7df31aaca1
* developing_modules.rst is now in dev_guide, sync changes and delete the old version * Cleaner RST & formatted code * Tidyup roadmaps * Link to repomerge * Pull in abadger's fixes From https://github.com/ansible/ansible/compare/docs-code-block-fixes?expand=1 * Clean docsite/rst (apart from ROADMAP
66 lines
2.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
66 lines
2.4 KiB
ReStructuredText
Introduction
|
|
============
|
|
|
|
Modules (also referred to as "task plugins" or "library plugins") are the ones that do
|
|
the actual work in ansible, they are what gets executed in each playbook task.
|
|
But you can also run a single one using the 'ansible' command.
|
|
|
|
Let's review how we execute three different modules from the command line::
|
|
|
|
ansible webservers -m service -a "name=httpd state=started"
|
|
ansible webservers -m ping
|
|
ansible webservers -m command -a "/sbin/reboot -t now"
|
|
|
|
Each module supports taking arguments. Nearly all modules take ``key=value``
|
|
arguments, space delimited. Some modules take no arguments, and the command/shell modules simply
|
|
take the string of the command you want to run.
|
|
|
|
From playbooks, Ansible modules are executed in a very similar way::
|
|
|
|
- name: reboot the servers
|
|
action: command /sbin/reboot -t now
|
|
|
|
Which can be abbreviated to::
|
|
|
|
- name: reboot the servers
|
|
command: /sbin/reboot -t now
|
|
|
|
Another way to pass arguments to a module is using yaml syntax also called 'complex args' ::
|
|
|
|
- name: restart webserver
|
|
service:
|
|
name: httpd
|
|
state: restarted
|
|
|
|
All modules technically return JSON format data, though if you are using the command line or playbooks, you don't really need to know much about
|
|
that. If you're writing your own module, you care, and this means you do not have to write modules in any particular language -- you get to choose.
|
|
|
|
Modules should be idempotent, and should avoid making any changes if
|
|
they detect that the current state matches the desired final state. When using
|
|
Ansible playbooks, these modules can trigger 'change events' in the form of
|
|
notifying 'handlers' to run additional tasks.
|
|
|
|
Documentation for each module can be accessed from the command line with the ansible-doc tool::
|
|
|
|
ansible-doc yum
|
|
|
|
A list of all installed modules is also available::
|
|
|
|
ansible-doc -l
|
|
|
|
|
|
.. seealso::
|
|
|
|
:doc:`intro_adhoc`
|
|
Examples of using modules in /usr/bin/ansible
|
|
:doc:`playbooks`
|
|
Examples of using modules with /usr/bin/ansible-playbook
|
|
:doc:`dev_guide/developing_modules`
|
|
How to write your own modules
|
|
:doc:`dev_guide/developing_api`
|
|
Examples of using modules with the Python API
|
|
`Mailing List <http://groups.google.com/group/ansible-project>`_
|
|
Questions? Help? Ideas? Stop by the list on Google Groups
|
|
`irc.freenode.net <http://irc.freenode.net>`_
|
|
#ansible IRC chat channel
|
|
|