Test host availability - Ansible module ping

Deep dive into the Ansible module ping in the collection ansible.builtin to test the access to a managed host and that Python is installed. Live Playbook and Ansible playbook included.

Ansible module ping. Today we’re going to talk about the simplest way to test if a managed host is available to receive our commands.

I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot.

Ansible module ping

Today we’re talking about Ansible module ping.

The full name is ansible.builtin.ping, which means that is part of the collection of modules “builtin” with ansible and shipped with it.

It’s a module pretty stable and out for years.

It verify the ability of Ansible to login to the managed host and that there is a Python interpreter that is able to execute our code.

So it’s pretty different for the ping in the network context.

It's the Linux corresponding to the [Ansible win_ping module](/articles/test-windows-host-availability-ansible-module-winping).

Main parameters and return values

data _string_

People usually don’t specify any parameters or use the return value.

For the parameter, it’s possible to change the behavior from the default “pong” to the “crash” that raises an exception in case of failure.

ping _string_

The return value default is the “pong” string, but you could customize it with the data parameter.

Demo

Are you ready to make your hands dirty?

Let’s jump in a quick live Playbook of a playbook about the ping module.

``yaml


---
name: ping module Playbook
  hosts: all
  become: false
  tasks:
    - name: test connection
      ansible.builtin.ping:

[code with ❤️ in GitHub](https://github.com/lucab85/ansible-pilot/tree/master/test%20host%20availability)

Conclusion

Now you know better the Ansible module ping and you could use it successfully in your playbook.