CloudEngine OS Platform Options

CloudEngine CE OS is part of the community.network collection and supports multiple connections. This page offers details on how each connection works in Ansible and how to use it.

Connections available 

	CLI	NETCONF
Protocol	SSH	XML over SSH
Credentials	uses SSH keys / SSH-agent if present accepts `-u myuser -k` if using password	uses SSH keys / SSH-agent if present accepts `-u myuser -k` if using password
Indirect Access	with a bastion (jump host)	with a bastion (jump host)
Connection Settings	`ansible_connection:` `ansible.netcommon.network_cli`	`ansible_connection:` `ansible.netcommon.netconf`
Enable Mode (Privilege Escalation)	not supported by ce OS	not supported by ce OS
Returned Data Format	Refer to individual module documentation	Refer to individual module documentation

The ansible_connection: local has been deprecated. Please use ansible_connection: ansible.netcommon.netconf or ansible_connection=ansible.netcommon.network_cli instead.

Using CLI in Ansible 

Example CLI inventory `[ce:vars]`

[ce:vars]
ansible_connection=ansible.netcommon.network_cli
ansible_network_os=community.network.ce
ansible_user=myuser
ansible_password=!vault...
ansible_ssh_common_args='-o ProxyCommand="ssh -W %h:%p -q bastion01"'

If you are using SSH keys (including an ssh-agent) you can remove the ansible_password configuration.
If you are accessing your host directly (not through a bastion/jump host) you can remove the ansible_ssh_common_args configuration.
If you are accessing your host through a bastion/jump host, you cannot include your SSH password in the ProxyCommand directive. To prevent secrets from leaking out (for example in ps output), SSH does not support providing passwords with environment variables.

Example CLI task 

- name: Retrieve CE OS version
  community.network.ce_command:
    commands: display version
  when: ansible_network_os == 'community.network.ce'

Using NETCONF in Ansible 

Enabling NETCONF 

Before you can use NETCONF to connect to a switch, you must:

install the ncclient python package on your control node(s) with pip install ncclient
enable NETCONF on the CloudEngine OS device(s)

To enable NETCONF on a new switch using Ansible, use the community.network.ce_config module with the CLI connection. Set up your platform-level variables just like in the CLI example above, then run a playbook task like this:

- name: Enable NETCONF
  connection: ansible.netcommon.network_cli
  community.network.ce_config:
    lines:
      - snetconf server enable
  when: ansible_network_os == 'community.network.ce'

Once NETCONF is enabled, change your variables to use the NETCONF connection.

Example NETCONF inventory `[ce:vars]`

[ce:vars]
ansible_connection=ansible.netcommon.netconf
ansible_network_os=community.network.ce
ansible_user=myuser
ansible_password=!vault |
ansible_ssh_common_args='-o ProxyCommand="ssh -W %h:%p -q bastion01"'

Example NETCONF task 

- name: Create a vlan, id is 50(ce)
  community.network.ce_vlan:
    vlan_id: 50
    name: WEB
  when: ansible_network_os == 'community.network.ce'

Notes 

Modules that work with `ansible.netcommon.network_cli`

community.network.ce_acl_interface
community.network.ce_command
community.network.ce_config
community.network.ce_evpn_bgp
community.network.ce_evpn_bgp_rr
community.network.ce_evpn_global
community.network.ce_facts
community.network.ce_mlag_interface
community.network.ce_mtu
community.network.ce_netstream_aging
community.network.ce_netstream_export
community.network.ce_netstream_global
community.network.ce_netstream_template
community.network.ce_ntp_auth
community.network.ce_rollback
community.network.ce_snmp_contact
community.network.ce_snmp_location
community.network.ce_snmp_traps
community.network.ce_startup
community.network.ce_stp
community.network.ce_vxlan_arp
community.network.ce_vxlan_gateway
community.network.ce_vxlan_global

Modules that work with `ansible.netcommon.netconf`

community.network.ce_aaa_server
community.network.ce_aaa_server_host
community.network.ce_acl
community.network.ce_acl_advance
community.network.ce_bfd_global
community.network.ce_bfd_session
community.network.ce_bfd_view
community.network.ce_bgp
community.network.ce_bgp_af
community.network.ce_bgp_neighbor
community.network.ce_bgp_neighbor_af
community.network.ce_dldp
community.network.ce_dldp_interface
community.network.ce_eth_trunk
community.network.ce_evpn_bd_vni
community.network.ce_file_copy
community.network.ce_info_center_debug
community.network.ce_info_center_global
community.network.ce_info_center_log
community.network.ce_info_center_trap
community.network.ce_interface
community.network.ce_interface_ospf
community.network.ce_ip_interface
community.network.ce_lacp
community.network.ce_link_status
community.network.ce_lldp
community.network.ce_lldp_interface
community.network.ce_mlag_config
community.network.ce_netconf
community.network.ce_ntp
community.network.ce_ospf
community.network.ce_ospf_vrf
community.network.ce_reboot
community.network.ce_sflow
community.network.ce_snmp_community
community.network.ce_snmp_target_host
community.network.ce_snmp_user
community.network.ce_static_route
community.network.ce_static_route_bfd
community.network.ce_switchport
community.network.ce_vlan
community.network.ce_vrf
community.network.ce_vrf_af
community.network.ce_vrf_interface
community.network.ce_vrrp
community.network.ce_vxlan_tunnel
community.network.ce_vxlan_vap

Warning

Never store passwords in plain text. We recommend using SSH keys to authenticate SSH connections. Ansible supports ssh-agent to manage your SSH keys. If you must use passwords to authenticate SSH connections, we recommend encrypting them with Ansible Vault.