Ad-Hoc Commands

Syntax: ansible -i [inventory] [server group] -m [module] -u [user]

Options	Description
-m	Specify a module Eg:-m command -a ping
-a	Specify arguments for a module or use command module by default
-f	Specify number of forks ansible uses. 1 will send command to one server at a time in order hosts are arranged in inventory.
-b	Becomes a different user root by default. --become is used to supplement sudo when not operating with Linux systems.
-K	Will ask the password for root user when used with -b. Alternative:--ask-become-pass
-u	Specify a username Eg: -u mhs
--limit	Limits the host, command will not execute on the ip marked with limit. Also, supports regex for ip. Eg: "ip1,ip2"

{% hint style="info" %} If module is not specified with -m ansible defaults to the command module for ad-hoc commands

• Command module doesn't support | & redirection, use -m shell module

Eg: ansible all -m shell -a "command | grep text"

Polling & Background jobs

-p 0 Specify a polling time in seconds. Ansible will run the command in the background and check in the specified time if that command has executed.0 = polling disabled

• Eg: ansible all -B 1800 -P 60 -a "/usr/bin/long_running_operation --do-stuff"
• This job runs for 30 minutes with polls every minute

-B Specify time limit for the job to run in background.

• Eg: ansible all -B 3600 -P 0 -a "/usr/bin/long_running_operation --do-stuff"
• This job runs for 3600 seconds without polling

Note: A result file is printed in output which gives a job ID. Check the result of the job using ansible all -m async_status -a "jid=jobid"

• Job ID is unique to each server.

Playbook Options

Syntax: ansible-playbook -i [inventory] [Options]

Options	Description
--syntax-check	perform a syntax check on the playbook, but do not execute it
--version	show program’s version number, config file location, module search path, module location & executable location
-C, --check	don’t make any changes; instead, try to predict some of the changes that may occur
-D, --diff	when changing (small) files and templates, show the differences in those files; works great with –check
-b, --become	run operations with become (does not imply password prompting)
-K, --ask-become-pass	ask for privilege escalation password
-T , --timeout	override the connection timeout in seconds (default=10)
-e, --extra-vars	set additional variables as key=value or YAML/JSON, if filename prepend with @
-f , --forks	specify number of parallel processes to use (default=5)
--flush-cache	Clear the fact cache for every host in inventory
--force-handlers	Run handlers even if task fails
--list-hosts	List matching hosts
--list-tasks	List all tasks that would be executed
--private-key	Use this file to authenticate the connection
--step	One step at a time, confirm each task before running
-v, --verbose	verbose mode (-vvv for more, -vvvv to enable connection debugging)
--ask-vault-pass	Ask for vault password
--become-user	Run operations as this user (default=root)
--become-method	privilege escalation method to use (default=sudo), use ansible-doc -t become -l to list valid choices.
--become-password-file	Pass a password file for the playbook
--vault-id	the vault identity to use
--vault-pass-file	vault password file