Dell PowerConnect Switch

This role configures Dell PowerConnect switches using the expect Ansible module.

This role will install the python expect package to the system site packages on the local machine.

Requirements

The switches should be configured to allow SSH access.

Role Variables

dell_powerconnect_switch_provider is authentication provider information, similar to the provider argument to the dellos modules. It should be a dict containing the following fields:

• host: the host or IP address of the switch.
• username: the username with which to access the switch via SSH.
• auth_pass: the password with which to authenticate.

dell_powerconnect_switch_config is a list of configuration lines to apply to the switch, and defaults to an empty list.

dell_powerconnect_switch_interface_config contains interface configuration. It is a dict mapping switch interface names to configuration dicts. Each dict may contain the following items:

• description - a description to apply to the interface.
• name - a name to apply to the vlan interface, if you're configuring a vlan.
• config - a list of per-interface configuration.

dell_powerconnect_switch_write_memory is a boolean flag, which when set to true, will save the switch's running configuration to the startup configuration file, after the role applies its configuration. This will allow the configuration to persist after a restart or power failure. By default, this option is set to false.

dell_powerconnect_switch_write_command is the command which is run when the flag dell_powerconnect_switch_write_memory is set to true. The default command is "write memory".

Dependencies

None

Example Playbook

The following playbook configures hosts in the dell-powerconnect-switches group. It assumes host variables for each switch holding the host, username and passwords. It applies global configuration for LLDP, enables two 10G ethernet interfaces as switchports, and saves the configuration changes to memory.

---
- name: Ensure Dell PowerConnect switches are configured
  hosts: dell-powerconnect-switches
  gather_facts: no
  roles:
    - role: dell-powerconnect-switch
      dell_powerconnect_switch_write_memory: yes
      dell_powerconnect_switch_provider:
        host: "{{ switch_host }}"
        username: "{{ switch_user }}"
        password: "{{ switch_password }}"
        transport: cli
        authorize: yes
        auth_pass: "{{ switch_auth_pass }}"
      dell_powerconnect_switch_config:
        - "protocol lldp"
        - " advertise dot3-tlv max-frame-size"
        - " advertise management-tlv management-address system-description system-name"
        - " advertise interface-port-desc"
        - " no disable"
        - " exit"
      dell_powerconnect_switch_interface_config:
        Te1/1/1:
          description: server-1
          config:
            - "no shutdown"
            - "switchport"
        Te1/1/2:
          description: server-2
          config:
            - "no shutdown"
            - "switchport"
        "vlan 1234":
          name: "mytestvlan"
          config:
            - "ip address 192.168.1.254 255.255.255.0"

Author Information

• Mark Goddard (mark@stackhpc.com)