Use the built-in win_ping module in Ansible to confirm proper connectivity and credential success for manipulating Windows hosts

ping_windows_hosts.yml

---
- hosts: windows
  tasks:
  - name: ping
    win_ping:

A config file will be needed, I used ansible conventions to have it sucked in as part of the "windows" host group. In group_vars/windows.yml (relative to the playbook):

# it is suggested that these be encrypted with ansible-vault:
# ansible-vault edit group_vars/windows.yml

ansible_user: username
ansible_password: super_secret_password
ansible_port: 5986
ansible_connection: winrm
# The following is necessary for Python 2.7.9+ (or any older Python that has backported SSLContext, eg, Python 2.7.5 on RHEL7) when using default WinRM self-signed certificates:
ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation: ignore

More info on this at the Ansible Windows Support page.

---

Upon execution, the output should be rather concise:

PLAY [windows] *****************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *************************************************************************************************
ok: [192.168.10.24]

TASK [ping] ************************************************************************************************************
ok: [192.168.10.24]

PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************
192.168.10.24              : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0

The ok near the Gathering Facts and ping tasks show us that the connection and execution against this machine(s) is good and well, ready to go!

Hi @gravcat, I am new to ansible and trying to do the same task (pinging a windows client with control node: centos 7).

I am not sure what is going wrong? Kindly help.

@Gravecat In which file you are passing these?
ansible_user: username
ansible_password: super_secret_password
ansible_port: 5986
ansible_connection: winrm
ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation: ignore

Is this needed to add in the ping_windows_hosts.yml you are using or elsewhere? Please take a look

Hey @TridevGuha! Welcome to Ansible, it's a wonderful tool.

https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/intro_getting_started.html#action-create-a-basic-inventory
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_intro.html#basics

As for the basics to get this rolling in a clean way you'll need

• a host inventory (hosts)
• a group_vars file (group_vars/windows.yml)
• a playbook (main.yml)

It looks like you are putting your playbook as group_vars by mistake, and ansible is trying to read it and failing. Move windows1.yml to ../main.yml

In group_vars/windows.yml, place:

ansible_user: username
ansible_password: super_secret_password
ansible_port: 5986
ansible_connection: winrm
ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation: ignore

At this point, it should work :)

---

unrelated, here's an example of a simple playbook. Doesn't include group_vars like this one would, but shows how your main.yml playbook entrypoint should be!

https://gitlab.com/adrift/ansible/-/tree/master/update-rust

@gravcat I have made the changes and It is working now! Thanks for the response!