ios_config - Manage Cisco IOS configuration sections

New in version 2.1.

Synopsis
Parameters
Notes
Examples
Return Values
Status
- Support
- Author

Synopsis

Cisco IOS configurations use a simple block indent file syntax for segmenting configuration into sections. This module provides an implementation for working with IOS configuration sections in a deterministic way.

Parameters

Parameter		Choices/Defaults	Comments
after		Default: None	The ordered set of commands to append to the end of the command stack if a change needs to be made. Just like with before this allows the playbook designer to append a set of commands to be executed after the command set.
auth_pass		Default: none	Deprecated Starting with Ansible 2.5 we recommend using `connection: network_cli` and `become: yes` with `become_pass`. For more information please see the IOS Platform Options guide. Specifies the password to use if required to enter privileged mode on the remote device. If authorize is false, then this argument does nothing. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_AUTH_PASS` will be used instead.
authorize		Choices: yes no ←	Deprecated Starting with Ansible 2.5 we recommend using `connection: network_cli` and `become: yes`. For more information please see the IOS Platform Options guide. Instructs the module to enter privileged mode on the remote device before sending any commands. If not specified, the device will attempt to execute all commands in non-privileged mode. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_AUTHORIZE` will be used instead.
backup (added in 2.2)		Choices: no ← yes	This argument will cause the module to create a full backup of the current `running-config` from the remote device before any changes are made. The backup file is written to the `backup` folder in the playbook root directory or role root directory, if playbook is part of an ansible role. If the directory does not exist, it is created.
before		Default: None	The ordered set of commands to push on to the command stack if a change needs to be made. This allows the playbook designer the opportunity to perform configuration commands prior to pushing any changes without affecting how the set of commands are matched against the system.
defaults (added in 2.2)		Choices: no ← yes	This argument specifies whether or not to collect all defaults when getting the remote device running config. When enabled, the module will get the current config by issuing the command `show running-config all`.
diff_against (added in 2.4)		Choices: running startup intended	When using the `ansible-playbook --diff` command line argument the module can generate diffs against different sources. When this option is configure as startup, the module will return the diff of the running-config against the startup-config. When this option is configured as intended, the module will return the diff of the running-config against the configuration provided in the `intended_config` argument. When this option is configured as running, the module will return the before and after diff of the running-config with respect to any changes made to the device configuration.
diff_ignore_lines (added in 2.4)			Use this argument to specify one or more lines that should be ignored during the diff. This is used for lines in the configuration that are automatically updated by the system. This argument takes a list of regular expressions or exact line matches.
force		Choices: no ← yes	The force argument instructs the module to not consider the current devices running-config. When set to true, this will cause the module to push the contents of src into the device without first checking if already configured. Note this argument should be considered deprecated. To achieve the equivalent, set the `match=none` which is idempotent. This argument will be removed in Ansible 2.6.
intended_config (added in 2.4)			The `intended_config` provides the master configuration that the node should conform to and is used to check the final running-config against. This argument will not modify any settings on the remote device and is strictly used to check the compliance of the current device's configuration against. When specifying this argument, the task should also modify the `diff_against` value and set it to intended.
lines		Default: None	The ordered set of commands that should be configured in the section. The commands must be the exact same commands as found in the device running-config. Be sure to note the configuration command syntax as some commands are automatically modified by the device config parser. aliases: commands
match		Choices: line ← strict exact none	Instructs the module on the way to perform the matching of the set of commands against the current device config. If match is set to line, commands are matched line by line. If match is set to strict, command lines are matched with respect to position. If match is set to exact, command lines must be an equal match. Finally, if match is set to none, the module will not attempt to compare the source configuration with the running configuration on the remote device.
multiline_delimiter (added in 2.3)		Default: @	This argument is used when pushing a multiline configuration element to the IOS device. It specifies the character to use as the delimiting character. This only applies to the configuration action.
parents		Default: None	The ordered set of parents that uniquely identify the section or hierarchy the commands should be checked against. If the parents argument is omitted, the commands are checked against the set of top level or global commands.
provider		Default: None	Deprecated Starting with Ansible 2.5 we recommend using `connection: network_cli`. For more information please see the IOS Platform Options guide. A dict object containing connection details.
	username		Configures the username to use to authenticate the connection to the remote device. This value is used to authenticate the SSH session. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_USERNAME` will be used instead.
	authorize	Choices: yes no ←	Instructs the module to enter privileged mode on the remote device before sending any commands. If not specified, the device will attempt to execute all commands in non-privileged mode. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_AUTHORIZE` will be used instead.
	ssh_keyfile		Specifies the SSH key to use to authenticate the connection to the remote device. This value is the path to the key used to authenticate the SSH session. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_SSH_KEYFILE` will be used instead.
	auth_pass	Default: none	Specifies the password to use if required to enter privileged mode on the remote device. If authorize is false, then this argument does nothing. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_AUTH_PASS` will be used instead.
	host required		Specifies the DNS host name or address for connecting to the remote device over the specified transport. The value of host is used as the destination address for the transport.
	timeout	Default: 10	Specifies the timeout in seconds for communicating with the network device for either connecting or sending commands. If the timeout is exceeded before the operation is completed, the module will error.
	password	Default: None	Specifies the password to use to authenticate the connection to the remote device. This value is used to authenticate the SSH session. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `ANSIBLE_NET_PASSWORD` will be used instead.
	port	Default: 22	Specifies the port to use when building the connection to the remote device.
replace		Choices: line ← block	Instructs the module on the way to perform the configuration on the device. If the replace argument is set to line then the modified lines are pushed to the device in configuration mode. If the replace argument is set to block then the entire command block is pushed to the device in configuration mode if any line is not correct.
running_config (added in 2.4)		Default: None	The module, by default, will connect to the remote device and retrieve the current running-config to use as a base for comparing against the contents of source. There are times when it is not desirable to have the task get the current running-config for every task in a playbook. The running_config argument allows the implementer to pass in the configuration to use as the base config for comparison. aliases: config
save (added in 2.2)		Choices: no ← yes	The `save` argument instructs the module to save the running- config to the startup-config at the conclusion of the module running. If check mode is specified, this argument is ignored. This option is deprecated as of Ansible 2.4 and will be removed in Ansible 2.8, use `save_when` instead.
save_when (added in 2.4)		Choices: always never ← modified changed	When changes are made to the device running-configuration, the changes are not copied to non-volatile storage by default. Using this argument will change that before. If the argument is set to always, then the running-config will always be copied to the startup-config and the modified flag will always be set to True. If the argument is set to modified, then the running-config will only be copied to the startup-config if it has changed since the last save to startup-config. If the argument is set to never, the running-config will never be copied to the startup-config. If the argument is set to changed, then the running-config will only be copied to the startup-config if the task has made a change. changed was added in Ansible 2.5.
src (added in 2.2)		Default: None	Specifies the source path to the file that contains the configuration or configuration template to load. The path to the source file can either be the full path on the Ansible control host or a relative path from the playbook or role root directory. This argument is mutually exclusive with lines, parents.

Notes

Note

Tested against IOS 15.6
Abbreviated commands are NOT idempotent, see Network FAQ.
For more information on using Ansible to manage network devices see the Ansible Network Guide
For more information on using Ansible to manage Cisco devices see the Cisco integration page.

Examples

- name: configure top level configuration
  ios_config:
    lines: hostname {{ inventory_hostname }}

- name: configure interface settings
  ios_config:
    lines:
      - description test interface
      - ip address 172.31.1.1 255.255.255.0
    parents: interface Ethernet1

- name: configure ip helpers on multiple interfaces
  ios_config:
    lines:
      - ip helper-address 172.26.1.10
      - ip helper-address 172.26.3.8
    parents: "{{ item }}"
  with_items:
    - interface Ethernet1
    - interface Ethernet2
    - interface GigabitEthernet1

- name: configure policer in Scavenger class
  ios_config:
    lines:
      - conform-action transmit
      - exceed-action drop
    parents:
      - policy-map Foo
      - class Scavenger
      - police cir 64000

- name: load new acl into device
  ios_config:
    lines:
      - 10 permit ip host 1.1.1.1 any log
      - 20 permit ip host 2.2.2.2 any log
      - 30 permit ip host 3.3.3.3 any log
      - 40 permit ip host 4.4.4.4 any log
      - 50 permit ip host 5.5.5.5 any log
    parents: ip access-list extended test
    before: no ip access-list extended test
    match: exact

- name: check the running-config against master config
  ios_config:
    diff_against: intended
    intended_config: "{{ lookup('file', 'master.cfg') }}"

- name: check the startup-config against the running-config
  ios_config:
    diff_against: startup
    diff_ignore_lines:
      - ntp clock .*

- name: save running to startup when modified
  ios_config:
    save_when: modified

- name: for idempotency, use full-form commands
  ios_config:
    lines:
      # - shut
      - shutdown
    # parents: int gig1/0/11
    parents: interface GigabitEthernet1/0/11

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Returned	Description
backup_path string	when backup is yes	The full path to the backup file Sample: /playbooks/ansible/backup/ios_config.2016-07-16@22:28:34
commands list	always	The set of commands that will be pushed to the remote device Sample: ['hostname foo', 'router ospf 1', 'router-id 1.1.1.1']
updates list	always	The set of commands that will be pushed to the remote device Sample: ['hostname foo', 'router ospf 1', 'router-id 1.1.1.1']

Status

This module is flagged as preview which means that it is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface.

Support

For more information about Red Hat’s support of this module, please refer to this Knowledge Base article

Author

Peter Sprygada (@privateip)

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.5/modules/ios_config_module.html