NAME

ansible-pull - pulls playbooks from a VCS repo and executes them for the local host

SYNOPSIS

usage: ansible-pull [-h] [--version] [-v] [--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] [--vault-id VAULT_IDS] [--ask-vault-password | --vault-password-file VAULT_PASSWORD_FILES] [-e EXTRA_VARS] [-t TAGS] [--skip-tags SKIP_TAGS] [-i INVENTORY] [--list-hosts] [-l SUBSET] [-M MODULE_PATH] [-K | --become-password-file BECOME_PASSWORD_FILE] [--purge] [-o] [-s SLEEP] [-f] [-d DEST] [-U URL] [--full] [-C CHECKOUT] [--accept-host-key] [-m MODULE_NAME] [--verify-commit] [--clean] [--track-subs] [--check] [--diff] [playbook.yml ...]

DESCRIPTION

Used to pull a remote copy of ansible on each managed node, each set to run via cron and update playbook source via a source repository. This inverts the default push architecture of ansible into a pull architecture, which has near-limitless scaling potential.
 
None of the CLI tools are designed to run concurrently with themselves, you should use an external scheduler and/or locking to ensure there are no clashing operations.
 
The setup playbook can be tuned to change the cron frequency, logging locations, and parameters to ansible-pull. This is useful both for extreme scale-out as well as periodic remediation. Usage of the 'fetch' module to retrieve logs from ansible-pull runs would be an excellent way to gather and analyze remote logs from ansible-pull.

COMMON OPTIONS

Playbook(s)


 
--accept-host-key
adds the hostkey for the repo url if not already added


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


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


 
--check
don't make any changes; instead, try to predict some of the changes that may occur


 
--clean
modified files in the working repository will be discarded


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


 
--diff
when changing (small) files and templates, show the differences in those files; works great with --check


 
--full
Do a full clone, instead of a shallow one.


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


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


 
--purge
purge checkout after playbook run


 
--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)


 
--skip-tags
only run plays and tasks whose tags do not match these values


 
--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)


 
--track-subs
submodules will track the latest changes. This is equivalent to specifying the --remote flag to git submodule update


 
--vault-id
the vault identity to use


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


 
--verify-commit
verify GPG signature of checked out commit, if it fails abort running the playbook. This needs the corresponding VCS module to support such an operation


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


 
-C 'CHECKOUT', --checkout 'CHECKOUT'
branch/tag/commit to checkout. Defaults to behavior of repository module.


 
-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)


 
-U 'URL', --url 'URL'
URL of the playbook repository


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


 
-d 'DEST', --directory 'DEST'
absolute path of repository checkout directory (relative paths are not supported)


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


 
-f, --force
run the playbook even if the repository could not be updated


 
-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


 
-m 'MODULE_NAME', --module-name 'MODULE_NAME'
Repository module name, which ansible will use to check out the repo. Choices are ('git', 'subversion', 'hg', 'bzr'). Default is git.


 
-o, --only-if-changed
only run the playbook if the repository has been updated


 
-s 'SLEEP', --sleep 'SLEEP'
sleep for random interval (between 0 and n number of seconds) before starting. This is a useful way to disperse git requests


 
-t, --tags
only run plays and tasks tagged with these values


 
-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-console (1), ansible-doc (1), ansible-galaxy (1), ansible-inventory (1), ansible-playbook (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>