ansible.builtin.getent module – A wrapper to the unix getent utility

Note

This module is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short module name getent even without specifying the collections keyword. However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.getent for easy linking to the module documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same module name.

Synopsis
Parameters
Attributes
Notes
Examples
Returned Facts

Synopsis

Runs getent against one of its various databases and returns information into the host’s facts, in a getent_<database> prefixed variable.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
database string / required	The name of a getent database supported by the target system (passwd, group, hosts, etc).
fail_key boolean	If a supplied key is missing this will make the task fail if `true`. Choices: `false` `true` ← (default)
key string	Key from which to return values from the specified database, otherwise the full contents are returned.
service string added in Ansible 2.9	Override all databases with the specified service The underlying system must support the service flag which is not always available.
split string	Character used to split the database values into lists/arrays such as `:` or `\t`, otherwise it will try to pick one depending on the database.

Attributes

Attribute	Support	Description
check_mode	Support: full	Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target, if not supported the action will be skipped.
diff_mode	Support: none	Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode
facts	Support: full	Action returns an `ansible_facts` dictionary that will update existing host facts
platform	Platform: posix	Target OS/families that can be operated against

Notes

Note

Not all databases support enumeration, check system documentation for details.

Examples

- name: Get root user info
  ansible.builtin.getent:
    database: passwd
    key: root
- ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: ansible_facts.getent_passwd

- name: Get all groups
  ansible.builtin.getent:
    database: group
    split: ':'
- ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: ansible_facts.getent_group

- name: Get all hosts, split by tab
  ansible.builtin.getent:
    database: hosts
- ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: ansible_facts.getent_hosts

- name: Get http service info, no error if missing
  ansible.builtin.getent:
    database: services
    key: http
    fail_key: False
- ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: ansible_facts.getent_services

- name: Get user password hash (requires sudo/root)
  ansible.builtin.getent:
    database: shadow
    key: www-data
    split: ':'
- ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: ansible_facts.getent_shadow

Returned Facts

Facts returned by this module are added/updated in the hostvars host facts and can be referenced by name just like any other host fact. They do not need to be registered in order to use them.

Key	Description
getent_<database> list / elements=string	A list of results or a single result as a list of the fields the db provides The list elements depend on the database queried, see getent man page for the structure Starting at 2.11 it now returns multiple duplicate entries, previously it only returned the last one Returned: always

Authors

Brian Coca (@bcoca)

Collection links

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2024 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/getent_module.html