Callback Plugins

Question 1

List the type of callback plugins in ansible

Answer 1

• Stdout
• notification
• Aggregate

Question 2

What is callback plugin?

Answer 2

plugins that can perform custom actions in response to Ansible events. Example of actions: a play starting, a task completing, etc.

Question 3

What is the role of stdout plugins?

Answer 3

Control the format of output displayed on terminals

Question 4

Can Ansible support multiple stdout plugins?

Answer 4

yes. However, only one stdout plugin can be active at a time.

Question 5

How do specify the active stdout plugin?

Answer 5

Use the stdout_callback key in default section of ansible.cfg

Question 6

What are examples of stdout callback plugins?

Answer 6

• actionable
• debug
• default
• dense
• json
• minimal
• oneline
• selective
• skippy

Question 7

What is the actionalble stdout plugin?

Answer 7

A stdout callback plugin that shows output only if the task changes the state of the managed node or fails. This makes output less noisy.

Question 8

What is the debug stdout plugin?

Answer 8

A stdout callback plugin that makes it easier to read stdout and strderr returned by tasks.

Question 9

What is the dense stdout plugin?

Answer 9

A stdout callback plugin that always show only two lines of output. It overwrites the existing two lines instead of scrolling.

Question 10

What is the json stdout plugin?

Answer 10

A stdout callback plugin that generates machine-readable json output. This plugin does not generate output until the entire playbook has finished executing.

Question 11

What is the minimal stdout plugin?

Answer 11

A stdout callback plugin that does very little processing of the event returned by the task.

Question 12

What is the online stdout plugin?

Answer 12

Similar to minimal plugin but print everything on one line

Question 13

What is the selective stdout plugin?

Answer 13

A stdout callback plugin that shows output only for 1) failed tasks and 2) successful tags that have the clause print_action

Question 14

What is the skippy stdout plugin?

Answer 14

A stdout callback plugin that doe snot show any output for hosts that are skipped.

Question 15

what are example of actions performed by plugins other than the stdout callback plugin?

Answer 15

• record execution time
• send slack notification
• send email

Question 16

Can I run multiple non-stdout plugins at the same time?

Answer 16

yes. only stdout plugins are restricted to have only one active at the same time.

Question 17

How do you configure callback plugins?

Answer 17

in ansible.cfg default section

callback_whitelist= mail, slack

Question 18

What is the typical way of setting config parameters for callback plugins?

Answer 18

environment variables

Question 19

List known callback plugin other than stdout plugins.

Answer 19

• foreman
• hipchat
• jabber
• junit
• log_plays
• logentries
• logstash
• mail
• slack
• timer
• osx_say
• profile_tasks

Question 20

What is the foreman plugin?

Answer 20

A callback plugin that sends notifications to foreman

Question 21

What is the hipchat plugin?

Answer 21

A callback plugin that sends notifications to hipchat

Question 22

What is the jabber plugin?

Answer 22

A callback plugin that sends notifications using the xmpp protocol

Question 23

What is the junit plugin?

Answer 23

A callback plugin that writes the result of playbook execution to XML file in Junit format (pass, error,skipped, failure)

Question 24

What is the log_palys plugin?

Answer 24

A callback plugin that logs the result to log files, one log file per host at /etc/log/ansible/hosts. This location can be changed in ansible.cfg with log_path.

Question 25

What is the logentries plugin?

Answer 25

A callback plugin that sends results to logentries.

Question 26

What is the logstash plugin?

Answer 26

A callback plugin that writes results to logstash

Question 27

What is the mail plugin?

Answer 27

A callback plugin that sends email whenever a task fails on a host

Question 28

What is the osx_say plugin?

Answer 28

A callback plugin that uses the say program to send notifications to OSX

Question 29

What is the profile_tasks plugin?

Answer 29

A callback plugin that generates a summary excution of individual tasks and toytal execution time

Question 30

What is the slack plugin?

Answer 30

A callback plugin that sends notification to slack

Question 31

What is the timer plugin?

Answer 31

A callback plugin that outputs the total execution time of the playbook

Question 32

What do you prefer, timer plugin or profile_task?

Answer 32

profile_task because it already includes the information that timer displays, namely the total execution time of the playbook.