ANSIBLE(1)

NAME
ansible - run a task on a target host(s)

SYNOPSIS

ansible <host-pattern> [-m module_name] [-a args] [options]

DESCRIPTION

Ansible is an extra-simple tool/framework/API for doing 'remote things'. This is the adhoc command that allows for a 'single task playbook' run.

ARGUMENTS

host-pattern
    A name of a group in the inventory, a shell-like glob selecting hosts in inventory or any combination of the two separated by commas.

OPTIONS

-a 'ARGUMENTS', --args='ARGUMENTS'
    The ARGUMENTS to pass to the module.

-b, --become
    Use privilege escalation (specific one depends on become_method), this does not imply prompting for passwords.

-K, --ask-become-pass
    Ask for privilege escalation password.

-k, --ask-pass
    Prompt for the connection password, if it is needed for the transport used. For example, using ssh and not having a key-based authentication with ssh-agent.

--ask-su-pass
    Prompt for su password, used with --su (deprecated, use become).

--ask-sudo-pass
    Prompt for the password to use with --sudo, if any (deprecated, use become).

--ask-vault-pass
    Prompt for vault password.

-B NUM, --background=NUM
    Run commands in the background, killing the task after NUM seconds.

--become-method=BECOME_METHOD
    Privilege escalation method to use (default=sudo), valid choices: [ sudo | su | pbrun | pfexec | doas | dzdo | ksu ]

--become-user=BECOME_USER
    Run operations as this user (default=root).

-C, --check
    Do not make any changes on the remote system, but test resources to see what might have changed. Note this can not scan all possible resource types and is only a simulation.

-c CONNECTION, --connection=CONNECTION
    Connection type to use. Most common options are paramiko (SSH), ssh, winrm and local. local is mostly useful for crontab or kickstarts.

-e EXTRA_VARS, --extra-vars='EXTRA_VARS
    Extra variables to inject into a playbook, in key=value key=value format or as quoted YAML/JSON (hashes and arrays). To load variables from a file, specify the file preceded by @ (e.g. @vars.yml).

-f NUM, --forks=NUM
    Level of parallelism. NUM is specified as an integer, the default is 5.

-h, --help
    Show help message and exit.

-i PATH, --inventory=PATH
    The PATH to the inventory, which defaults to /etc/ansible/hosts. Alternatively you can use a comma separated list of hosts or single host with trailing comma host,.

-l SUBSET, --limit=SUBSET
    Further limits the selected host/group patterns. You can prefix it with ~ to indicate that the pattern is a regex.

--list-hosts
    Outputs a list of matching hosts; does not execute anything else.

-m NAME, --module-name=NAME
    Execute the module called NAME.

-M DIRECTORY, --module-path=DIRECTORY
    The DIRECTORY search path to load modules from. The default is /usr/share/ansible. This can also be set with the ANSIBLE_LIBRARY environment variable.

-o, --one-line
    Try to output everything on one line.

-P NUM, --poll=NUM
    Poll a background job every NUM seconds. Requires -B.

--private-key=PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
    Use this file to authenticate the connection.

-S, --su
    Run operations with su (deprecated, use become).

-R SU_USER, --su-user=SU_USER
    Run operations with su as this user (default=root) (deprecated, use become).

-s, --sudo
    Run the command as the user given by -u and sudo to root (deprecated, use become).

--ssh-common-args='-o ProxyCommand="ssh -W %h:%p ..." ...'
    Add the specified arguments to any sftp/scp/ssh command-line. Useful to set a ProxyCommand to use a jump host, but any arguments that are accepted by all three programs may be specified.

--sftp-extra-args='-f ...'
    Add the specified arguments to any sftp command-line.

--scp-extra-args='-l ...'
    Add the specified arguments to any scp command-line.

--ssh-extra-args='-R ...'
    Add the specified arguments to any ssh command-line.

-U SUDO_USERNAME, --sudo-user=SUDO_USERNAME
    Sudo to SUDO_USERNAME default is root. (deprecated, use become).

-t DIRECTORY, --tree=DIRECTORY
    Save contents in this output DIRECTORY, with the results saved in a file named after each host.

-T SECONDS, --timeout=SECONDS
    Connection timeout to use when trying to talk to hosts, in SECONDS.

-u USERNAME, --user=USERNAME
    Use this USERNAME to login to the target host, instead of the current user.

--vault-password-file=VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE
    A file containing the vault password to be used during the decryption of vault encrypted files. Be sure to keep this file secured if it is used. If the file is executable, it will be run and its standard output will be used as the password.

-v, --verbose
    Verbose mode, more output from successful actions will be shown. Give up to three times for more output.

--version
    Show program version number and exit.

INVENTORY

Ansible stores the hosts it can potentially operate on in an inventory. This can be an ini-like file, a script, directory or a list. The ini syntax is one host per line. Groups headers are allowed and are included on their own line, enclosed in square brackets that start the line.

Ranges of hosts are also supported. For more information and additional options, see the documentation on http://docs.ansible.com/.

ENVIRONMENT

The following environment variables may be specified.

ANSIBLE_INVENTORY — Override the default ansible inventory file

ANSIBLE_LIBRARY — Override the default ansible module library path

ANSIBLE_CONFIG — Override the default ansible config file

Many more are available for most options in ansible.cfg

FILES

/etc/ansible/hosts — Default inventory file

/usr/share/ansible/ — Default module library

/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg — Config file, used if present

~/.ansible.cfg — User config file, overrides the default config if present

AUTHOR

Ansible was originally written by Michael DeHaan. See the AUTHORS file for a complete list of contributors.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2012, Michael DeHaan Ansible is released under the terms of the GPLv3 License.

SEE ALSO

ansible-playbook(1), ansible-pull(1), ansible-doc(1), ansible-vault(1), ansible-galaxy(1)

Extensive documentation is available in the documentation site: http://docs.ansible.com. IRC and mailing list info can be found in file CONTRIBUTING.md, available in: https://github.com/ansible/ansible