ansible-adhoc-commands

ansible-adhoc-commands-cheatsheet.sh

# Visualize the gathering phase of Ansible, on a target host.
# Returns a JSON structure with all the facts about the target host
# More than ping, less than a full playbook
ansible -m setup 192.168.178.29
# Filter the output of the setup module to only show facts related to the distribution
ansible -m setup 192.168.178.29 -a "filter=ansible_distribution*"

# a LOT of facts are gathered and put into variables
# this is how to get them back as pure json
ANSIBLE_STDOUT_CALLBACK=json ansible -m setup localhost
# var are available with both underscore notation AND dot.notation
#use Variables in playbooks  as
#
- debug:
    msg: "SELinux status is {{ ansible_selinux.status }}"

# Shell commands preparing for docker connection plugin
    ## Not an ad-hoc command, 
    ## when working with docker-based containers managed by Ansible,
    ## watch images downloaded and containers started on the control node
    watch -tn0.5 "docker container ps -a | head -3"

    # attach to Docker container containing just the Python interpreter, 
    # cleanup image after exit
    docker container run --name py1 -it --rm python 
    # run in detached mode, still Ansible can manage the container
    docker container run --name py1 -it --detach python 
    # optional: "bring to foreground" by attaching to the container
    # docker container attach py1
    # ctrl-p + ctrl-q to detach from the container again

# list inventory given in static.ini
ansible-inventory --list --yaml -i static.ini
# when using the community.docker.docker connection plugin, the filename must end with docker.yml
ansible-inventory --list --yaml -i dynamic-docker.yml --limit "c*"

ansible -m ping all # does not include localhost

# run an additional command on all containers we specified in the inventory file
ansible -m command -a "hostname" all -i static.ini

# List hosts without ansible-inventory
ansible --list-hosts all -i static.ini

# List all inventory plugins
ansible-doc -t inventory community.docker.docker_containers

ansible-doc -t inventory community.general.virtualbox

# show all callback plugins (output formatters)
ansible-doc -t callback --list

# fewer processes spawned, but slower execution
ansible-playbook -i rolling.yml --forks 2

# various ways to check the syntax of a playbook
ansible-lint playbook.yml
ansible-playbook playbook.yml --syntax-check
ansible-playbook playbook.yml --check
ansible-playbook playbook.yml --check --diff --verbose
ansible-playbook -C -v playbook.yml 

# generate list of objections from ansible-lint
ansible-lint --generate-ignore 
# ... or put a noqa: rule on respective line in playbook