NXOS Platform Options
Cisco NXOS supports multiple connections. This page offers details on how each connection works in Ansible and how to use it.
- Connections Available
- Using CLI in Ansible
- Using NX-API in Ansible
- Cisco Nexus Platform Support Matrix
Connections Available
CLI | NX-API | |
---|---|---|
Protocol | SSH | HTTP(S) |
Indirect Access | via a bastion (jump host) | via a web proxy |
Returned Data Format | stdout[0]. | stdout[0].messages[0]. |
For legacy playbooks, NXOS still supports ansible_connection: local
. We recommend modernizing to use ansible_connection: network_cli
or ansible_connection: httpapi
as soon as possible.
Using CLI in Ansible
Example CLI group_vars/nxos.yml
ansible_connection: network_cli ansible_network_os: nxos ansible_user: myuser ansible_password: !vault... ansible_become: yes ansible_become_method: enable ansible_become_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 inps
output), SSH does not support providing passwords via environment variables.
Example CLI Task
- name: Backup current switch config (nxos) nxos_config: backup: yes register: backup_nxos_location when: ansible_network_os == 'nxos'
Using NX-API in Ansible
Enabling NX-API
Before you can use NX-API to connect to a switch, you must enable NX-API. To enable NX-API on a new switch via Ansible, use the nxos_nxapi
module via the CLI connection. Set up group_vars/nxos.yml just like in the CLI example above, then run a playbook task like this:
- name: Enable NX-API nxos_nxapi: enable_http: yes enable_https: yes when: ansible_network_os == 'nxos'
To find out more about the options for enabling HTTP/HTTPS and local http see the nxos_nxapi module documentation.
Once NX-API is enabled, change your group_vars/nxos.yml
to use the NX-API connection.
Example NX-API group_vars/nxos.yml
ansible_connection: httpapi ansible_network_os: nxos ansible_user: myuser ansible_password: !vault... proxy_env: http_proxy: http://proxy.example.com:8080
- If you are accessing your host directly (not through a web proxy) you can remove the
proxy_env
configuration. - If you are accessing your host through a web proxy using
https
, changehttp_proxy
tohttps_proxy
.
Example NX-API Task
- name: Backup current switch config (nxos) nxos_config: backup: yes register: backup_nxos_location environment: "{{ proxy_env }}" when: ansible_network_os == 'nxos'
In this example the proxy_env
variable defined in group_vars
gets passed to the environment
option of the module used in the task.
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.
Cisco Nexus Platform Support Matrix
The following platforms and software versions have been certified by Cisco to work with this version of Ansible.
Supported Platforms | Minimum NX-OS Version |
---|---|
Cisco Nexus N3k | 7.0(3)I2(5) and later |
Cisco Nexus N9k | 7.0(3)I2(5) and later |
Cisco Nexus N5k | 7.3(0)N1(1) and later |
Cisco Nexus N6k | 7.3(0)N1(1) and later |
Cisco Nexus N7k | 7.3(0)D1(1) and later |
Platform | Description |
---|---|
N3k | Support includes N30xx, N31xx and N35xx models |
N5k | Support includes all N5xxx models |
N6k | Support includes all N6xxx models |
N7k | Support includes all N7xxx models |
N9k | Support includes all N9xxx models |
© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.8/network/user_guide/platform_nxos.html