Introduction
Welcome to the Ansible Fetch Module Lab! In this lab, you will dive into the usage of the Ansible Fetch module. The Fetch module allows you to retrieve files from remote machines and copy them to the control machine where Ansible is being executed. This is useful when you need to collect specific files or artifacts from your managed hosts.
Let's get started!
Fetching a Single File
In this step, you will learn how to use the Ansible Fetch module to retrieve a single file from a remote machine. This will help you understand the basic usage and syntax of the module.
First, complete /home/labex/project/fetching_a_single_file.yml
file.
Open it in a text editor and add the following content to the playbook file:
- name: Fetch Module Lab
hosts: localhost
gather_facts: false
tasks:
- name: Fetch a single file
fetch:
src: /home/labex/example/example_1.txt
dest: /home/labex/project/example_1.txt
flat: true
-
fetch
: This is the Ansible module used to fetch files from remote hosts. -
src
: This specifies the path of the file on the remote host that needs to be fetched. In this example, it's/home/labex/example/example_1.txt
. -
dest
: This specifies the destination path where the fetched file should be stored on the local host. In this example, it's/home/labex/project/example_1.txt
. -
flat
: This parameter controls the behavior of the destination path. When set totrue
, it ensures that the fetched file is placed in the destination directory without creating any subdirectories. This is useful when fetching a single file and wanting to keep the directory structure simple.
The fetch
module in Ansible is used to fetch files from remote hosts to the local host. In this configuration, it's used to fetch a file named "example_1.txt" from the remote host's /home/labex/example/
directory and store it as "example_1.txt" in the local host's /home/labex/project/
directory. The flat: true
parameter ensures that the fetched file is placed directly in the destination directory without any subdirectories.
Then, run the playbook with the following command:
ansible-playbook fetching_a_single_file.yml
Example output:
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that
the implicit localhost does not match 'all'
PLAY [Fetch Module Lab] **************************************************
TASK [Fetch a single file] *****************************************************
changed: [localhost]
PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
localhost : ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
Finally, verify that the example_1.txt
file has been fetched locally from the remote host.
ll /home/labex/project/example_1.txt
Example output:
-rw-rw-r-- 1 labex labex 23 Mar 14 10:45 /home/labex/project/example_1.txt
Fetching Multiple Files
In this step, you will enhance your understanding of the Fetch module by fetching multiple files from a remote machine. This will allow you to collect multiple files in a single task.
First, complete /home/labex/project/fetching_multiple_files.yml
file.
Open it in a text editor and add the following content to the playbook file:
- name: Fetch Module Lab
hosts: localhost
gather_facts: false
tasks:
- name: Fetch multiple files
loop:
- example_2.txt
- example_3.txt
fetch:
src: "/home/labex/example/{{ item }}"
dest: "/home/labex/project/{{ item }}"
flat: true
-
loop
: This keyword is used to iterate over a list of items. -
fetch
: This is the Ansible module used to fetch files from remote hosts. -
src
: This specifies the source path of the file to be fetched. The{{ item }}
placeholder is replaced with each item from the loop, resulting in fetchingexample_2.txt
andexample_3.txt
from the/home/labex/example/
directory. -
dest
: This specifies the destination path where the fetched files should be stored. Again, the{{ item }}
placeholder is used to ensure that each file is placed in the corresponding directory within/home/labex/project/
. -
flat
: This parameter controls the behavior of the destination path. When set totrue
, it ensures that the fetched file is placed in the destination directory without creating any subdirectories. This is useful when fetching a single file and wanting to keep the directory structure simple.
In this configuration, it's used to fetch multiple files (example_2.txt
and example_3.txt
) from the /home/labex/example/
directory on the local host and store them in the corresponding directories within /home/labex/project/
. The loop
construct allows iterating over a list of items and performing the fetch operation for each item in the list.
Then, run the playbook with the following command:
ansible-playbook fetching_multiple_files.yml
Example output:
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that
the implicit localhost does not match 'all'
PLAY [Fetch Module Lab] **************************************************
TASK [Fetch multiple files] ****************************************************
changed: [localhost] => (item=example_2.txt)
changed: [localhost] => (item=example_3.txt)
PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
localhost : ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
Finally, verify that example_2.txt
and example_3.txt
have been fetched locally from the remote host.
ll /home/labex/project/ | grep example
Example output:
-rw-rw-r-- 1 labex labex 23 Mar 14 10:45 example_1.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 labex labex 23 Mar 14 11:00 example_2.txt
-rw-rw-r-- 1 labex labex 23 Mar 14 11:00 example_3.txt
Using Variables in Fetch Module
In this step, you will explore a more advanced usage of the Ansible Fetch module by incorporating variables. You will fetch files based on dynamic values defined in your playbook.
First, complete /home/labex/project/using_variablesin_fetch_modules.yml
file.
Open it in a text editor and add the following content to the playbook file:
- name: Fetch Module Lab
hosts: localhost
gather_facts: false
vars:
file_path: "/home/labex/example/example_4.txt"
dest_path: "/home/labex/project/example_4.txt"
tasks:
- name: Fetch files using variables
fetch:
src: "{{ file_path }}"
dest: "{{ dest_path }}"
flat: true
-
vars
: This section allows defining variables to be used within the playbook. -
fetch
: This is the Ansible module used to fetch files from remote hosts. -
src
: This specifies the source path of the file to be fetched. It uses thefile_path
variable to dynamically provide the source file path. -
dest
: This specifies the destination path where the fetched file should be stored. It uses thedest_path
variable to dynamically provide the destination file path. -
flat
: This parameter controls the behavior of the destination path. When set totrue
, it ensures that the fetched file is placed in the destination directory without creating any subdirectories. This is useful when fetching a single file and wanting to keep the directory structure simple.
In this configuration, it's used to fetch a file from the source file path (file_path
variable) on the remote host and store it in the destination file path (dest_path
variable) on the local Ansible control node. The use of variables allows for dynamic specification of file paths, providing flexibility and reusability in the playbook.
Then, run the playbook with the following command:
ansible-playbook using_variablesin_fetch_modules.yml
Example output:
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that
the implicit localhost does not match 'all'
PLAY [Fetch Module Lab] **************************************************
TASK [Fetch files using variables] *********************************************
changed: [localhost]
PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
localhost : ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
Next, verify that the example_4.txt
file has been fetched locally from the remote host.
ll /home/labex/project/example_4.txt
Example output:
-rw-rw-r-- 1 labex labex 23 Mar 14 11:16 /home/labex/project/example_4.txt
Finally, try specifying file_path
and dest_path
with the -e
option:
ansible-playbook using_variablesin_fetch_modules.yml -e file_path="/tmp/example_5.txt" -e dest_path="/tmp/target/example_5.txt"
Example output:
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that
the implicit localhost does not match 'all'
PLAY [Fetch Module Lab] **************************************************
TASK [Fetch files using variables] *********************************************
changed: [localhost]
PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
localhost : ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
Verify that the example_5.txt
file has been fetched locally from the remote host.
ll /tmp/target/example_5.txt
Example output:
-rw-rw-r-- 1 labex labex 23 Mar 14 11:24 /tmp/target/example_5.txt
Summary
Congratulations on completing the Ansible Fetch Module Lab! In this lab, you learned how to use the Ansible Fetch module to retrieve files from remote machines and copy them to the control machine. Starting with fetching a single file, you progressed to fetching multiple files and incorporating variables for dynamic file retrieval.
By completing this lab, you have gained valuable experience in leveraging the Fetch module to collect specific files or artifacts from your managed hosts. Keep exploring Ansible and its modules to further enhance your automation capabilities.
Happy automating!
🚀 Practice Now: Ansible Fetch Module
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