Technical Documentation: ICMP Ping Playbook

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Overview

This Ansible playbook is used to execute ICMP ping tests against specified destination IP addresses or hostnames from the group of machines defined under the icmp inventory group. It is typically used in automated network test setups, such as in the ANT (Automated NFT Testing) framework, to verify reachability between machines.

The playbook leverages the built-in Ansible shell module to execute the ping command on remote hosts and prints out the results.

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Structure

Hosts

• icmp: This playbook runs against all hosts listed under the icmp group in the Ansible inventory file.

Playbook Tasks

1. Run the ping script

• Module: ansible.builtin.shell
• Command: ping -c 4 {{ item }}
• Loop: Iterates over the list defined by the destination variable, which should be a list of IP addresses or hostnames to ping.
• Register: The results of all ping commands are saved in the ping_result variable.

2. Print result

• Module: debug
• Variable: Prints the contents of ping_result.results, which contains the result of each ping command executed.

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Dependencies

• Ansible: This playbook must be run in an environment where Ansible is installed.
• ICMP Permissions: The remote hosts must have permission to execute ping, which may require elevated privileges depending on the system configuration.
• Inventory: A valid inventory file with a host group named icmp.

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Example Inventory Snippet

icmp:
  hosts:
    test-vm-1:
      ansible_host: 192.168.1.10
      ansible_user: testuser
      ansible_password: testpass