Master the Most Common Ansible Modules: From ping to get_url

1. ping module

Tests connectivity of a host; usage is simple with no parameters.

# ansible 10.212.52.252 -m ping
10.212.52.252 | success > { "changed": false, "ping": "pong" }

2. setup module

Collects host facts; commonly used with the gather_facts parameter. Example commands using the filter option:

# ansible 10.212.52.252 -m setup -a 'filter=ansible_*_mb'
# ansible 10.212.52.252 -m setup -a 'filter=ansible_eth[0-2]'
# ansible all -m setup --tree /tmp/facts

3. file module

Manages files on remote hosts. Key options include:

force – create symlinks forcefully (yes|no)

group – set group ownership

mode – set permissions

owner – set owner

path – required, file or directory path

recurse – apply attributes recursively (directories only)

src – source path for links

dest – destination path for links

state – directory, file, link, hard, touch, absent, etc.

Examples:

ansible test -m file -a "src=/etc/fstab dest=/tmp/fstab state=link"
ansible test -m file -a "path=/tmp/fstab state=absent"
ansible test -m file -a "path=/tmp/test state=touch"

4. copy module

Copies files to remote hosts. Important options:

backup – backup before overwriting (yes|no)

content – set file content directly

dest – required destination path

directory_mode – permissions for directories

force – overwrite existing files (yes|no)

src – source file or directory

validate – command to validate before copying

Examples:

ansible test -m copy -a "src=/srv/myfiles/foo.conf dest=/etc/foo.conf owner=foo group=foo mode=0644"
ansible test -m copy -a "src=/mine/ntp.conf dest=/etc/ntp.conf owner=root group=root mode=644 backup=yes"
ansible test -m copy -a "src=/mine/sudoers dest=/etc/sudoers validate='visudo -cf %s'"

5. service module

Manages system services. Main options:

arguments – extra command‑line options

enabled – start on boot (yes|no)

name – required service name

pattern – process pattern for status checks

runlevel – run level

sleep – pause between stop and start when restarting

state – started, stopped, restarted, reloaded, etc.

Examples:

- service: name=httpd state=reloaded
- service: name=httpd enabled=yes
- service: name=foo pattern=/usr/bin/foo state=started
- service: name=network state=restarted args=eth0

6. cron module

Manages scheduled jobs. Key options include backup, cron_file, day, hour, minute, month, weekday, job, name, special_time, state, and user.

Examples:

# Create a reboot job
ansible test -m cron -a 'name="a job for reboot" special_time=reboot job="/some/job.sh"'
# Daily yum autoupdate at 12:00 on Tuesday
ansible test -m cron -a 'name="yum autoupdate" weekday="2" minute=0 hour=12 user="root"'
# Remove a job
ansible test -m cron -a 'cron_file=ansible_yum-autoupdate state=absent'

7. yum module

Manages packages with the yum package manager. Important options:

config_file – yum configuration file

disable_gpg_check – disable GPG check

disablerepo – disable a repository

enablerepo – enable a repository

name – package name, URL, or local rpm path

state – present, absent, latest

Examples:

ansible test -m yum -a 'name=httpd state=latest'
ansible test -m yum -a 'name="@Development tools" state=present'
ansible test -m yum -a 'name=http://nginx.org/packages/centos/6/noarch/RPMS/nginx-release-centos-6-0.el6.ngx.noarch.rpm state=present'

8. user and group modules

Manage users and groups. Examples for user creation, modification, and deletion:

- user: name=johnd comment="John Doe" uid=1040 group=admin
- user: name=james shell=/bin/bash groups=admins,developers append=yes
- user: name=johnd state=absent remove=yes
- user: name=test generate_ssh_key=yes ssh_key_bits=2048 ssh_key_file=.ssh/id_rsa

Group example:

- group: name=somegroup state=present

9. synchronize module

Synchronizes files using rsync. Important options include archive, checksum, compress, copy_links, delete, dest, dest_port, dirs, rsync_opts, set_remote_user, mode (push/pull).

Examples:

src=some/relative/path dest=/some/absolute/path rsync_path="sudo rsync"
src=some/relative/path dest=/some/absolute/path archive=no links=yes
src=some/relative/path dest=/some/absolute/path checksum=yes times=no
src=/tmp/helloworld dest=/var/www/helloword rsync_opts=--no-motd,--exclude=.git mode=pull

10. mount module

Configures mount points. Core options:

dump

fstype – required filesystem type

name – mount point

opts – mount options

src – source device or file

state – present, absent, mounted, unmounted

Examples:

name=/mnt/dvd src=/dev/sr0 fstype=iso9660 opts=ro state=present
name=/srv/disk src='LABEL=SOME_LABEL' state=present
name=/home src='UUID=b3e48f45-f933-4c8e-a700-22a159ec9077' opts=noatime state=present

11. get_url module

Downloads files from HTTP/HTTPS/FTP sources. Main options:

sha256sum – verify checksum after download

timeout – download timeout (default 10s)

url – source URL

url_username / url_password – authentication

use_proxy – whether to use a proxy

Examples:

- name: download foo.conf
  get_url: url=http://example.com/path/file.conf dest=/etc/foo.conf mode=0440
- name: download file with sha256 check
  get_url: url=http://example.com/path/file.conf dest=/etc/foo.conf sha256sum=b5bb9d8014a0f9b1d61e21e796d78dccdf1352f23cd32812f4850b878ae4944c