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ansible

Define and run a single task ‘playbook’ against a set of hosts

Synopsis 

usage: ansible [-h] [--version] [-v] [-b] [--become-method BECOME_METHOD]
            [--become-user BECOME_USER]
            [-K | --become-password-file BECOME_PASSWORD_FILE]
            [-i INVENTORY] [--list-hosts] [-l SUBSET] [-P POLL_INTERVAL]
            [-B SECONDS] [-o] [-t TREE] [--private-key PRIVATE_KEY_FILE]
            [-u REMOTE_USER] [-c CONNECTION] [-T TIMEOUT]
            [--ssh-common-args SSH_COMMON_ARGS]
            [--sftp-extra-args SFTP_EXTRA_ARGS]
            [--scp-extra-args SCP_EXTRA_ARGS]
            [--ssh-extra-args SSH_EXTRA_ARGS]
            [-k | --connection-password-file CONNECTION_PASSWORD_FILE] [-C]
            [--syntax-check] [-D] [-e EXTRA_VARS] [--vault-id VAULT_IDS]
            [--ask-vault-password | --vault-password-file VAULT_PASSWORD_FILES]
            [-f FORKS] [-M MODULE_PATH] [--playbook-dir BASEDIR]
            [--task-timeout TASK_TIMEOUT] [-a MODULE_ARGS] [-m MODULE_NAME]
            pattern

Description 

is an extra-simple tool/framework/API for doing ‘remote things’. this command allows you to define and run a single task ‘playbook’ against a set of hosts

Common Options 

--ask-vault-password, --ask-vault-pass: ask for vault password

--become-method <BECOME_METHOD>: privilege escalation method to use (default=sudo), use ansible-doc -t become -l to list valid choices.

--become-password-file <BECOME_PASSWORD_FILE>, --become-pass-file <BECOME_PASSWORD_FILE>: Become password file

--become-user <BECOME_USER>: run operations as this user (default=root)

--connection-password-file <CONNECTION_PASSWORD_FILE>, --conn-pass-file <CONNECTION_PASSWORD_FILE>: Connection password file

--list-hosts: outputs a list of matching hosts; does not execute anything else

--playbook-dir <BASEDIR>: Since this tool does not use playbooks, use this as a substitute playbook directory. This sets the relative path for many features including roles/ group_vars/ etc.

--private-key <PRIVATE_KEY_FILE>, --key-file <PRIVATE_KEY_FILE>: use this file to authenticate the connection

--scp-extra-args <SCP_EXTRA_ARGS>: specify extra arguments to pass to scp only (e.g. -l)

--sftp-extra-args <SFTP_EXTRA_ARGS>: specify extra arguments to pass to sftp only (e.g. -f, -l)

--ssh-common-args <SSH_COMMON_ARGS>: specify common arguments to pass to sftp/scp/ssh (e.g. ProxyCommand)

--ssh-extra-args <SSH_EXTRA_ARGS>: specify extra arguments to pass to ssh only (e.g. -R)

--syntax-check: perform a syntax check on the playbook, but do not execute it

--task-timeout <TASK_TIMEOUT>: set task timeout limit in seconds, must be positive integer.

--vault-id: the vault identity to use

--vault-password-file, --vault-pass-file: vault password file

--version: show program’s version number, config file location, configured module search path, module location, executable location and exit

-B <SECONDS>, --background <SECONDS>: run asynchronously, failing after X seconds (default=N/A)

-C, --check: don’t make any changes; instead, try to predict some of the changes that may occur

-D, --diff: when changing (small) files and templates, show the differences in those files; works great with –check

-K, --ask-become-pass: ask for privilege escalation password

-M, --module-path: prepend colon-separated path(s) to module library (default=~/.ansible/plugins/modules:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules)

-P <POLL_INTERVAL>, --poll <POLL_INTERVAL>: set the poll interval if using -B (default=15)

-T <TIMEOUT>, --timeout <TIMEOUT>: override the connection timeout in seconds (default=10)

-a <MODULE_ARGS>, --args <MODULE_ARGS>: The action’s options in space separated k=v format: -a ‘opt1=val1 opt2=val2’

-b, --become: run operations with become (does not imply password prompting)

-c <CONNECTION>, --connection <CONNECTION>: connection type to use (default=smart)

-e, --extra-vars: set additional variables as key=value or YAML/JSON, if filename prepend with @

-f <FORKS>, --forks <FORKS>: specify number of parallel processes to use (default=5)

-h, --help: show this help message and exit

-i, --inventory, --inventory-file: specify inventory host path or comma separated host list. –inventory-file is deprecated

-k, --ask-pass: ask for connection password

-l <SUBSET>, --limit <SUBSET>: further limit selected hosts to an additional pattern

-m <MODULE_NAME>, --module-name <MODULE_NAME>: Name of the action to execute (default=command)

-o, --one-line: condense output

-t <TREE>, --tree <TREE>: log output to this directory

-u <REMOTE_USER>, --user <REMOTE_USER>: connect as this user (default=None)

-v, --verbose: Causes Ansible to print more debug messages. Adding multiple -v will increase the verbosity, the builtin plugins currently evaluate up to -vvvvvv. A reasonable level to start is -vvv, connection debugging might require -vvvv.

Environment 

The following environment variables may be specified.

ANSIBLE_CONFIG – Override the default ansible config file

Many more are available for most options in ansible.cfg

Files 

/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg – Config file, used if present

~/.ansible.cfg – User config file, overrides the default config if present

Author 

Ansible was originally written by Michael DeHaan.

See the AUTHORS file for a complete list of contributors.

License 

Ansible is released under the terms of the GPLv3+ License.