# IOS Platform Options

IOS supports Enable Mode (Privilege Escalation). This page offers details on how to use Enable Mode on IOS in Ansible.

Topics

- IOS Platform Options

  - Connections Available

  - Using CLI in Ansible

    - Example CLI `group_vars/ios.yml`

    - Example CLI Task

## Connections Available

| CLI
--- | ---
Protocol | SSH
Credentials | uses SSH keys / SSH-agent if present accepts `-u myuser -k` if using password
Indirect Access | via a bastion (jump host)
Connection Settings | `ansible_connection: network_cli`
Enable Mode (Privilege Escalation) | supported: use `ansible_become: yes` with `ansible_become_method: enable` and `ansible_become_password:`
Returned Data Format | `stdout[0].`

For legacy playbooks, IOS still supports `ansible_connection: local`. We recommend modernizing to use `ansible_connection: network_cli` as soon as possible.

## Using CLI in Ansible

### Example CLI `group_vars/ios.yml`

    ansible_connection: network_cli
    ansible_network_os: ios
    ansible_user: myuser
    ansible_password: !vault...
    ansible_become: yes
    ansible_become_method: enable
    ansible_become_password: !vault...
    ansible_ssh_common_args: '-o ProxyCommand="ssh -W %h:%p -q bastion01"'

- If you are using SSH keys (including an ssh-agent) you can remove the `ansible_password` configuration.

- If you are accessing your host directly (not through a bastion/jump host) you can remove the `ansible_ssh_common_args` configuration.

- If you are accessing your host through a bastion/jump host, you cannot include your SSH password in the `ProxyCommand` directive. To prevent secrets from leaking out (for example in `ps` output), SSH does not support providing passwords via environment variables.

### Example CLI Task

    - name: Backup current switch config (ios)
      ios_config:
        backup: yes
      register: backup_ios_location
      when: ansible_network_os == 'ios'

Warning

Never store passwords in plain text. We recommend using SSH keys to authenticate SSH connections. Ansible supports ssh-agent to manage your SSH keys. If you must use passwords to authenticate SSH connections, we recommend encrypting them with Ansible Vault.