ansible.netcommon.netconf connection – Provides a persistent connection using the netconf protocol

Note

This connection plugin 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.netconf.

New in version 1.0.0: of ansible.netcommon

Synopsis

  • This connection plugin provides a connection to remote devices over the SSH NETCONF subsystem. This connection plugin is typically used by network devices for sending and receiving RPC calls over NETCONF.

  • Note this connection plugin requires ncclient to be installed on the local Ansible controller.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the local controller node that executes this connection.

  • ncclient

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

host

string

Specifies the remote device FQDN or IP address to establish the SSH connection to.

Default: “inventory_hostname”

Configuration:

  • Variable: ansible_host

host_key_checking

boolean

Set this to “False” if you want to avoid host key checking by the underlying tools Ansible uses to connect to the host

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

Configuration:

  • INI entries:

    [defaults]
host_key_checking = yes

    [paramiko_connection]
host_key_checking = yes

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_SSH_HOST_KEY_CHECKING

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_NETCONF_HOST_KEY_CHECKING

  • Variable: ansible_host_key_checking

  • Variable: ansible_ssh_host_key_checking

  • Variable: ansible_netconf_host_key_checking

import_modules

boolean

Reduce CPU usage and network module execution time by enabling direct execution. Instead of the module being packaged and executed by the shell, it will be directly executed by the Ansible control node using the same python interpreter as the Ansible process. Note- Incompatible with asynchronous mode. Note- Python 3 and Ansible 2.9.16 or greater required. Note- With Ansible 2.9.x fully qualified modules names are required in tasks.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [ansible_network]
import_modules = no

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_NETWORK_IMPORT_MODULES

  • Variable: ansible_network_import_modules

look_for_keys

boolean

Enables looking for ssh keys in the usual locations for ssh keys (e.g. ~/.ssh/id_*).

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [paramiko_connection]
look_for_keys = yes

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_PARAMIKO_LOOK_FOR_KEYS

netconf_ssh_config

string

This variable is used to enable bastion/jump host with netconf connection. If set to True the bastion/jump host ssh settings should be present in ~/.ssh/config file, alternatively it can be set to custom ssh configuration file path to read the bastion/jump host settings.

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [netconf_connection]
ssh_config = None

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_NETCONF_SSH_CONFIG

  • Variable: ansible_netconf_ssh_config

network_os

string

Configures the device platform network operating system. This value is used to load a device specific netconf plugin. If this option is not configured (or set to auto), then Ansible will attempt to guess the correct network_os to use. If it can not guess a network_os correctly it will use default.

Configuration:

  • Variable: ansible_network_os

password

string

Configures the user password used to authenticate to the remote device when first establishing the SSH connection.

Configuration:

  • Variable: ansible_password

  • Variable: ansible_ssh_pass

  • Variable: ansible_ssh_password

  • Variable: ansible_netconf_password

persistent_command_timeout

integer

Configures, in seconds, the amount of time to wait for a command to return from the remote device. If this timer is exceeded before the command returns, the connection plugin will raise an exception and close.

Default: 30

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [persistent_connection]
command_timeout = 30

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_PERSISTENT_COMMAND_TIMEOUT

  • Variable: ansible_command_timeout

persistent_connect_timeout

integer

Configures, in seconds, the amount of time to wait when trying to initially establish a persistent connection. If this value expires before the connection to the remote device is completed, the connection will fail.

Default: 30

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [persistent_connection]
connect_timeout = 30

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_PERSISTENT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT

  • Variable: ansible_connect_timeout

persistent_log_messages

boolean

This flag will enable logging the command executed and response received from target device in the ansible log file. For this option to work ‘log_path’ ansible configuration option is required to be set to a file path with write access.

Be sure to fully understand the security implications of enabling this option as it could create a security vulnerability by logging sensitive information in log file.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [persistent_connection]
log_messages = no

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_PERSISTENT_LOG_MESSAGES

  • Variable: ansible_persistent_log_messages

port

integer

Specifies the port on the remote device that listens for connections when establishing the SSH connection.

Default: 830

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [defaults]
remote_port = 830

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_REMOTE_PORT

  • Variable: ansible_port

private_key_file

string

The private SSH key or certificate file used to authenticate to the remote device when first establishing the SSH connection.

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [defaults]
private_key_file = None

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE

  • Variable: ansible_private_key_file

proxy_command

string

Proxy information for running the connection via a jumphost.

This requires ncclient >= 0.6.10 to be installed on the controller.

Default: “”

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [paramiko_connection]
proxy_command =

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_NETCONF_PROXY_COMMAND

  • Variable: ansible_paramiko_proxy_command

  • Variable: ansible_netconf_proxy_command

remote_user

string

The username used to authenticate to the remote device when the SSH connection is first established. If the remote_user is not specified, the connection will use the username of the logged in user.

Can be configured from the CLI via the --user or -u options.

Configuration:

  • INI entry:

    [defaults]
remote_user = None

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_REMOTE_USER

  • Variable: ansible_user

Authors

  • Ansible Networking Team (@ansible-network)

Hint

Configuration entries for each entry type have a low to high priority order. For example, a variable that is lower in the list will override a variable that is higher up.