How to Install a package with Ansible in RedHat-like systems?
I’m going to show you a live Playbook and some simple Ansible code.
I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot
Ansible Install a package in RedHat-like systems
Today we’re talking about the Ansible module YUM and DNF.
The full names are ansible.builtin.yum and ansible.builtin.dnf, which means are part of the collection of modules “builtin” with ansible and shipped with it.
These modules are pretty stable and out for years.
They work on RedHat-like operating systems and Manages packages with the yum/DNF package manager.
For compatibility purpose you probably ended up using more the yum module than the DNF one, that is designed for modern operating systems.
Main Parameters
- name _string_
- state _string_
- update_cache _boolean_
- allow_downgrade _boolean_
The parameter list is pretty wide but this four are the most important options.
In the “name” parameter you are going to specify the name of the package or the specific version you would like to install.
The “state” specifies the action that we would like to perform. In our case for install is “present or installed”.
I’d like to mention some additional parameters that might be useful for you.
For example “update_cache” forces to update the repository metadata before the installation. It could be useful to make sure that the repository is up-to-date.
“allow_downgrade” is an interesting option that allows you to install a previous version of a package currently installed (the downgrade process), default disabled.
Demo
Let’s jump in a real-life playbook to install a package in RedHat-like systems with Ansible
single package
- package install
``yaml
---
- name: yum module Playbook
hosts: all
become: true
tasks:
- name: install package
yum:
name: wget
state: present
`
specific package version
- specific package version
`yaml
---
- name: yum module Playbook
hosts: all
become: true
tasks:
- name: install package
yum:
name: wget-1.19.5-7.el8
state: present
allow_downgrade: true
``
[code with ❤️ in GitHub](https://github.com/lucab85/ansible-pilot/tree/master/install%20a%20package%20in%20RedHat-like%20systems)
Conclusion
Now you know how to install a package and a specific version of a package in RedHat-like systems.