Ansible collections

List or verify installed collections

# ansible-galaxy collection list

[ansible@ansib100 download]$ ansible-galaxy collection list -vvvv
ansible-galaxy [core 2.11.4]
  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/ansible/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /ansible/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible-galaxy
  python version = 3.6.8 (default, Nov 15 2024, 08:18:48) [GCC 8.5.0 20210514 (Red Hat 8.5.0-22)]
  jinja version = 2.10.1
  libyaml = True
Using /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg as config file
Searching /ansible/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections for collections
Found installed collection ibm.power_aix:1.5.1 at '/ansible/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/ibm/power_aix'
Found installed collection ibm.power_linux_sap:1.0.10 at '/ansible/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/ibm/power_linux_sap'
Found installed collection ibm.power_aix_oracle_dba:2.0.0 at '/ansible/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/ibm/power_aix_oracle_dba'
Found installed collection community.general:6.4.0 at '/ansible/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community/general'

# /ansible/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections
Collection               Version
------------------------ -------
community.general        6.4.0
ibm.power_aix            1.5.1
ibm.power_aix_oracle_dba 2.0.0
ibm.power_linux_sap      1.0.10

Set proxy and upgrade a collection

[ansible@ansib100 download]$ export https_proxy=http://proxy.test.lu:443
[ansible@ansib100 download]$ ansible-galaxy collection install ibm.power_aix --upgrade
Starting galaxy collection install process
Process install dependency map
Starting collection install process
Downloading https://galaxy.ansible.com/api/v3/plugin/ansible/content/published/collections/artifacts/ibm-power_aix-2.0.3.tar.gz to /ansible/.ansible/tmp/ansible-local-28837207f02n350/tmpnmabbk_r/ibm-power_aix-2.0.3-n8hzcqfk
Installing 'ibm.power_aix:2.0.3' to '/ansible/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/ibm/power_aix'
ibm.power_aix:2.0.3 was installed successfully

Manually install a collection from a tar file, to a specified directory

# ansible-galaxy collection install my_namespace-my_collection-1.0.0.tar.gz -p ./collections

Ansible plugin

Plugins extend Ansible’s core functionality.

To list plugins, use the modules commands following…

Ansible modules

Modules are a type of plugin that execute automation tasks on a ‘target’ (usually a remote system).

List or verify installed modules — whether built-in or add-on

[ansible@lnx100 ~]$ ansible-doc --list
a10_server                           Manage A10 Networks AX/SoftAX/Thunder/vThunder devices' server object
a10_server_axapi3                    Manage A10 Networks AX/SoftAX/Thunder/vThunder devices
a10_service_group                    Manage A10 Networks AX/SoftAX/Thunder/vThunder devices' service groups
a10_virtual_server                   Manage A10 Networks AX/SoftAX/Thunder/vThunder devices' virtual servers
accelerate                           UNDOCUMENTED

Or
$ ansible-doc -t module -l

More detailled

[ansible@lnx100 ~]$ ansible-doc -F
a10_server                     /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible/modules/network/a10/a10_server.py
a10_server_axapi3              /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible/modules/network/a10/a10_server_axapi3.py
a10_service_group              /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible/modules/network/a10/a10_service_group.py
a10_virtual_server             /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ansible/modules/network/a10/a10_virtual_server.py

Paths for modules:

[ansible@lnx100 ~]$ ansible-config dump |grep DEFAULT_MODULE_PATH
DEFAULT_MODULE_PATH(default) = ['/ansible/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']

To use a specific module, use

    - name: unzip the zip folder
      ansible.builtin.unarchive:
        src: /var/www/html/techmax-main.zip
        dest: /var/www/html
        remote_src: yes

Man page for each module is available using

[ansible@lnx100 ~]$ ansible-doc -t module ibm.power_aix.user
> IBM.POWER_AIX.USER    (/ansible/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/ibm/power_aix/plugins/modules/user.py)

        This module facilitates the creation of a new user with provided attributes, the modification of attributes or deletion of an existing user.

OPTIONS (= is mandatory):

- attributes
        Specifies the attributes to be changed or created for the user.
        For details on valid user attributes, please refers to IBM documentation at https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_aix_72/c_commands/chuser.html.
        If you have the proper authority, you can set the following usual user attributes account_locked, admin, admgroups, capabilities, cpu, daemon, data, default_roles,
        dictionlist, domains, expires, fsize, fsize_hard, gecos, groups, histexpire, home, id, login, loginretries, logintimes, maxages, maxexpired, maxrepeats, maxulogs,
        minage, minalpha, mindiff, minlen, minother, nofiles, nproc, pgrp, projects, pwdchecks, pwdwarntime, rcmds, rlogin, roles, rss, shell, stack, su, sugroups, sysenv,
        threads, tpath, ttys, umask, usrenv, etc.
        [Default: (null)]
        type: dict
...
EXAMPLES:

- name: Create user aixguest1010
  ibm.power_aix.user:
    state: present
    name: aixguest1010
    change_passwd_on_login: False
    password: as$12ndhkfjk$1c
    attributes:
      home: /home/test/aixguest1010
      data: 1272

Sources collections

https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/index.html

https://galaxy.ansible.com/ui/collections/

Collections for VMware

Ansible collection community.vmware

https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/community/vmware/index.html

Python pyVmomi

https://github.com/vmware/pyvmomi

VMware vSphere Automation SDK for Python

https://github.com/vmware/vsphere-automation-sdk-python

wiki

Table of Contents

Ansible collections