ios_config – Manage Cisco IOS configuration sections — Ansible Documentation

- AnsibleFest
- Products
- Community
- Webinars & Training
- Blog

Documentation

# ios_config – Manage Cisco IOS configuration sections

- Synopsis
- Parameters
- Notes
- Examples
- Return Values
- Status

## 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 - |  | 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 string |  | 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 boolean | Choices: no ← yes | 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 boolean | 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. If the `backup_options` value is not given, 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.
backup_options dictionary added in 2.8 |  | This is a dict object containing configurable options related to backup file path. The value of this option is read only when `backup` is set to yes, if `backup` is set to no this option will be silently ignored.
| dir_path path |  | This option provides the path ending with directory name in which the backup configuration file will be stored. If the directory does not exist it will be first created and the filename is either the value of `filename` or default filename as described in `filename` options description. If the path value is not given in that case a backup directory will be created in the current working directory and backup configuration will be copied in `filename` within backup directory.
| filename - |  | The filename to be used to store the backup configuration. If the the filename is not given it will be generated based on the hostname, current time and date in format defined by <hostname>_config.<current-date>@<current-time>
before - |  | 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 boolean | 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.
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 - |  | 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 - | 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 - |  | 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 dictionary |  | 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.
| auth_pass string |  | 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 boolean | Choices: no ← yes | 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.
| host string / 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.
| password string |  | 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 integer | Default: 22 | Specifies the port to use when building the connection to the remote device.
| ssh_keyfile path |  | 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.
| timeout integer | 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.
| username string |  | 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.
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 |  | 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_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 - |  | 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 192.0.2.1 any log
          - 20 permit ip host 192.0.2.2 any log
          - 30 permit ip host 192.0.2.3 any log
          - 40 permit ip host 192.0.2.4 any log
          - 50 permit ip host 192.0.2.5 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

    # Set boot image based on comparison to a group_var (version) and the version
    # that is returned from the `ios_facts` module
    - name: SETTING BOOT IMAGE
      ios_config:
        lines:
          - no boot system
          - boot system flash bootflash:{{new_image}}
        host: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
      when: ansible_net_version != version

    - name: render a Jinja2 template onto an IOS device
      ios_config:
        backup: yes
        src: ios_template.j2

    - name: configurable backup path
      ios_config:
        src: ios_template.j2
        backup: yes
        backup_options:
          filename: backup.cfg
          dir_path: /home/user

## 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 192.0.2.1']
date string | when backup is yes | The date extracted from the backup file name Sample: 2016-07-16
filename string | when backup is yes and filename is not specified in backup options | The name of the backup file Sample: ios_config.2016-07-16@22:28:34
shortname string | when backup is yes and filename is not specified in backup options | The full path to the backup file excluding the timestamp Sample: /playbooks/ansible/backup/ios_config
time string | when backup is yes | The time extracted from the backup file name Sample: 22:28:34
updates list | always | The set of commands that will be pushed to the remote device Sample: ['hostname foo', 'router ospf 1', 'router-id 192.0.2.1']

## Status

- This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
- This module is maintained by the Ansible Network Team. [network]

### Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

### Authors

- Peter Sprygada (@privateip)

Hint

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