community.windows.win_hosts module – Manages hosts file entries on Windows.

Note

This module is part of the community.windows collection (version 1.13.0).

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 community.windows.

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

Synopsis

  • Manages hosts file entries on Windows.

  • Maps IPv4 or IPv6 addresses to canonical names.

  • Adds, removes, or sets cname records for ip and hostname pairs.

  • Modifies %windir%\\system32\\drivers\\etc\\hosts.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

action

string

Controls the behavior of aliases.

Only applicable when state=present.

If add, each alias in aliases will be added to the host entry.

If set, each alias in aliases will be added to the host entry, and other aliases will be removed from the entry.

Choices:

  • "add"

  • "remove"

  • "set" ← (default)

aliases

list / elements=string

A list of additional names (cname records) for the host entry.

Only applicable when state=present.

canonical_name

string

A canonical name for the host entry.

required for state=present.

ip_address

string

The ip address for the host entry.

Can be either IPv4 (A record) or IPv6 (AAAA record).

Required for state=present.

state

string

Whether the entry should be present or absent.

If only canonical_name is provided when state=absent, then all hosts entries with the canonical name of canonical_name will be removed.

If only ip_address is provided when state=absent, then all hosts entries with the ip address of ip_address will be removed.

If ip_address and canonical_name are both omitted when state=absent, then all hosts entries will be removed.

Choices:

  • "absent"

  • "present" ← (default)

Notes

Note

  • Each canonical name can only be mapped to one IPv4 and one IPv6 address. If canonical_name is provided with state=present and is found to be mapped to another IP address that is the same type as, but unique from ip_address, then canonical_name and all aliases will be removed from the entry and added to an entry with the provided IP address.

  • Each alias can only be mapped to one canonical name. If aliases is provided with state=present and an alias is found to be mapped to another canonical name, then the alias will be removed from the entry and either added to or removed from (depending on action) an entry with the provided canonical name.

See Also

See also

ansible.windows.win_template

The official documentation on the ansible.windows.win_template module.

ansible.windows.win_file

The official documentation on the ansible.windows.win_file module.

ansible.windows.win_copy

The official documentation on the ansible.windows.win_copy module.

Examples

- name: Add 127.0.0.1 as an A record for localhost
  community.windows.win_hosts:
    state: present
    canonical_name: localhost
    ip_address: 127.0.0.1

- name: Add ::1 as an AAAA record for localhost
  community.windows.win_hosts:
    state: present
    canonical_name: localhost
    ip_address: '::1'

- name: Remove 'bar' and 'zed' from the list of aliases for foo (192.168.1.100)
  community.windows.win_hosts:
    state: present
    canonical_name: foo
    ip_address: 192.168.1.100
    action: remove
    aliases:
      - bar
      - zed

- name: Remove hosts entries with canonical name 'bar'
  community.windows.win_hosts:
    state: absent
    canonical_name: bar

- name: Remove 10.2.0.1 from the list of hosts
  community.windows.win_hosts:
    state: absent
    ip_address: 10.2.0.1

- name: Ensure all name resolution is handled by DNS
  community.windows.win_hosts:
    state: absent

Authors

  • Micah Hunsberger (@mhunsber)