ios_config - Manage Cisco IOS configuration sections

New in version 2.1.

Synopsis
Options
Examples
Return Values
Notes
- Status
- Maintenance Info

Synopsis

Cisco IOS configurations use a simple block indent file syntax for segmenting configuration into sections. This module provides an implementation for working with IOS configuration sections in a deterministic way.

Options

parameter required default choices comments

after

The ordered set of commands to append to the end of the command stack if a change needs to be made. Just like with before this allows the playbook designer to append a set of commands to be executed after the command set.

auth_pass

none

Specifies the password to use if required to enter privileged mode on the remote device. If authorize is false, then this argument does nothing. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable ANSIBLE_NET_AUTH_PASS will be used instead.

authorize

Instructs the module to enter privileged mode on the remote device before sending any commands. If not specified, the device will attempt to execute all commands in non-privileged mode. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable ANSIBLE_NET_AUTHORIZE will be used instead.

backup

(added in 2.2)

This argument will cause the module to create a full backup of the current running-config from the remote device before any changes are made. The backup file is written to the backup folder in the playbook root directory. If the directory does not exist, it is created.

before

The ordered set of commands to push on to the command stack if a change needs to be made. This allows the playbook designer the opportunity to perform configuration commands prior to pushing any changes without affecting how the set of commands are matched against the system.

defaults

(added in 2.2)

This argument specifies whether or not to collect all defaults when getting the remote device running config. When enabled, the module will get the current config by issuing the command show running-config all.

diff_against

(added in 2.4)

running
startup
intended

When using the ansible-playbook --diff command line argument the module can generate diffs against different sources.

When this option is configure as startup, the module will return the diff of the running-config against the startup-config.

When this option is configured as intended, the module will return the diff of the running-config against the configuration provided in the intended_config argument.

When this option is configured as running, the module will return the before and after diff of the running-config with respect to any changes made to the device configuration.

diff_ignore_lines

(added in 2.4)

Use this argument to specify one or more lines that should be ignored during the diff. This is used for lines in the configuration that are automatically updated by the system. This argument takes a list of regular expressions or exact line matches.

force

The force argument instructs the module to not consider the current devices running-config. When set to true, this will cause the module to push the contents of src into the device without first checking if already configured.

Note this argument should be considered deprecated. To achieve the equivalent, set the match=none which is idempotent. This argument will be removed in Ansible 2.6.

intended_config

(added in 2.4)

The intended_config provides the master configuration that the node should conform to and is used to check the final running-config against. This argument will not modify any settings on the remote device and is strictly used to check the compliance of the current device's configuration against. When specifying this argument, the task should also modify the diff_against value and set it to intended.

lines

The ordered set of commands that should be configured in the section. The commands must be the exact same commands as found in the device running-config. Be sure to note the configuration command syntax as some commands are automatically modified by the device config parser.

aliases: commands

match

line

line
strict
exact
none

Instructs the module on the way to perform the matching of the set of commands against the current device config. If match is set to line, commands are matched line by line. If match is set to strict, command lines are matched with respect to position. If match is set to exact, command lines must be an equal match. Finally, if match is set to none, the module will not attempt to compare the source configuration with the running configuration on the remote device.

multiline_delimiter

(added in 2.3)

This argument is used when pushing a multiline configuration element to the IOS device. It specifies the character to use as the delimiting character. This only applies to the configuration action.

parents

The ordered set of parents that uniquely identify the section the commands should be checked against. If the parents argument is omitted, the commands are checked against the set of top level or global commands.

provider

A dict object containing connection details.

**Dictionary object provider**
parameter	required	default	choices	comments
username	no			Configures the username to use to authenticate the connection to the remote device. This value is used to authenticate the SSH session. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_USERNAME` will be used instead.
authorize	no		yes no	Instructs the module to enter privileged mode on the remote device before sending any commands. If not specified, the device will attempt to execute all commands in non-privileged mode. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_AUTHORIZE` will be used instead.
ssh_keyfile	no			Specifies the SSH key to use to authenticate the connection to the remote device. This value is the path to the key used to authenticate the SSH session. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_SSH_KEYFILE` will be used instead.
auth_pass	no	none		Specifies the password to use if required to enter privileged mode on the remote device. If authorize is false, then this argument does nothing. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_AUTH_PASS` will be used instead.
host	yes			Specifies the DNS host name or address for connecting to the remote device over the specified transport. The value of host is used as the destination address for the transport.
timeout	no	10		Specifies the timeout in seconds for communicating with the network device for either connecting or sending commands. If the timeout is exceeded before the operation is completed, the module will error.
password	no			Specifies the password to use to authenticate the connection to the remote device. This value is used to authenticate the SSH session. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_PASSWORD` will be used instead.
port	no	22		Specifies the port to use when building the connection to the remote device.

replace

line

line
block

Instructs the module on the way to perform the configuration on the device. If the replace argument is set to line then the modified lines are pushed to the device in configuration mode. If the replace argument is set to block then the entire command block is pushed to the device in configuration mode if any line is not correct.

running_config

(added in 2.4)

The module, by default, will connect to the remote device and retrieve the current running-config to use as a base for comparing against the contents of source. There are times when it is not desirable to have the task get the current running-config for every task in a playbook. The running_config argument allows the implementer to pass in the configuration to use as the base config for comparison.

aliases: config

save

(added in 2.2)

The save argument instructs the module to save the running- config to the startup-config at the conclusion of the module running. If check mode is specified, this argument is ignored.

This option is deprecated as of Ansible 2.4 and will be removed in Ansible 2.8, use save_when instead.

save_when

(added in 2.4)

never

always
never
modified
changed

When changes are made to the device running-configuration, the changes are not copied to non-volatile storage by default. Using this argument will change that before. If the argument is set to always, then the running-config will always be copied to the startup-config and the modified flag will always be set to True. If the argument is set to modified, then the running-config will only be copied to the startup-config if it has changed since the last save to startup-config. If the argument is set to never, the running-config will never be copied to the startup-config. If the argument is set to changed, then the running-config will only be copied to the startup-config if the task has made a change. changed was added in Ansible 2.5.

src

(added in 2.2)

Specifies the source path to the file that contains the configuration or configuration template to load. The path to the source file can either be the full path on the Ansible control host or a relative path from the playbook or role root directory. This argument is mutually exclusive with lines.

Examples

- name: configure top level configuration
  ios_config:
    lines: hostname {{ inventory_hostname }}

- name: configure interface settings
  ios_config:
    lines:
      - description test interface
      - ip address 172.31.1.1 255.255.255.0
    parents: interface Ethernet1

- name: load new acl into device
  ios_config:
    lines:
      - 10 permit ip host 1.1.1.1 any log
      - 20 permit ip host 2.2.2.2 any log
      - 30 permit ip host 3.3.3.3 any log
      - 40 permit ip host 4.4.4.4 any log
      - 50 permit ip host 5.5.5.5 any log
    parents: ip access-list extended test
    before: no ip access-list extended test
    match: exact

- name: check the running-config against master config
  ios_config:
    diff_against: intended
    intended_config: "{{ lookup('file', 'master.cfg') }}"

- name: check the startup-config against the running-config
  ios_config:
    diff_against: startup
    diff_ignore_lines:
      - ntp clock .*

- name: save running to startup when modified
  ios_config:
    save_when: modified

Return Values

Common return values are documented here Return Values, the following are the fields unique to this module:

name	description	returned	type	sample
backup_path	The full path to the backup file	when backup is yes	string	/playbooks/ansible/backup/ios_config.2016-07-16@22:28:34
commands	The set of commands that will be pushed to the remote device	always	list	['hostname foo', 'router ospf 1', 'router-id 1.1.1.1']
updates	The set of commands that will be pushed to the remote device	always	list	['hostname foo', 'router ospf 1', 'router-id 1.1.1.1']

Notes

Note

Tested against IOS 15.6

Status

This module is flagged as preview which means that it is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface.

Maintenance Info

For more information about Red Hat’s this support of this module, please refer to this knowledge base article<https://access.redhat.com/articles/rhel-top-support-policies>

For help in developing on modules, should you be so inclined, please read Community Information & Contributing, Testing Ansible and Developing Modules.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.4/ios_config_module.html