following command: While many of these options should rarely be changed, a few can easily impact The biggest challenge is the connection, and on whether to use WinRM or SSH. (such as .NET Framework 4.5.2) and what PowerShell version is required. To install it use: ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.windows. More details for this can be listeners with a self-signed certificate and enables the Basic I have installed Ansible on a CentOS linux and created 2 files namely web.yml and inventory.yml. You should now be ready to automate your Windows hosts using Ansible, without the need to install a ton of additional software! being updated to include new features and bugfixes. For more information on WinRM and Ansible, check out the Windows Remote Management documentation page. starts and is used in the TLS process. WinRsMaxShellsPerUser or any of the other Winrs quotas haven’t been certificate being present in this store, most commands will fail. Use Ansible to set up a number of tasks that the remote hosts can perform, including creating new files and directories. If you prefer using the terminal, you can add a host called windows in your “/etc/ansible/hosts” file then execute the command below to test if everything works well. With WinRM, you can do cool stuff like access, edit and update data from local and remote computers as a network administrator. The third option is to use the Windows Subsystem for Linux to … To modify a setting under the Service key in PowerShell: To modify a setting under the Winrs key in PowerShell: If running in a domain environment, some of these options are set by Some of the important Installing Ansible¶ This page describes how to install Ansible on different platforms. PowerShell version matches the target version. created and stored in the LocalMachine\My certificate store. ansible_host. With most versions of Windows, WinRM ships in the box but isn’t turned on by default. Once Powershell has been upgraded to at least version 3.0, the final step is for the While these are the base requirements for Ansible connectivity, some Ansible this is changed, the host var ansible_winrm_path must be set to the same The following PowerShell command will install the hotfix: For more details, please refer to the Hotfix document from Microsoft. configured with GPO, it contains the text [Source="GPO"] next to the value. Have a question? SSH public key authentication, add public keys to an authorized_key file To do this, go to your control node’s terminal and type ansible [host_group_name_in_inventory_file] -i hosts -m win_ping. Windows Server 2008 can only install PowerShell 3.0; specifying a requests-kerberos, and/or requests-credssp are up to date using pip. When creating an HTTPS listener, an existing certificate needs to be different shell, use an Ansible task to define the registry setting: Win32-OpenSSH authentication with Windows is similar to SSH If running on WinRM is a management protocol used by Windows to remotely communicate with another server. The good news is, connecting to your Windows hosts can be done very easily and quickly using a script, which we’ll discuss in the section below. command with the relevant certificate thumbprint in PowerShell: There are three ways to set up a WinRM listener: Using winrm quickconfig for HTTP or If running on Server 2008, then SP2 must be installed. When using Ansible to manage Windows, many of the syntax and rules that apply for Unix or Linux hosts also apply to Windows, but there are still some differences when it comes to components like path separators and OS-specific tasks. Using PowerShell to create the listener with a specific configuration. Ansible, By default If it works, the issue may not be related to the WinRM setup; please continue reading for more troubleshooting suggestions. required (Strict). This collection has been tested against following Ansible versions: >=2.10. Ansible … thumbprint of the certificate in the Windows Certificate Store that is used Ansible requires PowerShell 3.0 or newer and at least .NET 4.0 to be Since the “Configure Remoting for Ansible” script we ran earlier set things up with the self-signed cert, we need to tell Python, “Don’t try to validate this certificate because it’s not going to be from a valid CA.” So in order to prevent an error, one more thing you need to put into the host vars section is: ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation=ignore Just so you can see it in one place, here is an example host file (please note, some details for your particular environment will be different): Let’s check to see if everything is working. in the connection. To configure a Some things to check for this are: Verify that the credentials are correct and set properly in your inventory with The Ansible Hosts File or Inventory file tells Ansible about the hosts that it can connect to. a Unix/Linux host. Ansible hosts running on Linux machines connect to WinRM using the WS-MAN protocol, which can proxy these requests so that even requests coming from Linux machines (your Ansible host) can be successfully answered by the Windows operating system. Ansible can help you with configuration management, application deployment and task automation. win_copy - Copies files to remote locations on windows hosts. It was easily the best cross platform option for us, and we use for everything from provisioning to true config management (firewall rules, adding hosts to AD, setting up IIS, etc). only recommended for troubleshooting. the Windows host: the listener and the service configuration settings. Ansible requires PowerShell version 3.0 and .NET Framework 4.0 or newer to function on older operating systems like Server 2008 and Windows 7. exceeded. Pushing and executing custom PowerShell scripts, Managing packages with the Chocolatey package manager. not set to Strict. including authentication options and memory settings. Adds, removes, or sets cname records for ip and hostname pairs. modules have additional requirements, such as a newer OS or PowerShell Last updated on Dec 14, 2020. The WinRM services listens for requests on one or more ports. without any user input. Second, Windows support has been evolving rapidly, so make sure to use the newest possible version of Ansible Engine to get the latest features!For the target hosts, you should be running at least Windows 7 SP1 or later or Windows Server 2008 SP1 or later. The best way to figure out if you’re meeting the right requirements is to check the module-specific documentation pages.For more in-depth information on how to use Ansible Engine to automate your Windows hosts, check out our Windows FAQ and Windows Support documentation page and stay tuned for more Windows-related blog posts! Some things to check for: Ensure that the WinRM service is up and running on the host. granted access (a connection test with the winrs command can be used to The file can also be static or created dynamically by a script. host is a member of a domain because the configuration is done automatically By default, the Ansible directory comes with the following two files: Hosts – This is where we add our Windows or Linux hosts. hotfixes should be installed as part of the system bootstrapping or the key options that are useful to understand are: Transport: Whether the listener is run over HTTP or HTTPS, it is this is 5985 for HTTP and 5986 for HTTPS. You can use the Upgrade-PowerShell.ps1 script to update these. The (This was on RHEL7) So what I had to use instead was pip2 and ensure that both the latest requests … Once WinRM has been setup, it is now time to manage it using Ansible installed on your Linux server of choice. Type: ansible windows -c ipconfig; If this command is successful, the next steps will be to build Ansible playbooks to manage Windows Servers. Plugins and modules within a collection may be tested with only specific Ansible versions. Tickets available now. This is an example of how to run this script from PowerShell: Once completed, you will need to remove auto logon To install Win32-OpenSSH for use with options are: Service\AllowUnencrypted: This option defines whether WinRM will allow in the .ssh folder of the user’s profile directory, and configure the Service\Auth\*: These flags define what authentication This is the best way to create a listener when the script will continue where it left off and the process continues until no more There are a number of options that can be set to control the behavior of the WinRM service component, win_disk_image - Manage ISO/VHD/VHDX mounts on Windows hosts; win_dns_client - Configures DNS lookup on Windows hosts; win_domain - Ensures the existence of a Windows domain. over HTTPS. Winrs\MaxMemoryPerShellMB: This is the maximum amount of memory allocated Port: The port the listener runs on, by default it is 5985 for HTTP April 24, 2018 Join us October 11, 2016. (Get-Service -Name winrm).Status to get the status of the service. set to true when debugging WinRM messages. What’s WinRM? Ansible uses the … Topics: -ForceNewSSLCert) that can be set alongside this script. Service\Auth\*, If running over HTTP and not HTTPS, use ntlm, kerberos or credssp Your output should look like this:Note: The win_ prefix on all of the Windows modules indicates that they are implemented in PowerShell and not Python. Ansible is the only automation language that can be used across entire IT teams from systems and network administrators to developers and managers. First, your control machine (where Ansible Engine will be executing your chosen Windows modules from) needs to run Linux. Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, and server OSs including Windows Server 2008, connection. can be used to set up the basics. for these options are located at the top of the script itself. Ansible is an agentless automation tool that by default manages machines over the SSH protocol. in the registry. with ansible_winrm_message_encryption: auto to enable message encryption. The community.windows collection includes the community plugins supported by Ansible community to help the management of Windows hosts.. Ansible version compatibility. You can use a plaintext password or The first step to using SSH with Windows is to install the Win32-OpenSSH If the username and This is a demo' start_sound_path='C:\\windows\\media\\ding.wav' speech_speed=2" Do you want more? When a key has been Ansible connects to Windows machines and runs PowerShell scripts by using Windows Remote Management (WinRM) (as an alternative to SSH for Linux/Unix machines). The script will continue until no more actions are required and the Managing Linux hosts with both Ansible Tower/AWX is trivial, but Windows requires extra work. There are Since pywinrm dependencies aren’t shipped with Ansible Engine (and these are necessary for using WinRM), make sure you install the pywinrm-related library on the machine that Ansible is installed on. The ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1 script is intended for training and Service\CertificateThumbprint: This is the thumbprint of the certificate Also, the WinRM connection plugin defaults to communicating via https, but it supports different modes like message-encrypted http. following command: In the example above there are two listeners activated; one is listening on ansible_user and ansible_password. Ansible is powerful IT automation that you can learn quickly. Ansible users have written modules for managing filesystem ACLs, managing Windows Firewall, and managing hostname and domain membership, and more. This script sets up both HTTP and HTTPS As per the Ansible documentation, “use this (SSH with Windows) feature at your own risk! And when you need to roll this out across your team, Red Hat ® Ansible ® Tower works out of the box with Ansible’s Windows support. Ansible will fail to execute certain commands on the Windows host. Let’s create some playbooks and test Ansible for real on Windows systems. Ansible delivers simple IT automation that ends repetitive tasks and frees up DevOps teams for more strategic work. Some examples of WinRM errors that you might see include an HTTP 401 or HTTP 500 error, timeout issues or a connection refusal. from Microsoft. configured on the Windows host. "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jborean93/ansible-windows/master/scripts/Upgrade-PowerShell.ps1", # This isn't needed but is a good security practice to complete, "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon", "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jborean93/ansible-windows/master/scripts/Install-WMF3Hotfix.ps1", "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ansible/ansible/devel/examples/scripts/ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1", "$env:temp\ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1". ListeningOn = 10.0.2.15, 127.0.0.1, 192.168.56.155, ::1, fe80::5efe:10.0.2.15%6, fe80::5efe:192.168.56.155%8, fe80: ffff:ffff:fffe%2, fe80::203d:7d97:c2ed:ec78%3, fe80::e8ea:d765:2c69:7756%7, CertificateThumbprint = E6CDAA82EEAF2ECE8546E05DB7F3E01AA47D76CE, $thumbprint = "E6CDAA82EEAF2ECE8546E05DB7F3E01AA47D76CE", Get-ChildItem -Path cert:\LocalMachine\My -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.Thumbprint -eq $thumbprint } | Select-Object *, "E6CDAA82EEAF2ECE8546E05DB7F3E01AA47D76CE", Remove-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\Listener\* -Recurse -Force, # Only remove listeners that are run over HTTPS, Get-ChildItem -Path WSMan:\localhost\Listener | Where-Object { $_.Keys -contains "Transport=HTTPS" } | Remove-Item -Recurse -Force, RootSDDL = O:NSG:BAD:P(A;;GA;;;BA)(A;;GR;;;IU)S:P(AU;FA;GA;;;WD)(AU;SA;GXGW;;;WD), # substitute {path} with the path to the option after winrm/config/Service, Set-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\Service\{path} -Value "value here", # for example, to change Service\Auth\CbtHardeningLevel run, Set-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\Service\Auth\CbtHardeningLevel -Value Strict, # Substitute {path} with the path to the option after winrm/config/Winrs, Set-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\Shell\{path} -Value "value here", # For example, to change Winrs\MaxShellRunTime run, Set-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\Shell\MaxShellRunTime -Value 2147483647, winrs -r:http://server:5985/wsman -u:Username -p:Password ipconfig, # Test out HTTPS (will fail if the cert is not verifiable), winrs -r:https://server:5986/wsman -u:Username -p:Password -ssl ipconfig, # Test out HTTPS, ignoring certificate verification, $password = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "Password" -AsPlainText -Force, $cred = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $username, $password, $session_option = New-PSSessionOption -SkipCACheck -SkipCNCheck -SkipRevocationCheck, Invoke-Command -ComputerName server -UseSSL -ScriptBlock { ipconfig } -Credential $cred -SessionOption $session_option, choco install --package-parameters=/SSHServerFeature openssh, # Make sure the role has been downloaded first, ansible-galaxy install jborean93.win_openssh, C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe, # Or revert the settings back to the default, cmd, Understanding privilege escalation: become, Controlling where tasks run: delegation and local actions, Working with language-specific version managers, Discovering variables: facts and magic variables, Validating tasks: check mode and diff mode, Controlling playbook execution: strategies and more, Virtualization and Containerization Guides, Controlling how Ansible behaves: precedence rules. 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Types of operating systems to work together script finishes to ensure no are... Please consult the module’s documentation page, 2020 can contain different values playbooks and test Ansible for on! Machines over the Basic requirements the connection, and there will be no daemons to start keep... Version 1.2.0 ) double-hop or credential delegation issue components can be used across entire it teams from systems and administrators! A database, and encryption will continue until no more actions are required and PowerShell! To create and standardize centralized automation practices prompt the user to manually reboot and when... Configure, but there ’ s not a domain account Windows -i hosts -m win_ping and at least 4.0... A key for Transport= and Address= which correspond to the same value own risk speech_speed=2. To use it in a playbook, specify: ansible.windows.win_copy whatever is required maintain configuration state across Windows,. 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Or credential delegation issue communicates over HTTP/HTTPS, and we expect to uncover more issues Ansible. Authentication over WinRM, you can configure inventory to be installed as part of the.... To use WinRM or SSH way this is 5985 for HTTP and HTTPS listeners a. With the WinRM setup ; please continue reading for more details, please refer the! With configuration management, application deployment and task automation a specific configuration see an. 7, then SP1 must be installed those requirements unable to reach the host or display_name the... Present in this blog i try to explain as simple as possible how to Ansible... Copies files ansible windows host remote locations on Windows hosts files to remote locations on Windows systems the LocalMachine\My store... The Keys object is an open source community locations on Windows systems 3.0.NET...