Gather facts

Ansible gather_facts module, new in Ansible 2.8 (May 2019), allows to gather useful variables about remote hosts that can be used in playbooks

• https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/gather_facts_module.html
• https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_vars_facts.html#ansible-facts

• Collect facts: gather_facts: [ no | yes ]
• Show gathered facts: ansible localhost -m setup

- name: Show Gathered Facts
   debug:
     msg: "Template:Ansible facts"

Example:

#!/usr/bin/env ansible-playbook

- hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no

Using facts:

tasks:
 - name: Shut down Debian flavored systems
   ansible.builtin.command: /sbin/shutdown -t now
   when: ansible_facts['os_family'] == "Debian"

The following modules failed to execute: ansible.legacy.setup

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

Related terms

• gathering in /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
• ios_ping
• bolt task run facts --targets
• Chef: inspec detect
• ansible.builtin.set_fact module

See also

• Ansible setup module: https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/setup_module.html
• Ansible modules: gather_facts, set_fact, ansible.builtin.file, lineinfile, stat, group, mount, git:, package:, command:, shell:, raw:, template:, register:, user:, Ansible playbooks examples, tasks:, lineinfile, blockinfile:, shell:, command:, raw:, ansible.builtin.file, service:, aws.ecs_taskdefinition, aws.asg, docker_container, kubernetes.core.k8s, community., include_tasks