Packer Ansible Connection Type Plugin for Ansible 2.6.x and 2.7.x

packer.py

from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
__metaclass__ = type

from ansible.plugins.connection.ssh import Connection as SSHConnection

DOCUMENTATION = '''
    connection: packer
    short_description: ssh based connections for powershell via packer
    description:
        - This connection plugin allows ansible to communicate to the target packer machines via ssh based connections for powershell.
    author: Packer
    version_added: na
    options:
      host:
          description: Hostname/ip to connect to.
          default: inventory_hostname
          vars:
               - name: ansible_host
               - name: ansible_ssh_host
      host_key_checking:
          description: Determines if ssh should check host keys
          type: boolean
          ini:
              - section: defaults
                key: 'host_key_checking'
              - section: ssh_connection
                key: 'host_key_checking'
                version_added: '2.5'
          env:
              - name: ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING
              - name: ANSIBLE_SSH_HOST_KEY_CHECKING
                version_added: '2.5'
          vars:
              - name: ansible_host_key_checking
                version_added: '2.5'
              - name: ansible_ssh_host_key_checking
                version_added: '2.5'
      password:
          description: Authentication password for the C(remote_user). Can be supplied as CLI option.
          vars:
              - name: ansible_password
              - name: ansible_ssh_pass
      ssh_args:
          description: Arguments to pass to all ssh cli tools
          default: '-C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s'
          ini:
              - section: 'ssh_connection'
                key: 'ssh_args'
          env:
              - name: ANSIBLE_SSH_ARGS
      ssh_common_args:
          description: Common extra args for all ssh CLI tools
          ini:
              - section: 'ssh_connection'
                key: 'ssh_common_args'
                version_added: '2.7'
          env:
              - name: ANSIBLE_SSH_COMMON_ARGS
                version_added: '2.7'

          vars:
              - name: ansible_ssh_common_args
      ssh_executable:
          default: ssh
          description:
            - This defines the location of the ssh binary. It defaults to `ssh` which will use the first ssh binary available in $PATH.
            - This option is usually not required, it might be useful when access to system ssh is restricted,
              or when using ssh wrappers to connect to remote hosts.
          env: [{name: ANSIBLE_SSH_EXECUTABLE}]
          ini:
          - {key: ssh_executable, section: ssh_connection}
          yaml: {key: ssh_connection.ssh_executable}
          #const: ANSIBLE_SSH_EXECUTABLE
          version_added: "2.2"
          vars:
              - name: ansible_ssh_executable
                version_added: '2.7'
      sftp_executable:
          default: sftp
          description:
            - This defines the location of the sftp binary. It defaults to ``sftp`` which will use the first binary available in $PATH.
          env: [{name: ANSIBLE_SFTP_EXECUTABLE}]
          ini:
          - {key: sftp_executable, section: ssh_connection}
          version_added: "2.6"
          vars:
              - name: ansible_sftp_executable
                version_added: '2.7'
      scp_executable:
          default: scp
          description:
            - This defines the location of the scp binary. It defaults to `scp` which will use the first binary available in $PATH.
          env: [{name: ANSIBLE_SCP_EXECUTABLE}]
          ini:
          - {key: scp_executable, section: ssh_connection}
          version_added: "2.6"
          vars:
              - name: ansible_scp_executable
                version_added: '2.7'
      scp_extra_args:
          description: Extra exclusive to the ``scp`` CLI
          vars:
              - name: ansible_scp_extra_args
          env:
            - name: ANSIBLE_SCP_EXTRA_ARGS
              version_added: '2.7'
          ini:
            - key: scp_extra_args
              section: ssh_connection
              version_added: '2.7'
      sftp_extra_args:
          description: Extra exclusive to the ``sftp`` CLI
          vars:
              - name: ansible_sftp_extra_args
          env:
            - name: ANSIBLE_SFTP_EXTRA_ARGS
              version_added: '2.7'
          ini:
            - key: sftp_extra_args
              section: ssh_connection
              version_added: '2.7'
      ssh_extra_args:
          description: Extra exclusive to the 'ssh' CLI
          vars:
              - name: ansible_ssh_extra_args
          env:
            - name: ANSIBLE_SSH_EXTRA_ARGS
              version_added: '2.7'
          ini:
            - key: ssh_extra_args
              section: ssh_connection
              version_added: '2.7'
      retries:
          # constant: ANSIBLE_SSH_RETRIES
          description: Number of attempts to connect.
          default: 3
          type: integer
          env:
            - name: ANSIBLE_SSH_RETRIES
          ini:
            - section: connection
              key: retries
            - section: ssh_connection
              key: retries
          vars:
              - name: ansible_ssh_retries
                version_added: '2.7'
      port:
          description: Remote port to connect to.
          type: int
          default: 22
          ini:
            - section: defaults
              key: remote_port
          env:
            - name: ANSIBLE_REMOTE_PORT
          vars:
            - name: ansible_port
            - name: ansible_ssh_port
      remote_user:
          description:
              - User name with which to login to the remote server, normally set by the remote_user keyword.
              - If no user is supplied, Ansible will let the ssh client binary choose the user as it normally
          ini:
            - section: defaults
              key: remote_user
          env:
            - name: ANSIBLE_REMOTE_USER
          vars:
            - name: ansible_user
            - name: ansible_ssh_user
      pipelining:
          default: ANSIBLE_PIPELINING
          description:
            - Pipelining reduces the number of SSH operations required to execute a module on the remote server,
              by executing many Ansible modules without actual file transfer.
            - This can result in a very significant performance improvement when enabled.
            - However this conflicts with privilege escalation (become).
              For example, when using sudo operations you must first disable 'requiretty' in the sudoers file for the target hosts,
              which is why this feature is disabled by default.
          env:
            - name: ANSIBLE_PIPELINING
            #- name: ANSIBLE_SSH_PIPELINING
          ini:
            - section: defaults
              key: pipelining
            #- section: ssh_connection
            #  key: pipelining
          type: boolean
          vars:
            - name: ansible_pipelining
            - name: ansible_ssh_pipelining
      private_key_file:
          description:
              - Path to private key file to use for authentication
          ini:
            - section: defaults
              key: private_key_file
          env:
            - name: ANSIBLE_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
          vars:
            - name: ansible_private_key_file
            - name: ansible_ssh_private_key_file
      control_path:
        description:
          - This is the location to save ssh's ControlPath sockets, it uses ssh's variable substitution.
          - Since 2.3, if null, ansible will generate a unique hash. Use `%(directory)s` to indicate where to use the control dir path setting.
        env:
          - name: ANSIBLE_SSH_CONTROL_PATH
        ini:
          - key: control_path
            section: ssh_connection
        vars:
          - name: ansible_control_path
            version_added: '2.7'            
      control_path_dir:
        default: ~/.ansible/cp
        description:
          - This sets the directory to use for ssh control path if the control path setting is null.
          - Also, provides the `%(directory)s` variable for the control path setting.
        env:
          - name: ANSIBLE_SSH_CONTROL_PATH_DIR
        ini:
          - section: ssh_connection
            key: control_path_dir
        vars:
          - name: ansible_control_path_dir
            version_added: '2.7'
      sftp_batch_mode:
        default: 'yes'
        description: 'TODO: write it'
        env: [{name: ANSIBLE_SFTP_BATCH_MODE}]
        ini:
        - {key: sftp_batch_mode, section: ssh_connection}
        type: bool
        vars:
          - name: ansible_sftp_batch_mode
            version_added: '2.7'        
      scp_if_ssh:
        default: smart
        description:
          - "Prefered method to use when transfering files over ssh"
          - When set to smart, Ansible will try them until one succeeds or they all fail
          - If set to True, it will force 'scp', if False it will use 'sftp'
        env: [{name: ANSIBLE_SCP_IF_SSH}]
        ini:
        - {key: scp_if_ssh, section: ssh_connection}
        vars:
          - name: ansible_scp_if_ssh
            version_added: '2.7'
      use_tty:
        version_added: '2.5'
        default: 'yes'
        description: add -tt to ssh commands to force tty allocation
        env: [{name: ANSIBLE_SSH_USETTY}]
        ini:
        - {key: usetty, section: ssh_connection}
        type: bool
        vars:
          - name: ansible_ssh_use_tty
            version_added: '2.7'
'''

class Connection(SSHConnection):
    ''' ssh based connections for powershell via packer'''

    transport = 'packer'
    has_pipelining = True
    become_methods = []
    allow_executable = False
    module_implementation_preferences = ('.ps1', '')

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(Connection, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)

Hi @ ichwill100 , All,

I am a bit confused with the ansible.cfg file. how should I configure it?

Here is my directory structure

Ansible\playbook.yml
connections_plugins\packer.py
packer\windows2016.json
scripts\ powershell1.ps1 , powershell2.ps1

This is how I used ansible provisioner.

{
"type": "ansible",
"playbook_file": "../ansible/playbook.yml",
"extra_arguments": [
"--connection", "packer", "-vvv",
"--extra-vars", "winrm_password={{ .WinRMPassword }},ansible_shell_type=powershell ansible_shell_executable=None"
]
}
]
}

Issue:

1. I was able to get winrm connection established.
2. Powershell scripts from provisioner are running
3. Ansbile playbook is failing.

Do I need to configure " ansible.cfg"file? Please help me with the issue.

Hi Strijd

Can you please let me know how this error if fixed ?

amazon-ebs: KeyError: 'runas'
amazon-ebs: fatal: [pmc-1]: FAILED! => {
amazon-ebs:     "msg": "Unexpected failure during module execution.",
amazon-ebs:     "stdout": ""

I am using ansible 2.7.12