EOS Platform Options

Arista EOS supports multiple connections. This page offers details on how each connection works in Ansible and how to use it.

Connections Available

CLIeAPI
ProtocolSSHHTTP(S)
Credentialsuses SSH keys / SSH-agent if presentaccepts -u myuser -k if using passworduses HTTPS certificates ifpresent
Indirect Accessvia a bastion (jump host)via a web proxy
Connection Settingsansible_connection: network_cliansible_connection: httpapiORansible_connection: localwith transport: eapiin the provider dictionary
Enable Mode (Privilege Escalation)supported:- use ansible_become: yeswith ansible_become_method: enablesupported:- httpapiuses ansible_become: yeswith ansible_become_method: enable- localuses authorize: yesand auth_pass:in the provider dictionary
Returned Data Formatstdout[0].stdout[0].messages[0].

For legacy playbooks, EOS 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/eos.yml

  1. ansible_connection: network_cli
  2. ansible_network_os: eos
  3. ansible_user: myuser
  4. ansible_password: !vault...
  5. ansible_become: yes
  6. ansible_become_method: enable
  7. ansible_become_password: !vault...
  8. 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_password configuration.
  • If you are accessing your host directly (not through a bastion/jump host) you can remove the ansible_ssh_common_args configuration.
  • If you are accessing your host through a bastion/jump host, you cannot include your SSH password in the ProxyCommand directive. To prevent secrets from leaking out (for example in ps output), SSH does not support providing passwords via environment variables.

Example CLI Task

  1. - name: Backup current switch config (eos)
  2. eos_config:
  3. backup: yes
  4. register: backup_eos_location
  5. when: ansible_network_os == 'eos'

Using eAPI in Ansible

Enabling eAPI

Before you can use eAPI to connect to a switch, you must enable eAPI. To enable eAPI on a new switch via Ansible, use the eos_eapi module via the CLI connection. Set up group_vars/eos.yml just like in the CLI example above, then run a playbook task like this:

  1. - name: Enable eAPI
  2. eos_eapi:
  3. enable_http: yes
  4. enable_https: yes
  5. become: true
  6. become_method: enable
  7. when: ansible_network_os == 'eos'

You can find more options for enabling HTTP/HTTPS connections in the eos_eapi module documentation.

Once eAPI is enabled, change your group_vars/eos.yml to use the eAPI connection.

Example eAPI group_vars/eos.yml

  1. ansible_connection: httpapi
  2. ansible_network_os: eos
  3. ansible_user: myuser
  4. ansible_password: !vault...
  5. ansible_become: yes
  6. ansible_become_method: enable
  7. proxy_env:
  8. http_proxy: http://proxy.example.com:8080
  • If you are accessing your host directly (not through a web proxy) you can remove the proxy_env configuration.
  • If you are accessing your host through a web proxy using https, change http_proxy to https_proxy.

Example eAPI Task

  1. - name: Backup current switch config (eos)
  2. eos_config:
  3. backup: yes
  4. register: backup_eos_location
  5. environment: "{{ proxy_env }}"
  6. when: ansible_network_os == 'eos'

In this example the proxy_env variable defined in group_vars gets passed to the environment option of the module in the task.

eAPI examples with connection: local

group_vars/eos.yml:

  1. ansible_connection: local
  2. ansible_network_os: eos
  3. ansible_user: myuser
  4. ansible_password: !vault...
  5. eapi:
  6. host: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
  7. transport: eapi
  8. authorize: yes
  9. auth_pass: !vault...
  10. proxy_env:
  11. http_proxy: http://proxy.example.com:8080

eAPI task:

  1. - name: Backup current switch config (eos)
  2. eos_config:
  3. backup: yes
  4. provider: "{{ eapi }}"
  5. register: backup_eos_location
  6. environment: "{{ proxy_env }}"
  7. when: ansible_network_os == 'eos'

In this example two variables defined in group_vars get passed to the module of the task:

  • the eapi variable gets passed to the provider option of the module
  • the proxy_env variable gets passed to the environment option of the module

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.