NXOS Platform Options¶
Cisco NXOS supports multiple connections. This page offers details on how each connection works in Ansible and how to use it.
Topics
Connections Available¶
CLI |
NX-API |
|
|---|---|---|
Protocol |
SSH |
HTTP(S) |
Credentials |
uses SSH keys / SSH-agent if present accepts |
uses HTTPS certificates if present |
Indirect Access |
via a bastion (jump host) |
via a web proxy |
Connection Settings |
|
OR
|
Enable Mode |
supported: use |
not supported by NX-API |
Returned Data Format |
|
|
For legacy playbooks, NXOS still supports ansible_connection: local. We recommend modernizing to use ansible_connection: network_cli or ansible_connection: httpapi as soon as possible.
Using CLI in Ansible¶
Example CLI group_vars/nxos.yml¶
ansible_connection: network_cli
ansible_network_os: nxos
ansible_user: myuser
ansible_password: !vault...
ansible_become: yes
ansible_become_method: enable
ansible_become_password: !vault...
ansible_ssh_common_args: '-o ProxyCommand="ssh -W %h:%p -q bastion01"'
If you are using SSH keys (including an ssh-agent) you can remove the
ansible_passwordconfiguration.If you are accessing your host directly (not through a bastion/jump host) you can remove the
ansible_ssh_common_argsconfiguration.If you are accessing your host through a bastion/jump host, you cannot include your SSH password in the
ProxyCommanddirective. To prevent secrets from leaking out (for example inpsoutput), SSH does not support providing passwords via environment variables.
Example CLI Task¶
- name: Backup current switch config (nxos)
nxos_config:
backup: yes
register: backup_nxos_location
when: ansible_network_os == 'nxos'
Using NX-API in Ansible¶
Enabling NX-API¶
Before you can use NX-API to connect to a switch, you must enable NX-API. To enable NX-API on a new switch via Ansible, use the nxos_nxapi module via the CLI connection. Set up group_vars/nxos.yml just like in the CLI example above, then run a playbook task like this:
- name: Enable NX-API
nxos_nxapi:
enable_http: yes
enable_https: yes
when: ansible_network_os == 'nxos'
To find out more about the options for enabling HTTP/HTTPS and local http see the nxos_nxapi module documentation.
Once NX-API is enabled, change your group_vars/nxos.yml to use the NX-API connection.
Example NX-API group_vars/nxos.yml¶
ansible_connection: httpapi
ansible_network_os: nxos
ansible_user: myuser
ansible_password: !vault...
proxy_env:
http_proxy: http://proxy.example.com:8080
If you are accessing your host directly (not through a web proxy) you can remove the
proxy_envconfiguration.If you are accessing your host through a web proxy using
https, changehttp_proxytohttps_proxy.
Example NX-API Task¶
- name: Backup current switch config (nxos)
nxos_config:
backup: yes
register: backup_nxos_location
environment: "{{ proxy_env }}"
when: ansible_network_os == 'nxos'
In this example the proxy_env variable defined in group_vars gets passed to the environment option of the module used in the task.
Warning
Never store passwords in plain text. We recommend using SSH keys to authenticate SSH connections. Ansible supports ssh-agent to manage your SSH keys. If you must use passwords to authenticate SSH connections, we recommend encrypting them with Ansible Vault.
Cisco Nexus Platform Support Matrix¶
The following platforms and software versions have been certified by Cisco to work with this version of Ansible.
Supported Platforms |
Minimum NX-OS Version |
|---|---|
Cisco Nexus N3k |
7.0(3)I2(5) and later |
Cisco Nexus N9k |
7.0(3)I2(5) and later |
Cisco Nexus N5k |
7.3(0)N1(1) and later |
Cisco Nexus N6k |
7.3(0)N1(1) and later |
Cisco Nexus N7k |
7.3(0)D1(1) and later |
Platform |
Description |
|---|---|
N3k |
Support includes N30xx, N31xx and N35xx models |
N5k |
Support includes all N5xxx models |
N6k |
Support includes all N6xxx models |
N7k |
Support includes all N7xxx models |
N9k |
Support includes all N9xxx models |