Ansible differences between ios config and cli config
This is a post that I'm going to review some of the differences between the ios_config module and the new cli_config module within Ansible networking. I became interested in the module after a recent discussion between the two. I have decided to take a look at the differences between the two.
This is not an under the hood look at the modules. This has already been covered very well (and with better graphics than I can produce) here at the Ansible Blog look for "cli_command and cli_config" with your browser find function.
I may also try to take a look at some of the other modules as well as time may permit. Next up on my interest of is the NXOS commands. I may also be limited a touch on some of the other major platforms out there, but hopefully I can find some legitimately and provide some value back.
Differences#
Parameters#
First the differences come in a couple of front and center options. First, in cli_config there are
a few more options to do with committing configurations. These play a role in having a "uniform"
module for pushing to all sorts of devices like IOS, JUNOS, and the such.
Lines vs config
One of the major differences in the paramaters comes on how you put a configuration into the module.
With the original ios_config you get to pass The ordered set of commands to the module. This
means that you can apply multiple commands within one statement.
With cli_config you are passing a string into the module that is
The config to be pushed to the network device.
This difference is a very important one. For instance if you wanted to apply multiple lines to a
configuration you will need to find another way with cli_config that previously was very simple to
read:
tasks:
- name: IOS >> No shut the interfaces
ios_config:
lines:
- description ** Configured by Ansible **
- no shutdown
parents: interface GigabitEthernet1/0
After doing a few different tests including using the | character to send multiple lines, \n as
a new line character, and using with_items all to no avail. Last step I tried to use the old
carriage return \r in the config at which point it was successful.
tasks:
- name: CLI >> No shut the interfaces
cli_config:
config: "interface Gig1/0\rdescription **CLI Config!**\rno shutdown"
Templating#
Templating is also a little different. From the main module page you can see an example that is the following:
CLI Config#
- name: configure device with config (CLI)
cli_config:
config: "{{ lookup('template', 'basic/config.j2') }}"
IOS Config
So the only real difference is the lookup module used in the CLI version. This is pretty straight forward to see what it is doing. It is using the lookup filter, of type template. Then the 2nd argument is the template file that you wish to render.
Execution Information#
This is maybe the biggest difference that I have found between the ios_config module and the cli_config module. When storing results of the configuration module execution, you will only get back two fields - changed and failed. You will not be able to see what was executed that you can see with the ios_config module.
Lab Setup#
The lab setup for this is pretty simple. I have added a Cisco IOS L2 switch image to the previous lab that I had in the previous post. This is really just for a device to connect to.
I am configuring a port channel, only because that is something that I had lined up quick in the test, no other particular reason.
The Jinja2 template file that I am calling in this execution is the following:
Here is the playbook run with the CLI module:
---
# yamllint disable rule:truthy
# yamllint disable rule:line-length
- name: Switch config
connection: network_cli
hosts: switches
gather_facts: no
become: yes
become_method: enable
tags: ['switches']
tasks:
- name: CLI >> Configure Port channel
cli_config:
config: "{{ lookup('template', 'port_channel.j2') }}"
register: cli_output
- name: DEBUG
debug:
msg: "{{ item }}"
with_items:
- "{{ cli_output }}"
Output from this is:
Moving to virtually the same playbook here:
---
# yamllint disable rule:truthy
# yamllint disable rule:line-length
- name: Switch config
connection: network_cli
hosts: switches
gather_facts: no
become: yes
become_method: enable
tags: ['switches']
tasks:
- name: IOS >> Configure port channel
ios_config:
src: port_channel.j2
register: ios_output
- name: DEBUG
debug:
msg: "{{ item }}"
with_items:
- "{{ ios_output }}"
The resulting output also includes banners, commands, and updates.
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