Using Ansible fetch Module to Copy Files from Remote Server

The Ansible fetch module allows you to copy files from a remote server to the local machine, which is useful for retrieving log files or other artifacts.

By default, the module creates a directory on the local host named after each target host and places the fetched files there; missing remote files do not raise an error unless configured otherwise.

Configuration file (copy_fetch.yaml) :

- hosts: x.x.x.x
  remote_user: root
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: Copy files from remote server
      fetch:
        src: /root/grafana-9.0.2-1.x86_64.rpm
        dest: /usr/local/apps/
        mode: 0644
        flat: yes
        fail_on_missing: yes

When flat is set to yes and the filename is not unique, each fetch will overwrite the existing file. Setting fail_on_missing to yes causes the task to fail if the remote file does not exist.

Test execution :

# Dry run
ansible-playbook -C copy_fetch.yaml
# Actual run
ansible-playbook copy_fetch.yaml

Verification :

# List files in the destination directory
cd /usr/local/apps/
ll

The output shows the transferred grafana-9.0.2-1.x86_64.rpm file with its size and permissions, confirming the successful fetch operation.