Install IIS sub_features via win_feature module (but not ALL sub features)

[jiri....@apollogames.com]

Hello,

I have question if there is possibility via Ansible to install only particular IIS Web Server sub feature - not ALL sub features like now with property setup "include_sub_features: yes". (I'm using Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter)

For example I want in "Common HTTP Features" of Web Server only install Default Document and Directory Browsing. NOT HTTP Error, Static Content etc.
I want use native Ansible command, for sure there is way to execute power shell script if Ansible don't provide any API for this.

Thank you for reply

[Trond Hindenes]

Absolutely. WIndows Features are a bit weird in that some have "subfeatures" and some don't. Web-Server is an example of a windows feature with tons of subfeatures, so when you ask to install that feature, Microsoft decides the "typical" subfeatures that get included. You can verify this by using the GUI wizard. So, in order to install only the features you want, you need to figure out exactly what they are, and just install those. 

The easiest way of doing that is probably to do a GUI-based install to make sure everything is exactly as you want, and then "record" the installed features by using PowerShell:

Get-WindowsFeature|where {$_.Installed -eq $true} | where {$_.SubFeatures.count -eq 0} | select -expand name

That gives you the name of the enabled features on your box which don't have subfeatures (e.g. the "leaf" features).

Say that this list gave you 5 features, you can easily use them with win_features as such:

- name: Install IIS

  hosts: all

  gather_facts: false

  tasks:

    - name: Install IIS

      win_feature:

        name: "feature1,feature2,feature3"

        state: present

        restart: no

        include_sub_features: no

        include_management_tools: yes

This will give you 100% control of exactly what gets installed. This is the recommended way to use win_features (instead of with_items) as all required features will be installed in one go, which is significantly faster.