Ansible : Basic Usage2024/09/11

This is the Basic Usage of Ansible.

⇒ ansible [Target Hosts] [Option] -m [Module] -a [Arguments]

* There are many modules provided by official site and you can refer them on the it.
⇒ https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/modules_by_category.html

It's necessary to authenticate with a user on using Ansible because it uses SSH access.
Also it's possible to use Ansible with a non-privileged user, though, but if they would like to use privilege on clients, it's necessary to allow to use privileged commands by sudo and so on.

[1]

For the case which SSH servers on client hosts allow direct root login, (except [PermitRootLogin no]) + key-pair authentication (non-passphrase),
it's possible to use Ansible like follows. If passphrase is set in key-pair, it's possible to use it with SSH-Agent.

# run [ping] module to [10.0.0.50]

root@dlp:~ #

ansible 10.0.0.50 -m ping

10.0.0.50 | SUCCESS => {
    "changed": false,
    "ping": "pong"
}

[2]

For the case you connect to client hosts with a common user who can use privilege by [sudo].

For example, [freebsd] user runs Ansible.
Specify [-b (--become)] option to use privilege and also specify [--ask-become-pass] to input password.
(if set [NOPASSWD] on [sudo] setting, [--ask-become-pass] is not needed)

If you'd like to use another method to use privilege except [sudo], specify the option [--become-method=xxx] (su | pbrun | pfexec | runas).
Also, [-k] option below means it uses SSH password authentication, not key-pair authentication.
To use [-k] with password authentication, it needs to install [sshpass] package.

# run command to show [/etc/shadow] to [target_servers] group

freebsd@dlp:~ $

ansible target_servers -k -m command -a "ls -l /root" -b --ask-become-pass

SSH password:
BECOME password[defaults to SSH password]:
10.0.0.51 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
total 58
drwx------  3 root wheel    3 Sep 11 09:59 .ansible
-rw-r--r--  2 root wheel 1011 Nov 10  2023 .cshrc
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel   66 Nov 10  2023 .k5login
-rw-------  1 root wheel   20 Jul 18 09:40 .lesshst
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel  316 Nov 10  2023 .login
-rw-r--r--  2 root wheel  495 Nov 10  2023 .profile
-rw-------  1 root wheel 1031 Sep 11 10:13 .sh_history
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel 1174 Nov 10  2023 .shrc
drwx------  2 root wheel    3 Sep 11 09:57 .ssh
-rw-------  1 root wheel 7183 Sep 11 09:54 .viminfo
10.0.0.52 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
total 57
-rw-r--r--  2 root wheel 1011 Nov 10  2023 .cshrc
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel   66 Nov 10  2023 .k5login
-rw-------  1 root wheel   20 Jul 18 09:40 .lesshst
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel  316 Nov 10  2023 .login
-rw-r--r--  2 root wheel  495 Nov 10  2023 .profile
-rw-------  1 root wheel  882 Aug 23 08:50 .sh_history
-rw-r--r--  1 root wheel 1174 Nov 10  2023 .shrc
drwx------  2 root wheel    3 Sep 11 09:57 .ssh
-rw-------  1 root wheel 7183 Sep 11 09:54 .viminfo

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