Ansible is a great tool to manage any Linux or Windows host. However it is missing some key tools and features. Here is a playbook and instructions to gather all installed programs on a Windows host.
Start with creating a new role, I named mine facts.
Create the facts\tasks\main.yml file and add the following
---
- name: create Scripts dir
win_file:
path: C:\Scripts
state: directory
- name: create Scripts facts dir
win_file:
path: C:\Scripts\facts
state: absent
- name: copy custom facts file
win_copy:
src: getFacts.ps1
dest: C:\Scripts\
- name: gather extra facts
setup:
fact_path: C:\Scripts
- name: Set intermediate fact
set_fact:
vars_hack: ""
- name: set program facts
set_fact:
one_fact: ansible_getFacts
var_hack: ""
- name: delete json file
file:
path: "/.json"
state: absent
failed_when: false
delegate_to: localhost
- name: Dump all vars
action: template src=templates/dumpall.j2 dest="/.json"
delegate_to: localhost
- name: add to db
script: app.py
delegate_to: localhost
ignore_errors: true
Now create the facts/files/getFacts.ps1 file and add the follwoing below. This file will be copied to each Windows host and run return a dictionary of all installed programs.
#sourced from https://hindenes.com/trondsworking/2016/11/05/using-ansible-as-a-software-inventory-db-for-your-windows-nodes/
$packages = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product
$returnpackages = @{}
foreach ($package in $packages)
{
$subpackagedictionary = @{"Name" = $Package.Name; "Version" = $Package.Version; "Caption" = $Package.Caption;}
$returnpackages.Add($Package.Name, $subpackagedictionary)
}
#Write-Host $returnpackages."Google Chrome".Name
#Write-Host $returnpackages."Google Chrome".Version
$returnpackages
For debugging purposes you may want to create JSON files from the returned dictionary. To do so create a facts/templates/dumpall.j2 and add the following.
{{ vars_hack | to_json }}
Create the facts\files\app.py and add the following below. This files erases passwords dumped in the the json files.
#!/usr/bin/env python
# orginal found at https://hindenes.com/trondsworking/2016/11/05/using-ansible-as-a-software-inventory-db-for-your-windows-nodes/
import os
import json
from os import listdir
from os.path import isfile, join
tempfolder = '../roles/facts/files/data/json/'
if not os.path.isdir(tempfolder):
os.makedirs(tempfolder)
onlyfiles = [f for f in listdir(tempfolder) if isfile(join(tempfolder, f))]
for file in onlyfiles:
host_name = str(file).replace('.json','') ##I am using host ips, to use hostnames use str(file).split(".")[3]
with open(os.path.join(tempfolder, file),'r+') as data_file:
data = json.load(data_file)
data['ansible_password'] = ''
data['ansible_password_ad'] = ''
data_file.close()
with open(tempfolder+'/'+file, 'w+') as outfile:
json.dump(data, outfile, sort_keys=True, indent=2, separators=(',', ': '))
outfile.close()
Create one last file the vars file for the role. Create vars/main.yml and add the following.
json_files: '../roles/facts/files/data/json/'
host_program_csv: '../roles/facts/files/data/programs'
Now install the redis service. For Centos 7
yum install redis
systemctl enable redis
systemctl start redis
Generate a hash for redis
echo "redis-password-string" | sha256sum
Edit the redis config file in /etc/redis.confand find the line requirepass and insert the generated hash
Edit your base ansible.cfg usualy in the first directory of your ansible setup and add the line
fact_caching_connection = <redis-ip>:6379:0:<redis-hash>
Updated: 2/7/2019