Command not working on remote host through shell module or playbook

[DHAVAL JAISWAL]

Ansible version: ansible 1.9.2

I am unable to execute following command from shell module neither through playbook. It could be any command at the run time. While reading found $,% need the escape string. Tried but not working. Is there any way/module through which i can run any command on the remote host and no need to explicitly define any escape string.


netstat -tanpu | awk '{{print $5}}' | sort -n | uniq -cd | sort -n | awk '$1 > 3{{printf ("%5s\t%s\n", $1, $2)}}'

With shell module:

/usr/bin/ansible remote_host -m shell -a 'netstat -tanpu | awk '{{print $5}}' | sort -n | uniq -cd | sort -n | awk '$1 > 3{{printf ("%5s\t%s\n", $1, $2)}}''
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `('


With playbook.

- hosts: "{{ip}}"
  gather_facts: no
  remote_user: remote
  connection: local

  tasks:
   - name: Running command
     shell: netstat -tanpu | awk '{{print $5}}' | sort -n | uniq -cd | sort -n | awk '$1 > 3{{printf ("%5s\t%s\n", $1, $2)}}'

fatal: [192.168.4.7] => Failed to template netstat -tanpu | awk '{{print $5}}' | sort -n | uniq -cd | sort -n | awk '$1 > 3{{printf ("%5s\t%s\n", $1, $2)}}': template error while templating string: unexpected char u'$' at 30

[Kai Stian Olstad]

Ansible thinks {{ }} is a template, you need to just use { }, so this
should work:

- name: Running command
shell: netstat -tanpu | awk '{print $5}' | sort -n | uniq -cd | sort
-n | awk '$1 > 3{printf ("%5s\t%s\n",$1, $2)}'

--
Kai Stian Olstad

[bablu]

That's working.

But I guess here i have to hard code the command. Is there any way where i can pass any command at the run time to execute on the remote host.

I saw the raw module and below are the behavior i got.

working:

/usr/bin/ansible test -m raw -a netstat -tanpu | /bin/awk '{print $5}' | sort -n | uniq -cd | sort -n | awk '$1 > 3{printf ("%5s\t%s\n", $1, $2)}'

Not working

/usr/bin/ansible test -m raw -a netstat -an | grep :8080

[bablu]

  Can some one help here.

[Kai Stian Olstad]

On 22. sep. 2016 16:47, bablu wrote:
> Can some one help here.

You have multiple challenges to overcome, so what you are trying to
achieve is going to be rather difficult.

> On Wednesday, September 21, 2016 at 10:14:16 PM UTC+5:30, bablu wrote:
>>
>>
>> That's working.
>>
>> But I guess here i have to hard code the command. Is there any way where i
>> can pass any command at the run time to execute on the remote host.
>>
>> I saw the raw module and below are the behavior i got.
>>
>> working:
>>
>> /usr/bin/ansible test -m raw -a netstat -tanpu | /bin/awk '{print $5}' |
>> sort -n | uniq -cd | sort -n | awk '$1 > 3{printf ("%5s\t%s\n", $1, $2)}'

This is not working as you expect. Since you are not quoting the -a.
It's actually running

/usr/bin/ansible test -m raw -a netstat -tanpu

Only "netstat" is running on the host test. -t is a valid option to
ansible, and it is saving the result in directory anpu. If you check
your directory where you run ansible from you will see this directory.

The rest of the command

| /bin/awk '{print $5}' | sort -n | uniq -cd | sort -n | awk '$1 >
3{printf ("%5s\t%s\n", $1, $2)}'

is running on the control machine and not the remote host.

>> Not working
>>
>> /usr/bin/ansible test -m raw -a netstat -an | grep :8080

This is not working since you don't have quotes, ansible doesn't support
using -a twice.


I short, because of your shell expansion and Ansible expansion, this is
not trivial to get right. You will need to use alternating single and
double quotes and escaping things to prevent expansions.

You might wont to look at ansible-console, then you don't have to think
about shell expansion.
Or explain why you need to do this, maybe someone here can show a better
way to solve you need.

--
Kai Stian Olstad