cisco.radkit.exec_and_wait module – Executes commands on devices using RADKit and handles interactive prompts

Note

This module is part of the cisco.radkit collection (version 2.0.0).

It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install git+https://wwwin-github.cisco.com/scdozier/cisco.radkit-ansible.git. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: cisco.radkit.exec_and_wait.

New in cisco.radkit 1.7.61

Synopsis

• This module runs commands on specified devices using RADKit, handling interactive prompts with pexpect.

• Enhanced with retry logic, progress monitoring, and better error handling.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

• radkit

• pexpect

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
answers list / elements=string	List of answers corresponding to the expected prompts.
client_ca_path string	Alternate path to client ca cert for RADKIT If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable RADKIT_ANSIBLE_CLIENT_CA_PATH will be used instead.
client_cert_path string	Alternate path to client cert for RADKIT If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable RADKIT_ANSIBLE_CLIENT_CERT_PATH will be used instead.
client_key_password_b64 aliases: radkit_client_private_key_password_base64 string / required	Client certificate password in base64 If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable RADKIT_ANSIBLE_CLIENT_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD_BASE64 will be used instead.
client_key_path string	Alternate path to client key for RADKIT If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable RADKIT_ANSIBLE_CLIENT_KEY_PATH will be used instead.
command_retries integer	Maximum number of retries for command execution failures. Default: 1
command_timeout integer	Time in seconds to wait for a command to complete. Default: 15
commands list / elements=string	List of commands to execute on the device.
continue_on_device_failure boolean	Continue processing other devices if one device fails. Choices: false ← (default) true
delay_before_check integer	Delay in seconds before performing a final check on the device state. Default: 10
device_host string	Hostname or IP address of the device as it appears in the RADKit inventory. Use either device_name or device_host.
device_name string	Name of the device as it appears in the RADKit inventory. Use either device_name or device_host.
identity aliases: radkit_identity string / required	Identity to authentiate with RADKit (xxxx@cisco.com). If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable RADKIT_ANSIBLE_IDENTITY will be used instead.
prompts list / elements=string	List of expected prompts to handle interactively.
recovery_test_command string	Custom command to test device responsiveness during recovery. Default: "show clock"
seconds_to_wait integer / required	Maximum time in seconds to wait after sending the commands before checking the device state.
service_serial aliases: radkit_serial, radkit_service_serial string / required	Radkit service serial If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable RADKIT_ANSIBLE_SERVICE_SERIAL will be used instead.

Examples

    - name: Test network connectivity (execution test, not success test)
      cisco.radkit.exec_and_wait:
        device_name: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
        commands:
          - "ping 8.8.8.8 repeat 2"
        prompts: []
        answers: []
        seconds_to_wait: 60
        delay_before_check: 5
      register: ping_test
      # Note: This tests command execution, ping may fail due to network policies

    - name: Execute show commands safely
      cisco.radkit.exec_and_wait:
        device_name: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
        commands:
          - "show version"
          - "show clock"
          - "show ip interface brief"
        prompts: []
        answers: []
        seconds_to_wait: 30
        delay_before_check: 2
        command_retries: 2
      register: show_commands

    - name: Reload Router and Wait Until Available by using ansible_host
      cisco.radkit.exec_and_wait:
        #device_name: "{{inventory_hostname}}"
        device_host: "{{ansible_host}}"
        commands:
          - "reload"
        prompts:
          - ".*yes/no].*"
          - ".*confirm].*"
        answers:
          - "yes
"
          - "
"
        seconds_to_wait: 300  # total time to wait for reload
        delay_before_check: 10  # Delay before checking terminal
        recovery_test_command: "show clock"
      register: reload_result

    - name: Reload Router and Wait Until Available by using inventory_hostname
      cisco.radkit.exec_and_wait:
        device_name: "{{inventory_hostname}}"
        commands:
          - "reload"
        prompts:
          - ".*yes/no].*"
          - ".*confirm].*"
        answers:
          - "yes
"
          - "
"
        seconds_to_wait: 300  # total time to wait for reload
        delay_before_check: 10  # Delay before checking terminal
        command_retries: 1
        continue_on_device_failure: false
      register: reload_result

    - name: Configuration change with confirmation
      cisco.radkit.exec_and_wait:
        device_name: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
        commands:
          - "configure terminal"
          - "interface loopback 999"
          - "description Test interface"
          - "exit"
          - "exit"
        prompts: []
        answers: []
        seconds_to_wait: 30
        delay_before_check: 2
        recovery_test_command: "show running-config interface loopback 999"
      register: config_result

    - name: Reset the Connection
      # The connection must be reset to allow Ansible to poll the router for connectivity
      meta: reset_connection

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Description
device_name string	Device name (for single device compatibility) Returned: success
devices dictionary	Results for each device processed Returned: always
attempt_count integer	Number of recovery attempts Returned: success
device_name string	Name of the device Returned: success
executed_commands list / elements=string	List of commands executed Returned: success
recovery_time float	Time taken for device recovery Returned: success
status string	Execution status (SUCCESS/FAILED) Returned: success
stdout string	Command output Returned: success
executed_commands list / elements=string	Commands executed (for single device compatibility) Returned: success
stdout string	Output of commands (for single device compatibility) Returned: success
summary dictionary	Summary of execution across all devices Returned: always
failed_devices integer	Number of devices that failed Returned: success
successful_devices integer	Number of devices that succeeded Returned: success
total_devices integer	Total number of devices processed Returned: success

Authors

• Scott Dozier (@scdozier)

Collection links

• Issue Tracker
• Repository (Sources)