NAME

ansible-console - REPL console for executing Ansible tasks.

SYNOPSIS

usage: ansible-console [-h] [--version] [-v] [-b]
[--become-method BECOME_METHOD] [--become-user BECOME_USER] [-K | --become-password-file BECOME_PASSWORD_FILE] [-i INVENTORY] [--list-hosts] [-l SUBSET] [--private-key PRIVATE_KEY_FILE] [-u REMOTE_USER] [-c CONNECTION] [-T TIMEOUT] [--ssh-common-args SSH_COMMON_ARGS] [--sftp-extra-args SFTP_EXTRA_ARGS] [--scp-extra-args SCP_EXTRA_ARGS] [--ssh-extra-args SSH_EXTRA_ARGS] [-k | --connection-password-file CONNECTION_PASSWORD_FILE] [-C] [--syntax-check] [-D] [--vault-id VAULT_IDS] [--ask-vault-password | --vault-password-file VAULT_PASSWORD_FILES] [-f FORKS] [-M MODULE_PATH] [--playbook-dir BASEDIR] [-e EXTRA_VARS] [--task-timeout TASK_TIMEOUT] [--step] [pattern]

DESCRIPTION

A REPL that allows for running ad-hoc tasks against a chosen inventory from a nice shell with built-in tab completion (based on dominis' ansible-shell).
 
It supports several commands, and you can modify its configuration at runtime:
•
cd [pattern]: change host/group (you can use host patterns eg.:

System Message: WARNING/2 (docs/man/man1/ansible-console.1.rst:, line 46)
Bullet list ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent. app*.dc*:!app01*) - list: list available hosts in the current path - list groups: list groups included in the current path - become: toggle the become flag - !: forces shell module instead of the ansible module (!yum update -y) - verbosity [num]: set the verbosity level - forks [num]: set the number of forks - become_user [user]: set the become_user - remote_user [user]: set the remote_user - become_method [method]: set the privilege escalation method - check [bool]: toggle check mode - diff [bool]: toggle diff mode - timeout [integer]: set the timeout of tasks in seconds (0 to disable) - help [command/module]: display documentation for the command or module - exit: exit ansible-console

COMMON OPTIONS

host pattern


 
--ask-vault-password, --ask-vault-pass
ask for vault password


 
--become-method 'BECOME_METHOD'
privilege escalation method to use (default=sudo), use ansible-doc -t become -l to list valid choices.


 
--become-password-file 'BECOME_PASSWORD_FILE', --become-pass-file 'BECOME_PASSWORD_FILE'
Become password file


 
--become-user 'BECOME_USER'
run operations as this user (default=root)


 
--connection-password-file 'CONNECTION_PASSWORD_FILE', --conn-pass-file 'CONNECTION_PASSWORD_FILE'
Connection password file


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


 
--playbook-dir 'BASEDIR'
Since this tool does not use playbooks, use this as a substitute playbook directory. This sets the relative path for many features including roles/ group_vars/ etc.


 
--private-key 'PRIVATE_KEY_FILE', --key-file 'PRIVATE_KEY_FILE'
use this file to authenticate the connection


 
--scp-extra-args 'SCP_EXTRA_ARGS'
specify extra arguments to pass to scp only (e.g. -l)


 
--sftp-extra-args 'SFTP_EXTRA_ARGS'
specify extra arguments to pass to sftp only (e.g. -f, -l)


 
--ssh-common-args 'SSH_COMMON_ARGS'
specify common arguments to pass to sftp/scp/ssh (e.g. ProxyCommand)


 
--ssh-extra-args 'SSH_EXTRA_ARGS'
specify extra arguments to pass to ssh only (e.g. -R)


 
--step
one-step-at-a-time: confirm each task before running


 
--syntax-check
perform a syntax check on the playbook, but do not execute it


 
--task-timeout 'TASK_TIMEOUT'
set task timeout limit in seconds, must be positive integer.


 
--vault-id
the vault identity to use


 
--vault-password-file, --vault-pass-file
vault password file


 
--version
show program's version number, config file location, configured module search path, module location, executable location and exit


 
-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


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


 
-M, --module-path
prepend colon-separated path(s) to module library (default={{ ANSIBLE_HOME ~ "/plugins/modules:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules" }})


 
-T 'TIMEOUT', --timeout 'TIMEOUT'
override the connection timeout in seconds (default=10)


 
-b, --become
run operations with become (does not imply password prompting)


 
-c 'CONNECTION', --connection 'CONNECTION'
connection type to use (default=smart)


 
-e, --extra-vars
set additional variables as key=value or YAML/JSON, if filename prepend with @


 
-f 'FORKS', --forks 'FORKS'
specify number of parallel processes to use (default=5)


 
-h, --help
show this help message and exit


 
-i, --inventory, --inventory-file
specify inventory host path or comma separated host list. --inventory-file is deprecated


 
-k, --ask-pass
ask for connection password


 
-l 'SUBSET', --limit 'SUBSET'
further limit selected hosts to an additional pattern


 
-u 'REMOTE_USER', --user 'REMOTE_USER'
connect as this user (default=None)


 
-v, --verbose
Causes Ansible to print more debug messages. Adding multiple -v will increase the verbosity, the builtin plugins currently evaluate up to -vvvvvv. A reasonable level to start is -vvv, connection debugging might require -vvvv.


ENVIRONMENT

The following environment variables may be specified.
 
ANSIBLE_CONFIG -- Specify override location for the ansible config file
 
Many more are available for most options in ansible.cfg
 
For a full list check https://docs.ansible.com/. or use the ansible-config command.

FILES

/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg -- Config file, used if present
 
~/.ansible.cfg -- User config file, overrides the default config if present
 
./ansible.cfg -- Local config file (in current working directory) assumed to be 'project specific' and overrides the rest if present.
 
As mentioned above, the ANSIBLE_CONFIG environment variable will override all others.

AUTHOR

Ansible was originally written by Michael DeHaan. Copyright © 2018 Red Hat, Inc | Ansible. Ansible is released under the terms of the GPLv3 license.

SEE ALSO

ansible (1), ansible-config (1), ansible-doc (1), ansible-galaxy (1), ansible-inventory (1), ansible-playbook (1), ansible-pull (1), ansible-vault (1)
 
Extensive documentation is available in the documentation site: < https://docs.ansible.com>. IRC and mailing list info can be found in file CONTRIBUTING.md, available in: < https://github.com/ansible/ansible>