bigip_ucs_fetch – Fetches a UCS file from remote nodes

New in version 1.0.0.

Synopsis

• This module is used for fetching UCS files from remote machines and storing them locally in a file tree, organized by hostname. Note that this module is written to transfer UCS files that might not be present, so a missing remote UCS won’t be an error unless fail_on_missing is set to ‘yes’.

Parameters

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Configuration	Comments
attributes string added in 2.3			The attributes the resulting filesystem object should have. To get supported flags look at the man page for chattr on the target system. This string should contain the attributes in the same order as the one displayed by lsattr. The = operator is assumed as default, otherwise + or - operators need to be included in the string. aliases: attr
backup boolean	Choices: no ← yes		Create a backup file including the timestamp information so you can get the original file back if you somehow clobbered it incorrectly.
create_on_missing boolean	Choices: no yes ←		Creates the UCS based on the value of src if the file does not already exist on the remote system.
dest path			A directory into which the UCS file is saved. This option is mandatory when only_create_file is set to false.
encryption_password string			Password used to encrypt the UCS file, if desired.
fail_on_missing boolean	Choices: no ← yes		Make the module fail if the UCS file on the remote system is missing.
force boolean	Choices: no yes ←		If false, the file will only be transferred if the destination does not exist.
group string			Name of the group that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown. When left unspecified, it uses the current group of the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership.
mode raw			The permissions the resulting filesystem object should have. For those used to /usr/bin/chmod remember that modes are actually octal numbers. You must give Ansible enough information to parse them correctly. For consistent results, quote octal numbers (for example, V('644') or V('1777')) so Ansible receives a string and can do its own conversion from string into number. Adding a leading zero (for example, V(0755)) works sometimes, but can fail in loops and some other circumstances. Giving Ansible a number without following either of these rules will end up with a decimal number which will have unexpected results. As of Ansible 1.8, the mode may be specified as a symbolic mode (for example, V(u+rwx) or V(u=rw,g=r,o=r)). If O(mode) is not specified and the destination filesystem object does not exist, the default umask on the system will be used when setting the mode for the newly created filesystem object. If O(mode) is not specified and the destination filesystem object does exist, the mode of the existing filesystem object will be used. Specifying O(mode) is the best way to ensure filesystem objects are created with the correct permissions. See CVE-2020-1736 for further details.
only_create_file boolean added in 1.12.0	Choices: no ← yes		If true, the file is created on the device and not downloaded. If the UCS archive exists on the device, no change is made and the file is not downloaded. To recreate UCS files left on the device, remove them with the bigip_ucs module before running this module with only_create_file set to true. Parameter is mutually exclusive with task_id.
owner string			Name of the user that should own the filesystem object, as would be fed to chown. When left unspecified, it uses the current user unless you are root, in which case it can preserve the previous ownership. Specifying a numeric username will be assumed to be a user ID and not a username. Avoid numeric usernames to avoid this confusion.
selevel string			The level part of the SELinux filesystem object context. This is the MLS/MCS attribute, sometimes known as the range. When set to V(_default), it will use the level portion of the policy if available.
serole string			The role part of the SELinux filesystem object context. When set to V(_default), it will use the role portion of the policy if available.
setype string			The type part of the SELinux filesystem object context. When set to V(_default), it will use the type portion of the policy if available.
seuser string			The user part of the SELinux filesystem object context. By default it uses the V(system) policy, where applicable. When set to V(_default), it will use the user portion of the policy if available.
src string			The name of the UCS file to create on the remote server for downloading. If not given the name will be randomly generated when creating UCS file on the device. The parameter is required when task_id is defined otherwise file download will fail. The file is retrieved or created in the /var/local/ucs/ directory. This option is mandatory when only_create_file is set to true.
task_id string			The ID of the async task as returned by the system in a previous module run. Used to query the status of the task on the device, useful with longer running operations that require restarting services. Parameter is mutually exclusive with only_create_file.
timeout integer	Default: 150		Parameter used when creating a new UCS file on the device. The number of seconds to wait for the API async interface to complete its task. The accepted value range is between 150 and 1800 seconds.
unsafe_writes boolean added in 2.2	Choices: no ← yes		Influence when to use atomic operation to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem object. By default this module uses atomic operations to prevent data corruption or inconsistent reads from the target filesystem objects, but sometimes systems are configured or just broken in ways that prevent this. One example is docker mounted filesystem objects, which cannot be updated atomically from inside the container and can only be written in an unsafe manner. This option allows Ansible to fall back to unsafe methods of updating filesystem objects when atomic operations fail (however, it doesn't force Ansible to perform unsafe writes). IMPORTANT! Unsafe writes are subject to race conditions and can lead to data corruption.

Notes

Note

• BIG-IP provides no way to get a checksum of the UCS files on the system via any interface except, perhaps, logging in directly to the box (which would not support appliance mode). Therefore, the best this module can do is check for the existence of the file on disk; no check-summing.
• If you are using this module with either Ansible Tower or Ansible AWX, you should be aware of how these Ansible products execute jobs in restricted environments. More information can be found here https://clouddocs.f5.com/products/orchestration/ansible/devel/usage/module-usage-with-tower.html
• Some longer running tasks might cause the REST interface on BIG-IP to time out, to avoid this adjust the timers as per this KB article https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K94602685

Examples

- name: Create a new UCS
  bigip_ucs_fetch:
    dest: /tmp/cs_backup.ucs
  register: task

- name: Check for task completion and download created UCS
  bigip_ucs_fetch:
    dest: /tmp/cs_backup.ucs
    src: "{{ task.src }}"
    task_id: "{{ task.task_id }}"
    timeout: 300

- name: Download an existing UCS
  bigip_ucs_fetch:
    src: cs_backup.ucs
    dest: /tmp/cs_backup.ucs

- name: Only create new UCS, no download
  bigip_ucs_fetch:
    src: cs_backup.ucs
    only_create_file: true

- name: Recreate UCS file left on device - remove file first
  bigip_ucs:
    ucs: cs_backup.ucs
    state: absent

- name: Recreate UCS file left on device - create new file
  bigip_ucs_fetch:
    src: cs_backup.ucs
    only_create_file: true

Return Values

The following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Returned	Description
backup_file string	changed and if backup=yes	Name of backup file created. Sample: /path/to/file.txt.2015-02-12@22:09~
checksum string	success or changed	The SHA1 checksum of the downloaded file. Sample: 7b46bbe4f8ebfee64761b5313855618f64c64109
dest string	success	Location on the ansible host to which the UCS was saved. Sample: /path/to/file.txt
gid integer	success	Group ID of the UCS file, after execution. Sample: 100
group string	success	Group of the UCS file, after execution. Sample: httpd
md5sum string	changed or success	The MD5 checksum of the downloaded file. Sample: 96cacab4c259c4598727d7cf2ceb3b45
message dictionary	changed	Informative message of the task status. Sample: Import success
mode string	success	Permissions of the target UCS, after execution. Sample: 420
owner string	success	Owner of the UCS file, after execution. Sample: httpd
size integer	success	Size of the target UCS, after execution. Sample: 1220
src string	changed	Name of the UCS file on the remote BIG-IP to download. If not specified, then the filename is randomly generated. Sample: cs_backup.ucs
task_id dictionary	changed	The task ID returned by the system. Sample: hash/dictionary of values
uid integer	success	Owner ID of the UCS file, after execution. Sample: 100

Status

Authors

• Wojciech Wypior (@wojtek0806)