Assigning IP Addresses to Devices from NetBox with Ansible

---
- name: Set IOS IP address
  hosts: device_types_vios
  connection: network_cli
  become: true

  vars:
    ansible_user: cisco
    ansible_password: cisco
    ansible_become: yes
    ansible_become_password: admin
    ansible_network_os: cisco.ios.ios
    target_interface: GigabitEthernet0/0

  tasks:
    - name: Configure Enable Port
      cisco.ios.ios_interfaces:
        config:
          - name: "{{ target_interface }}"
            enabled: true
      loop: "{{ interfaces }}"
      when: item.name == target_interface

    - name: Configure IP address
      cisco.ios.ios_l3_interfaces:
        config:
          - name: "{{ target_interface }}"
            ipv4:
              - address: "{{ item.ip_addresses[0].address }}"
      loop: "{{ interfaces }}"
      when: item.name == target_interface

Now we execute the playbook:

(.venv) jvillarreal@dev-box:~/ansible/ip-blog$ ansible-playbook 02_cisco--ios.yml 

PLAY [Set IOS IP address] ************************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] ***************************************************************************************************************
ok: [IP Blog vIOS]

TASK [Configure Enable Port] *********************************************************************************************************
changed: [IP Blog vIOS] => {{ Truncated Output }}

TASK [Configure IP address] **********************************************************************************************************
changed: [IP Blog vIOS] => {{ Truncated Output }}

PLAY RECAP ***************************************************************************************************************************
IP Blog vIOS : ok=3 changed=2 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0

(.venv) jvillarreal@dev-box:~/ansible/ip-blog$

---
- name: Set vEOS IP address
  hosts: device_types_veos
  connection: network_cli
  become: true
  
  vars:
    ansible_user: admin
    ansible_password: admin
    ansible_become: yes
    ansible_become_password: admin
    ansible_network_os: arista.eos.eos
    target_interface: Ethernet1

  tasks:
    - name: Configure Layer3 Mode and Enable Port
      arista.eos.eos_interfaces:
        config:
          - name: "{{ target_interface }}"
            mode: layer3
            enabled: true
      loop: "{{ interfaces }}"
      when: item.name == target_interface

    - name: Configure IP address
      arista.eos.eos_l3_interfaces:
        config:
          - name: "{{ target_interface }}"
            ipv4:
              - address: "{{ item.ip_addresses[0].address }}"
      loop: "{{ interfaces }}"
      when: item.name == target_interface

Running the playbook:

(.venv) jvillarreal@dev-box:~/ansible/ip-blog$ ansible-playbook 03_arista--veos.yml

PLAY [Set vEOS IP address] ***********************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] ***************************************************************************************************************
ok: [IP Blog vEOS]

TASK [Configure Layer3 Mode and Enable Port] *****************************************************************************************
changed: [IP Blog vEOS] => {{ Truncated Output }}

TASK [Configure IP address] **********************************************************************************************************
changed: [IP Blog vEOS] => {{ Truncated Output }}

PLAY RECAP ***************************************************************************************************************************
IP Blog vEOS : ok=3 changed=2 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0

(.venv) jvillarreal@dev-box:~/ansible/ip-blog$

---
- name: Set vVyOS IP address
  hosts: device_types_vvyos
  connection: network_cli
  become: true

  vars:
    ansible_user: vyos
    ansible_password: vyos
    ansible_become: yes
    ansible_become_password: vyos
    ansible_network_os: vyos.vyos.vyos
    target_interface: eth0

  tasks:
    - name: Configure Enable Port
      vyos.vyos.vyos_interfaces:
        config:
          - name: "{{ target_interface }}"
            enabled: true
      loop: "{{ interfaces }}"
      when: item.name == target_interface

    - name: Configure IP address
      vyos.vyos.vyos_l3_interfaces:
        config:
          - name: "{{ target_interface }}"
            ipv4:
              - address: "{{ item.ip_addresses[0].address }}"
      loop: "{{ interfaces }}"
      when: item.name == target_interface

Running our playbook:

(.venv) jvillarreal@dev-box:~/ansible/ip-blog$ ansible-playbook 04_vyow--vvyos.yml 

PLAY [Set vVyOS IP address] **********************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] ***************************************************************************************************************
ok: [IP Blog vVyOS]

TASK [Configure Enable Port] *********************************************************************************************************
ok: [IP Blog vVyOS] => {{ Truncated Output }}

TASK [Configure IP address] **********************************************************************************************************
changed: [IP Blog vVyOS] => {{ Truncated Output }}

PLAY RECAP ***************************************************************************************************************************
IP Blog vVyOS : ok=3 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0

---
- name: Set vQFX IP address
  hosts: device_types_vqfx
  connection: ansible.netcommon.netconf
  become: true

  vars:
    ansible_user: root
    ansible_password: Juniper
    ansible_network_os: junipernetworks.junos.junos
    target_interface: xe-0/0/0

  tasks:
    - name: Configure IP address
        junipernetworks.junos.junos_l3_interfaces:
          config:
            - name: "{{ target_interface }}"
              ipv4:
                - address: "{{ item.ip_addresses[0].address }}"
        state: replaced
      loop: "{{ interfaces }}"
      when: item.name == target_interface

Next up, executing our playbook:

(.venv) jvillarreal@dev-box:~/ansible/ip-blog$ ansible-playbook 05_juniper--vqfx.yml 
[WARNING]: Invalid characters were found in group names but not replaced, use -vvvv to see details

PLAY [Set vQFX IP address] ***********************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] ***************************************************************************************************************
ok: [IP Blog vQFX]

TASK [Configure IP address] **********************************************************************************************************
changed: [IP Blog vQFX] => {{ Truncated Output }}

PLAY RECAP ***************************************************************************************************************************
IP Blog vQFX : ok=2 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0

(.venv) jvillarreal@dev-box:~/ansible/ip-blog$

And finally, checking the results:

root@vqfx-re# show interfaces xe-0/0/0 
unit 0 {
    family inet {
        address 10.10.10.5/24;
    }
}

{master:0}[edit]
root@vqfx-re#

Wrapping It Up

Once you get the hang of how Ansible works, it becomes very easy to iterate and make specific playbooks for different platforms.  The majority of the time I spent troubleshooting through this document were really based around making sure I’m issuing the right commands for the right platforms.  For example, vNX-OS is a switch and vIOS is a router.  I ended up spending a good amount of time trying to understand why the “no switchport” commands were taking on vNX-OS and not on vIOS before it dawned on me.  Oh, that’s right.  Routers don’t have a switchport command because they aren’t switches!

In summary: Know your platform!

A note about “ok” in Ansible

As you look through my output, you’re going to find “ok” counts that exceed the number of changes we’re making.  Each of the playbooks runs a “Gathering Facts” task, which contributes to one of our ok’s.  Each Ansible module requires the usage of the “name” variable as well.  Even though we aren’t making a change to the name of the interfaces, that contributes to our ok count as well.  Subsequent runs of these playbooks would result in our ok count increasing by the number of successful changes.

Ansible Modules Used:

• NetBox – https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/netbox/netbox/index.html
• Cisco NX-OS – https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/cisco/nxos/index.html
• Cisco IOS – https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/cisco/ios/index.html
• Arista EOS – https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/arista/eos/index.html
• VYoS – https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/vyos/vyos/index.html
• Juniper JUNOS – https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/junipernetworks/junos/index.html