Ubuntu – Ansible Determine Operating System

ansibleUbuntu

As part of my deploy script I wanna check which operating system I am deploying to. I used ansible localhost -m setup and as they say in the documentation this outputs a lot. Is there a way I can just access the ubuntu distro I am using? Ideally I want to find if the box is running Trusty or Precise

Best Answer

`ansible_distribution_release`

The fact is called ansible_distribution_release. If you are running Ubuntu 14.04, the fact would read "trusty".

^{_{Two other example values: ansible_distribution_release would be "xenial" for Ubuntu 16.04 and "precise" for Ubuntu 12.04.}}

`ansible_distribution_version`

You can also look at the fact ansible_distribution_version. For Ubuntu 14.04, you would see "14.04".

^{_{Two other example values: ansible_distribution_version would be "16.04" for Ubuntu 16.04 and "12.04" for Ubuntu 12.04.}}

Here is an example task that you could put into a playbook to install the build-essential package only on Ubuntu 14.04:

- name: Install build-essential for Ubuntu 14.04 only
  apt: name=build-essential state=present
  when: ansible_distribution_version == "14.04"

Related Solutions

Ansible playbook to determine OS release

You can do one at the time

---
- hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: yes
  become: false
  tasks:
  - name: Distribution
    debug: msg="{{ ansible_distribution }}"
  - name: Distribution version
    debug: msg="{{ ansible_distribution_version}}"
  - name: Distribution major version
    debug: msg="{{ ansible_distribution_major_version }}"

See the results:

PLAY [localhost] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [Distribution] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": "Ubuntu"
}

TASK [Distribution version] ************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": "18.04"
}

TASK [Distribution major version] ******************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": "18"
}

PLAY RECAP *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=4    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0

Or you can use a more advance configuration iterating facts:

- hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: yes
  become: false
  tasks:
  - name: System details
    debug: msg="{{ item }}"
    with_items: 
    - "{{ ansible_distribution }}"
    - "{{ ansible_distribution_version }}"
    - "{{ ansible_distribution_major_version }}"

And a more compact results:

PLAY [localhost] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [System details] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => (item=Ubuntu) => {
    "msg": "Ubuntu"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=18.04) => {
    "msg": "18.04"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item=18) => {
    "msg": "18"
}

PLAY RECAP *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0

In both cases is a good practices to get the info using facts instead of shell or command modules.

Best Answer

ansible_distribution_release

ansible_distribution_version

Related Solutions

Ansible playbook to determine OS release

Related Question

`ansible_distribution_release`

`ansible_distribution_version`