Task cli

The cli task provides an implementation for running CLI commands on network devices that is platform agnostic. The cli task accepts a command and will attempt to execute that command on the remote device returning the command ouput.

If the parser argument is provided, the output from the command will be passed through the parser and returned as JSON facts using the engine argument.

Requirements

The following is the list of requirements for using the this task:

Ansible 2.5 or later
Connection network_cli
ansible_network_os

Arguments

The following are the list of required and optional arguments supported by this task.

command

This argument specifies the command to be executed on the remote device. The command argument is a required value.

parser

This argument specifies the location of the parser to pass the output from the command to in order to generate JSON data. The parser argument is an optional value, but required when engine is used.

engine

The engine argument is used to define which parsing engine to use when parsing the output of the CLI commands. This argument uses the file specified to parser for parsing output to JSON facts. This argument requires parser argument to be specified.

This action currently supports two different parsers:

command_parser
textfsm_parser

The default value is command_parser.

How to use

This section describes how to use the cli task in a playbook.

The following example runs CLI command on the network node.


---
- hosts: ios01
  connection: network_cli

  tasks:
  - name: run cli command with cli task
    import_role:
      name: ansible-network.network-engine
      tasks_from: cli
    vars:
      ansible_network_os: ios
      command: show version

When run with verbose mode, the output returned is as follows:


ok: [ios01] => {
    "changed": false,
    "json": null,
    "stdout": "Cisco IOS Software, IOSv Software (VIOS-ADVENTERPRISEK9-M), Version 15.6(2)T, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc2)\nTechnical Support: http://www.cisco.com/techsupport\nCopyright (c) 1986-2016 by Cisco Systems, Inc.\nCompiled Tue 22-Mar-16 16:19 by prod_rel_team\n\n\nROM: Bootstrap program is IOSv\n\nan-ios-01 uptime is 19 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 14 minutes\nSystem returned to ROM by reload\nSystem image file is \"flash0:/vios-adventerprisek9-m\"\nLast reload reason: Unknown reason\n\n\n\nThis product contains cryptographic features and is subject to United\nStates and local country laws governing import, export, transfer and\nuse. Delivery of Cisco cryptographic products does not imply\nthird-party authority to import, export, distribute or use encryption.\nImporters, exporters, distributors and users are responsible for\ncompliance with U.S. and local country laws. By using this product you\nagree to comply with applicable laws and regulations. If you are unable\nto comply with U.S. and local laws, return this product immediately.\n\nA summary of U.S. laws governing Cisco cryptographic products may be found at:\nhttp://www.cisco.com/wwl/export/crypto/tool/stqrg.html\n\nIf you require further assistance please contact us by sending email to\nexport@cisco.com.\n\nCisco IOSv (revision 1.0) with  with 460033K/62464K bytes of memory.\nProcessor board ID 92O0KON393UV5P77JRKZ5\n4 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces\nDRAM configuration is 72 bits wide with parity disabled.\n256K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.\n2097152K bytes of ATA System CompactFlash 0 (Read/Write)\n0K bytes of ATA CompactFlash 1 (Read/Write)\n0K bytes of ATA CompactFlash 2 (Read/Write)\n10080K bytes of ATA CompactFlash 3 (Read/Write)\n\n\n\nConfiguration register is 0x0"
}

The following example runs cli command and parse output to JSON facts.


---
- hosts: ios01
  connection: network_cli

  tasks:
  - name: run cli command and parse output to JSON facts
    import_role:
      name: ansible-network.network-engine
      tasks_from: cli
    vars:
      ansible_network_os: ios
      command: show version
      parser: parser_templates/ios/show_version.yaml
      engine: command_parser