTimestamp\”: 1532649700.56,\n \”modelName\”: \”vEOS\”,\n \”version\”: \”4.15.9M\”\n […]\n}\n”

stdout

string

The response from the command

Returned: when sendonly is false

Sample: “Version: VyOS 1.1.7[…]”

Authors

  • Nathaniel Case (@Qalthos)