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Add basic scenario guides (#36)
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* Add extra docs.

* Mention more quirks.

* Work around RST quirks.
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felixfontein authored Jun 23, 2021
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6 changes: 6 additions & 0 deletions docs/docsite/extra-docs.yml
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---
sections:
- title: Guides
toctree:
- api-guide
- ssh-guide
51 changes: 51 additions & 0 deletions docs/docsite/rst/api-guide.rst
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.. _ansible_collections.community.routeros.docsite.api-guide:

How to connect to RouterOS devices with the RouterOS API
========================================================

You can use the :ref:`community.routeros.api module <ansible_collections.community.routeros.api_module>` to connect to a RouterOS device with the RouterOS API.

No special setup is needed; the module needs to be run on a host that can connect to the device's API. The most common case is that the module is run on ``localhost``, either by using ``hosts: localhost`` in the playbook, or by using ``delegate_to: localhost`` for the task. The following example shows how to run the equivalent of ``/ip address print``:

.. code-block:: yaml+jinja

---
- name: RouterOS test with API
hosts: localhost
gather_facts: no
vars:
hostname: 192.168.1.1
username: admin
password: test1234
tasks:
- name: Get "ip address print"
community.routeros.api:
hostname: "{{ hostname }}"
password: "{{ password }}"
username: "{{ username }}"
path: "ip address"
ssl: true
register: print_path

- name: Show IP address of first interface
debug:
msg: "{{ print_path.msg[0].address }}"

This results in the following output:

.. code-block:: ansible-output
PLAY [RouterOS test] *********************************************************************************************
TASK [Get "ip address print"] ************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]
TASK [Show IP address of first interface] ************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
"msg": "192.168.2.1/24"
}
PLAY RECAP *******************************************************************************************************
localhost : ok=2 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
Check out the documenation of the :ref:`community.routeros.api module <ansible_collections.community.routeros.api_module>` for details on the options.
122 changes: 122 additions & 0 deletions docs/docsite/rst/ssh-guide.rst
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.. _ansible_collections.community.routeros.docsite.ssh-guide:

How to connect to RouterOS devices with SSH
===========================================

The collection offers two modules to connect to RouterOS devies with SSH:

- The :ref:`community.routeros.facts module <ansible_collections.community.routeros.facts_module>` gathers facts about a RouterOS device;
- The :ref:`community.routeros.command module <ansible_collections.community.routeros.command_module>` executes commands on a RouterOS device.

The modules need the :ref:`ansible.netcommon.network_cli connection plugin <ansible_collections.ansible.netcommon.network_cli_connection>` for this.

Important notes
---------------

1. The SSH-based modules do not support arbitrary symbols in the router's identity. If you are having trouble connecting to your device, please make sure that your MikroTik's identity contains only alphanumeric characters and dashes. Also make sure that the identity string is not longer than 19 characters (`see issue for details <https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.routeros/issues/31>`__). Similar problems can happen for unsupported characters in your username.

2. The :ref:`community.routeros.command module <ansible_collections.community.routeros.command_module>` does not support nesting commands and expects every command to start with a forward slash (``/``). Running the following command will produce an error:

.. code-block:: yaml+jinja

- community.routeros.command:
commands:
- /ip
- print

3. When using the :ref:`community.routeros.command module <ansible_collections.community.routeros.command_module>` module, make sure to not specify too long commands. Alternatively, add something like ``+cet512w`` to the username (replace ``admin`` with ``admin+cet512w``) to tell RouterOS to not wrap before 512 characters in a line (`see issue for details <https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.routeros/issues/6>`__).

4. Finally, the :ref:`ansible.netcommon.network_cli connection plugin <ansible_collections.ansible.netcommon.network_cli_connection>` uses `paramiko <https://pypi.org/project/paramiko/>`_ by default to connect to devices with SSH. You can set its ``ssh_type`` option to ``libssh`` to use `ansible-pylibssh <https://pypi.org/project/ansible-pylibssh/>`_ instead, which offers Python bindings to libssh. See its documentation for details.

Setting up an inventory
-----------------------

An example inventory ``hosts`` file for a RouterOS device is as follows:

.. code-block:: ini
[routers]
router ansible_host=192.168.2.1
[routers:vars]
ansible_connection=ansible.netcommon.network_cli
ansible_network_os=community.routeros.routeros
ansible_user=admin
ansible_ssh_pass=test1234
This tells Ansible that you have a RouterOS device called ``router`` with IP ``192.168.2.1``. Ansible should use the :ref:`ansible.netcommon.network_cli connection plugin <ansible_collections.ansible.netcommon.network_cli_connection>` together with the the :ref:`community.routeros.routeros cliconf plugin <ansible_collections.community.routeros.routeros_cliconf>`. The credentials are stored as ``ansible_user`` and ``ansible_ssh_pass`` in the inventory.

Connecting to the device
------------------------

With the above inventory, you can use the following playbook to execute ``/system resource print`` on the device

.. code-block:: yaml+jinja

---
- name: RouterOS test with network_cli connection
hosts: routers
gather_facts: false
tasks:

- name: Gather system resources
community.routeros.command:
commands:
- /system resource print
register: system_resource_print

- name: Show system resources
debug:
var: system_resource_print.stdout_lines

- name: Gather facts
community.routeros.facts:

- name: Show a fact
debug:
msg: "First IP address: {{ ansible_net_all_ipv4_addresses[0] }}"

This results in the following output:

.. code-block:: ansible-output
PLAY [RouterOS test with network_cli connection] *****************************************************************
TASK [Gather system resources] ***********************************************************************************
ok: [router]
TASK [Show system resources] *************************************************************************************
ok: [router] => {
"system_resource_print.stdout_lines": [
[
"uptime: 3d10h28m51s",
" version: 6.48.3 (stable)",
" build-time: May/25/2021 06:09:45",
" free-memory: 31.2MiB",
" total-memory: 64.0MiB",
" cpu: MIPS 24Kc V7.4",
" cpu-count: 1",
" cpu-frequency: 400MHz",
" cpu-load: 1%",
" free-hdd-space: 54.2MiB",
" total-hdd-space: 128.0MiB",
" write-sect-since-reboot: 927",
" write-sect-total: 51572981",
" bad-blocks: 1%",
" architecture-name: mipsbe",
" board-name: RB750GL",
" platform: MikroTik"
]
]
}
TASK [Gather facts] **********************************************************************************************
ok: [router]
TASK [Show a fact] ***********************************************************************************************
ok: [router] => {
"msg": "First IP address: 192.168.2.1"
}
PLAY RECAP *******************************************************************************************************
router : ok=4 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0

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