Python Ansible Runner

Using Runner as a Python Module Interface to Ansible. Ansible Runner is intended to provide a directly importable and usable API for interfacing with Ansible itself and exposes a few helper interfaces. The modules center around the Runner object. The helper methods will either return an instance of this object which provides an interface to. Ansible Runner¶ Ansible Runner is a tool and python library that helps when interfacing with Ansible directly or as part of another system whether that be through a container image interface, as a standalone tool, or as a Python module that can be imported. The goal is to provide a stable and consistent interface abstraction to Ansible. Apr 06, 2015 # Get pip sudo apt-get install -y python-pip # Get virtualenv and create one sudo pip install virtualenv cd /path/to/runner/script virtualenv./.env source./env/bin/activate # Install Ansible into the virtualenv pip install ansible. Then, with the environment active, we call upon Ansible from our Python scripts.

# Get pip sudo apt-get install -y python-pip # Get virtualenv and create one sudo pip install virtualenv cd /path/to/runner/script virtualenv./.env source./env/bin/activate # Install Ansible into the virtualenv pip install ansible. Then, with the environment active, we call upon Ansible from our Python scripts. Ansible is written in its own API so you have a considerable amount of power across the board. This chapter discusses the Python API. The Python API is very powerful, and is how the ansible CLI and ansible-playbook are implemented. In version 2.0 the core ansible got rewritten and the API was mostly rewritten.

Ansible Runner is intended to provide a directly importable and usable API for interfacing with Ansible itself and exposes a few helper interfaces.

The modules center around the Runner object. The helper methods will either return an instance of this object which provides aninterface to the results of executing the Ansible command or a tuple the actual output and error response based on the interface.

Ansible Runner itself is a wrapper around Ansible execution and so adds plugins and interfaces to the system in order to gather extra information andprocess/store it for use later.

Helper Interfaces¶

The helper interfaces provides a quick way of supplying the recommended inputs in order to launch a Runner process. These interfaces also allow overriding and providing inputs beyond the scope of what the standalone or container interfacessupport. You can see a full list of the inputs in the linked module documentation.

run() helper function¶

Python ansible runners

ansible_runner.interface.run()

When called, this function will take the inputs (either provided as direct inputs to the function or from the Runner Input Directory Hierarchy), and execute Ansible. It will run in theforeground and return the Runner object when finished.

run_async() helper function¶

ansible_runner.interface.run_async()

Takes the same arguments as ansible_runner.interface.run() but will launch Ansible asynchronously and return a tuple containingthe thread object and a Runner object. The Runner object can be inspected during execution.

run_command() helper function¶

ansible_runner.interface.run_command()

When called, this function will take the inputs (either provided as direct inputs to the function or from the Runner Input Directory Hierarchy), and execute the command passed eitherlocally or within an container based on the parameters passed. It will run in the foreground and return a tuple of output and error response when finished. While runningthe within container image command the current local working diretory will be volume mounted within the container, in addition to this for any of ansible command lineutilities the inventory, vault-password-file, private-key file path will be volume mounted if provided in the cmdline_args parameters.

run_command_async() helper function¶

ansible_runner.interface.run_command_async()

Takes the same arguments as ansible_runner.interface.run_command() but will launch asynchronously and return a tuple containingthe thread object and a Runner object. The Runner object can be inspected during execution.

get_plugin_docs() helper function¶

ansible_runner.interface.get_plugin_docs()

When called, this function will take the inputs, and execute the ansible-doc command to return the either the plugin-docs or playbook snippet for the passedlist of plugin names. The plugin docs can be fetched either from locally installed plugins or from within an container image based on the parameters passed.It will run in the foreground and return a tuple of output and error response when finished. While running the command within the container the current localworking diretory will be volume mounted within the container.

get_plugin_docs_async() helper function¶

ansible_runner.interface.get_plugin_docs_async()

Takes the same arguments as ansible_runner.interface.get_plugin_docs_async() but will launch asynchronously and return a tuple containingthe thread object and a Runner object. The Runner object can be inspected during execution.

get_plugin_list() helper function¶

ansible_runner.interface.get_plugin_list()

When called, this function will take the inputs, and execute the ansible-doc command to return the list of installed plugins. The installed plugin can be fetchedeither from local environment or from within an container image based on the parameters passed. It will run in the foreground and return a tuple of output and errorresponse when finished. While running the command within the container the current local working diretory will be volume mounted within the container.

get_inventory() helper function¶

ansible_runner.interface.get_inventory()

When called, this function will take the inputs, and execute the ansible-inventory command to return the inventory releated information based on the action.If action is list it will return all the applicable configuration options for ansible, for host action it will return informationof a single host andf for graph action it will return the inventory. The exectuin will be in the foreground and return a tuple of output and errorresponse when finished. While running the command within the container the current local working diretory will be volume mounted within the container.

get_ansible_config() helper function¶

ansible_runner.interface.get_ansible_config()

When called, this function will take the inputs, and execute the ansible-config command to return the Ansible configuration releated information based on the action.If action is list it will return all the hosts related information including the host and group variables, for dump action it will return the enitre active configurationand it can be customized to return only the changed configuration value by settingg the only_changed boolean parameter to True. For view action it will return theview of the active configuration file. The exectuin will be in the foreground and return a tuple of output and error response when finished.While running the command within the container the current local working diretory will be volume mounted within the container.

The Runner object¶

The Runner object is returned as part of the execution of Ansible itself. Since it wraps both execution and outputit has some helper methods for inspecting the results. Other than the methods and indirect properties, the instance of the object itself contains two directproperties:

  • rc will represent the actual return code of the Ansible process
  • status will represent the state and can be one of:
    • unstarted: This is a very brief state where the Runner task has been created but hasn’t actually started yet.
    • successful: The ansible process finished successfully.
    • failed: The ansible process failed.

Runner.stdout

The Runner object contains a property ansible_runner.runner.Runner.stdout which will return an open filehandle containing the stdout of the Ansible process.

Runner.stderr

When the runner_mode is set to subprocess the Runner object uses a property ansible_runner.runner.Runner.stderr whichwill return an open file handle containing the stderr of the Ansible process.

Runner.events

ansible_runner.runner.Runner.events is a generator that will return the Playbook and Host Events as Python dict objects.

Runner.stats

ansible_runner.runner.Runner.stats is a property that will return the final playbookstats event from Ansible in the form of a Python dict

Runner.host_events

ansible_runner.runner.Runner.host_events() is a method that, given a hostname, will return a list of only Ansible event data executed on that Host.

Ansible

Runner.get_fact_cache

ansible_runner.runner.Runner.get_fact_cache() is a method that, given a hostname, will return a dictionary containing the Facts stored for that host during execution.

Runner.event_handler

A function passed to __init__ of Runner, this is invoked every time an Ansible event is received. You can use this toinspect/process/handle events as they come out of Ansible. This function should return True to keep the event, otherwise it will be discarded.

Runner.cancel_callback

A function passed to __init__ of Runner, and to the ansible_runner.interface.run() interface functions.This function will be called for every iteration of the ansible_runner.interface.run() event loop and should return Trueto inform Runner cancel and shutdown the Ansible process or False to allow it to continue.

Runner.finished_callback

A function passed to __init__ of Runner, and to the ansible_runner.interface.run() interface functions.This function will be called immediately before the Runner event loop finishes once Ansible has been shut down.

Python Ansible Runner Download

Runner.status_handler

A function passed to __init__ of Runner and to the ansible_runner.interface.run() interface functions.This function will be called any time the status changes, expected values are:

  • starting: Preparing to start but hasn’t started running yet
  • running: The Ansible task is running
  • canceled: The task was manually canceled either via callback or the cli
  • timeout: The timeout configured in Runner Settings was reached (see env/settings - Settings for Runner itself)
  • failed: The Ansible process failed

Usage examples¶

Providing custom behavior and inputs¶

TODO

Ansible Runner Example

The helper methods are just one possible entrypoint, extending the classes used by these helper methods can allow a lot more custom behavior and functionality.

Show:

Ansible Runner Python Example

Runner

Python Ansible Runner Download

  • How RunnerConfig is used and how overriding the methods and behavior can work
  • Show how custom cancel and status callbacks can be supplied.