Writing a string to file using Ad-Hoc Commands in Ansible

Question

I'm a beginner with Ansible and trying to write a string to a file with an Ad-Hoc command I'm trying to play around with the replace module. The file I'm trying to write to is /etc/motd/.

ansible replace --sudo /etc/motd "This server is managed by Ansible"

Any help would be appreciated thanks!

Answer 1

Have a look at the lineinfile module usage and a general syntax for Ad hoc commands.

What you are looking for is:

ansible target_node -b -m lineinfile -a 'dest=/etc/motd line="This server is managed by Ansible"'

in extended form:

ansible target_node --become --module-name=lineinfile --args='dest=/etc/motd line="This server is managed by Ansible"'

Explanation:

• target_node is the hostname or group name as defined in the Ansible inventory file

• --become (-b) instructs Ansible to use sudo

• -module-name (-m) specifies the module to run (lineinfile here)

• --args (-a) passes arguments to the module (these change depending on a module)

  • dest points to the destination file
  • line instructs Ansible to ensure a particular line is in the file

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If you would like to replace the whole contents of the /etc/motd you should use copy module.

ansible target_node -b -m copy -a 'dest=/etc/motd content="This server is managed by Ansible"'

Notice one of the arguments is changed accordingly.