mirror of
https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general.git
synced 2024-09-14 20:13:21 +02:00
775 lines
32 KiB
ReStructuredText
775 lines
32 KiB
ReStructuredText
Windows Remote Management
|
|
=========================
|
|
Unlike Linux/Unix hosts, which use SSH by default, Windows hosts are
|
|
configured with WinRM. This topic covers how to configure and use WinRM with Ansible.
|
|
|
|
.. contents:: Topics
|
|
|
|
What is WinRM?
|
|
``````````````
|
|
WinRM is a management protocol used by Windows to remotely communicate with
|
|
another server. It is a SOAP-based protocol that communicates over HTTP/HTTPS, and is
|
|
included in all recent Windows operating systems. Since Windows
|
|
Server 2012, WinRM has been enabled by default, but in most cases extra
|
|
configuration is required to use WinRM with Ansible.
|
|
|
|
Ansible uses the `pywinrm <https://github.com/diyan/pywinrm>`_ package to
|
|
communicate with Windows servers over WinRM. It is not installed by default
|
|
with the Ansible package, but can be installed by running the following::
|
|
|
|
pip install "pywinrm>=0.3.0"
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: on distributions with multiple python versions, use pip2 or pip2.x,
|
|
where x matches the python minor version Ansible is running under.
|
|
|
|
Authentication Options
|
|
``````````````````````
|
|
When connecting to a Windows host, there are several different options that can be used
|
|
when authenticating with an account. The authentication type may be set on inventory
|
|
hosts or groups with the ``ansible_winrm_transport`` variable.
|
|
|
|
The following matrix is a high level overview of the options:
|
|
|
|
+-------------+----------------+---------------------------+-----------------------+-----------------+
|
|
| Option | Local Accounts | Active Directory Accounts | Credential Delegation | HTTP Encryption |
|
|
+=============+================+===========================+=======================+=================+
|
|
| Basic | Yes | No | No | No |
|
|
+-------------+----------------+---------------------------+-----------------------+-----------------+
|
|
| Certificate | Yes | No | No | No |
|
|
+-------------+----------------+---------------------------+-----------------------+-----------------+
|
|
| Kerberos | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
|
+-------------+----------------+---------------------------+-----------------------+-----------------+
|
|
| NTLM | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
|
|
+-------------+----------------+---------------------------+-----------------------+-----------------+
|
|
| CredSSP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
|
+-------------+----------------+---------------------------+-----------------------+-----------------+
|
|
|
|
Basic
|
|
-----
|
|
Basic authentication is one of the simplest authentication options to use, but is
|
|
also the most insecure. This is because the username and password are simply
|
|
base64 encoded, and if a secure channel is not in use (eg, HTTPS) then it can be
|
|
decoded by anyone. Basic authentication can only be used for local accounts (not domain accounts).
|
|
|
|
The following example shows host vars configured for basic authentication::
|
|
|
|
ansible_user: LocalUsername
|
|
ansible_password: Password
|
|
ansible_connection: winrm
|
|
ansible_winrm_transport: basic
|
|
|
|
Basic authentication is not enabled by default on a Windows host but can be
|
|
enabled by running the following in PowerShell:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
Set-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\Service\Auth\Basic -Value $true
|
|
|
|
Certificate
|
|
-----------
|
|
Certificate authentication uses certificates as keys similar to SSH key
|
|
pairs, but the file format and key generation process is different.
|
|
|
|
The following example shows host vars configured for certificate authentication::
|
|
|
|
ansible_connection: winrm
|
|
ansible_winrm_cert_pem: /path/to/certificate/public/key.pem
|
|
ansible_winrm_cert_key_pem: /path/to/certificate/private/key.pem
|
|
ansible_winrm_transport: certificate
|
|
|
|
Certificate authentication is not enabled by default on a Windows host but can
|
|
be enabled by running the following in PowerShell:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
Set-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\Service\Auth\Certificate -Value $true
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: Encrypted private keys cannot be used as the urllib3 library that
|
|
is used by Ansible for WinRM does not support this functionality.
|
|
|
|
Generate a Certificate
|
|
++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
A certificate must be generated before it can be mapped to a local user.
|
|
This can be done using one of the following methods:
|
|
|
|
* OpenSSL
|
|
* PowerShell, using the ``New-SelfSignedCertificate`` cmdlet
|
|
* Active Directory Certificate Services
|
|
|
|
Active Directory Certificate Services is beyond of scope in this documentation but may be
|
|
the best option to use when running in a domain environment. For more information,
|
|
see the `Active Directory Certificate Services documentation <https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732625(v=ws.11).aspx>`_.
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: Using the PowerShell cmdlet ``New-SelfSignedCertificate`` to generate
|
|
a certificate for authentication only works when being generated from a
|
|
Windows 10 or Windows Server 2012 R2 host or later. OpenSSL is still required to
|
|
extract the private key from the PFX certificate to a PEM file for Ansible
|
|
to use.
|
|
|
|
To generate a certificate with ``OpenSSL``:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: shell
|
|
|
|
# set the name of the local user that will have the key mapped to
|
|
USERNAME="username"
|
|
|
|
cat > openssl.conf << EOL
|
|
distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
|
|
[req_distinguished_name]
|
|
[v3_req_client]
|
|
extendedKeyUsage = clientAuth
|
|
subjectAltName = otherName:1.3.6.1.4.1.311.20.2.3;UTF8:$USERNAME@localhost
|
|
EOL
|
|
|
|
export OPENSSL_CONF=openssl.conf
|
|
openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 3650 -newkey rsa:2048 -out cert.pem -outform PEM -keyout cert_key.pem -subj "/CN=$USERNAME" -extensions v3_req_client
|
|
rm openssl.conf
|
|
|
|
|
|
To generate a certificate with ``New-SelfSignedCertificate``:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
# set the name of the local user that will have the key mapped
|
|
$username = "username"
|
|
$output_path = "C:\temp"
|
|
|
|
# instead of generating a file, the cert will be added to the personal
|
|
# LocalComputer folder in the certificate store
|
|
$cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -Type Custom `
|
|
-Subject "CN=$username" `
|
|
-TextExtension @("2.5.29.37={text}1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2","2.5.29.17={text}upn=$username@localhost") `
|
|
-KeyUsage DigitalSignature,KeyEncipherment `
|
|
-KeyAlgorithm RSA `
|
|
-KeyLength 2048
|
|
|
|
# export the public key
|
|
$pem_output = @()
|
|
$pem_output += "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----"
|
|
$pem_output += [System.Convert]::ToBase64String($cert.RawData) -replace ".{64}", "$&`n"
|
|
$pem_output += "-----END CERTIFICATE-----"
|
|
[System.IO.File]::WriteAllLines("$output_path\cert.pem", $pem_output)
|
|
|
|
# export the private key in a PFX file
|
|
[System.IO.File]::WriteAllBytes("$output_path\cert.pfx", $cert.Export("Pfx"))
|
|
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: To convert the PFX file to a private key that pywinrm can use, run
|
|
the following command with OpenSSL
|
|
``openssl pkcs12 -in cert.pfx -nocerts -nodes -out cert_key.pem -passin pass: -passout pass:``
|
|
|
|
Import a Certificate to the Certificate Store
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
Once a certificate has been generated, the issuing certificate needs to be
|
|
imported into the ``Trusted Root Certificate Authorities`` of the
|
|
``LocalMachine`` store, and the client certificate public key must be present
|
|
in the ``Trusted People`` folder of the ``LocalMachine`` store. For this example,
|
|
both the issuing certificate and public key are the same.
|
|
|
|
Following example shows how to import the issuing certificate:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
$cert = New-Object -TypeName System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2
|
|
$cert.Import("cert.pem")
|
|
|
|
$store_name = [System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.StoreName]::Root
|
|
$store_location = [System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.StoreLocation]::LocalMachine
|
|
$store = New-Object -TypeName System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Store -ArgumentList $store_name, $store_location
|
|
$store.Open("MaxAllowed")
|
|
$store.Add($cert)
|
|
$store.Close()
|
|
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: If using ADCS to generate the certificate, then the issuing
|
|
certificate will already be imported and this step can be skipped.
|
|
|
|
The code to import the client certificate public key is:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
$cert = New-Object -TypeName System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2
|
|
$cert.Import("cert.pem")
|
|
|
|
$store_name = [System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.StoreName]::TrustedPeople
|
|
$store_location = [System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.StoreLocation]::LocalMachine
|
|
$store = New-Object -TypeName System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Store -ArgumentList $store_name, $store_location
|
|
$store.Open("MaxAllowed")
|
|
$store.Add($cert)
|
|
$store.Close()
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mapping a Certificate to an Account
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
Once the certificate has been imported, it needs to be mapped to the local user account.
|
|
|
|
This can be done with the following PowerShell command:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
$username = "username"
|
|
$password = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "password" -AsPlainText -Force
|
|
$credential = New-Object -TypeName System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $username, $password
|
|
|
|
# this is the issuer thumbprint which in the case of a self generated cert
|
|
# is the public key thumbprint, additional logic may be required for other
|
|
# scenarios
|
|
$thumbprint = (Get-ChildItem -Path cert:\LocalMachine\root | Where-Object { $_.Subject -eq "CN=$username" }).Thumbprint
|
|
|
|
New-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\ClientCertificate `
|
|
-Subject "$username@localhost" `
|
|
-URI * `
|
|
-Issuer $thumbprint `
|
|
-Credential $credential `
|
|
-Force
|
|
|
|
|
|
Once this is complete, the hostvar ``ansible_winrm_cert_pem`` should be set to
|
|
the path of the public key and the ``ansible_winrm_cert_key_pem`` variable should be set to
|
|
the path of the private key.
|
|
|
|
NTLM
|
|
----
|
|
NTLM is an older authentication mechanism used by Microsoft that can support
|
|
both local and domain accounts. NTLM is enabled by default on the WinRM
|
|
service, so no setup is required before using it.
|
|
|
|
NTLM is the easiest authentication protocol to use and is more secure than
|
|
``Basic`` authentication. If running in a domain environment, ``Kerberos`` should be used
|
|
instead of NTLM.
|
|
|
|
Kerberos has several advantages over using NTLM:
|
|
|
|
* NTLM is an older protocol and does not support newer encryption
|
|
protocols.
|
|
* NTLM is slower to authenticate because it requires more round trips to the host in
|
|
the authentication stage.
|
|
* Unlike Kerberos, NTLM does not allow credential delegation.
|
|
|
|
This example shows host variables configured to use NTLM authentication::
|
|
|
|
ansible_user: LocalUsername
|
|
ansible_password: Password
|
|
ansible_connection: winrm
|
|
ansible_winrm_transport: ntlm
|
|
|
|
Kerberos
|
|
--------
|
|
Kerberos is the recommended authentication option to use when running in a
|
|
domain environment. Kerberos supports features like credential delegation and
|
|
message encryption over HTTP and is one of the more secure options that
|
|
is available through WinRM.
|
|
|
|
Kerberos requires some additional setup work on the Ansible host before it can be
|
|
used properly.
|
|
|
|
The following example shows host vars configured for Kerberos authentication::
|
|
|
|
ansible_user: username@MY.DOMAIN.COM
|
|
ansible_password: Password
|
|
ansible_connection: winrm
|
|
ansible_winrm_transport: kerberos
|
|
|
|
As of Ansible version 2.3, the Kerberos ticket will be created based on
|
|
``ansible_user`` and ``ansible_password``. If running on an older version of
|
|
Ansible or when ``ansible_winrm_kinit_mode`` is ``manual``, a Kerberos
|
|
ticket must already be obtained. See below for more details.
|
|
|
|
There are some extra host variables that can be set::
|
|
|
|
ansible_winrm_kinit_mode: managed/manual (manual means Ansible will not obtain a ticket)
|
|
ansible_winrm_kinit_cmd: the kinit binary to use to obtain a Kerberos ticket (default to kinit)
|
|
ansible_winrm_service: overrides the SPN prefix that is used, the default is ``HTTP`` and should rarely ever need changing
|
|
ansible_winrm_kerberos_delegation: allows the credentials to traverse multiple hops
|
|
ansible_winrm_kerberos_hostname_override: the hostname to be used for the kerberos exchange
|
|
|
|
Installing the Kerberos Library
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
Some system dependencies that must be installed prior to using Kerberos. The script below lists the dependencies based on the distro:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: shell
|
|
|
|
# Via Yum (RHEL/Centos/Fedora)
|
|
yum -y install python-devel krb5-devel krb5-libs krb5-workstation
|
|
|
|
# Via Apt (Ubuntu)
|
|
sudo apt-get install python-dev libkrb5-dev krb5-user
|
|
|
|
# Via Portage (Gentoo)
|
|
emerge -av app-crypt/mit-krb5
|
|
emerge -av dev-python/setuptools
|
|
|
|
# Via Pkg (FreeBSD)
|
|
sudo pkg install security/krb5
|
|
|
|
# Via OpenCSW (Solaris)
|
|
pkgadd -d http://get.opencsw.org/now
|
|
/opt/csw/bin/pkgutil -U
|
|
/opt/csw/bin/pkgutil -y -i libkrb5_3
|
|
|
|
# Via Pacman (Arch Linux)
|
|
pacman -S krb5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Once the dependencies have been installed, the ``python-kerberos`` wrapper can
|
|
be install using ``pip``:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: shell
|
|
|
|
pip install pywinrm[kerberos]
|
|
|
|
|
|
Configuring Host Kerberos
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
Once the dependencies have been installed, Kerberos needs to be configured so
|
|
that it can communicate with a domain. This configuration is done through the
|
|
``/etc/krb5.conf`` file, which is installed with the packages in the script above.
|
|
|
|
To configure Kerberos, in the section that starts with:
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
[realms]
|
|
|
|
Add the full domain name and the fully qualified domain names of the primary
|
|
and secondary Active Directory domain controllers. It should look something
|
|
like this:
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
[realms]
|
|
MY.DOMAIN.COM = {
|
|
kdc = domain-controller1.my.domain.com
|
|
kdc = domain-controller2.my.domain.com
|
|
}
|
|
|
|
In the section that starts with:
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
[domain_realm]
|
|
|
|
Add a line like the following for each domain that Ansible needs access for:
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
[domain_realm]
|
|
.my.domain.com = MY.DOMAIN.COM
|
|
|
|
You can configure other settings in this file such as the default domain. See
|
|
`krb5.conf <https://web.mit.edu/kerberos/krb5-1.12/doc/admin/conf_files/krb5_conf.html>`_
|
|
for more details.
|
|
|
|
Automatic Kerberos Ticket Management
|
|
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
Ansible version 2.3 and later defaults to automatically managing Kerberos tickets
|
|
when both ``ansible_user`` and ``ansible_password`` are specified for a host. In
|
|
this process, a new ticket is created in a temporary credential cache for each
|
|
host. This is done before each task executes to minimize the chance of ticket
|
|
expiration. The temporary credential caches are deleted after each task
|
|
completes and will not interfere with the default credential cache.
|
|
|
|
To disable automatic ticket management, set ``ansible_winrm_kinit_mode=manual``
|
|
via the inventory.
|
|
|
|
Automatic ticket management requires a standard ``kinit`` binary on the control
|
|
host system path. To specify a different location or binary name, set the
|
|
``ansible_winrm_kinit_cmd`` hostvar to the fully qualified path to a MIT krbv5
|
|
``kinit``-compatible binary.
|
|
|
|
Manual Kerberos Ticket Management
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
To manually manage Kerberos tickets, the ``kinit`` binary is used. To
|
|
obtain a new ticket the following command is used:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: shell
|
|
|
|
kinit username@MY.DOMAIN.COM
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: The domain must match the configured Kerberos realm exactly, and must be in upper case.
|
|
|
|
To see what tickets (if any) have been acquired, use the following command:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: shell
|
|
|
|
klist
|
|
|
|
To destroy all the tickets that have been acquired, use the following command:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: shell
|
|
|
|
kdestroy
|
|
|
|
Troubleshooting Kerberos
|
|
++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
Kerberos is reliant on a properly-configured environment to
|
|
work. To troubleshoot Kerberos issues, ensure that:
|
|
|
|
* The hostname set for the Windows host is the FQDN and not an IP address.
|
|
|
|
* The forward and reverse DNS lookups are working properly in the domain. To
|
|
test this, ping the windows host by name and then use the ip address returned
|
|
with ``nslookup``. The same name should be returned when using ``nslookup``
|
|
on the IP address.
|
|
|
|
* The Ansible host's clock is synchronized with the domain controller. Kerberos
|
|
is time sensitive, and a little clock drift can cause the ticket generation
|
|
process to fail.
|
|
|
|
* Ensure that the fully qualified domain name for the domain is configured in
|
|
the ``krb5.conf`` file. To check this, run::
|
|
|
|
kinit -C username@MY.DOMAIN.COM
|
|
klist
|
|
|
|
If the domain name returned by ``klist`` is different from the one requested,
|
|
an alias is being used. The ``krb5.conf`` file needs to be updated so that
|
|
the fully qualified domain name is used and not an alias.
|
|
|
|
CredSSP
|
|
-------
|
|
CredSSP authentication is a newer authentication protocol that allows
|
|
credential delegation. This is achieved by encrypting the username and password
|
|
after authentication has succeeded and sending that to the server using the
|
|
CredSSP protocol.
|
|
|
|
Because the username and password are sent to the server to be used for double
|
|
hop authentication, ensure that the hosts that the Windows host communicates with are
|
|
not compromised and are trusted.
|
|
|
|
CredSSP can be used for both local and domain accounts and also supports
|
|
message encryption over HTTP.
|
|
|
|
To use CredSSP authentication, the host vars are configured like so::
|
|
|
|
ansible_user: Username
|
|
ansible_password: Password
|
|
ansible_connection: winrm
|
|
ansible_winrm_transport: credssp
|
|
|
|
There are some extra host variables that can be set as shown below::
|
|
|
|
ansible_winrm_credssp_disable_tlsv1_2: when true, will not use TLS 1.2 in the CredSSP auth process
|
|
|
|
CredSSP authentication is not enabled by default on a Windows host, but can
|
|
be enabled by running the following in PowerShell:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
Enable-WSManCredSSP -Role Server -Force
|
|
|
|
Installing CredSSP Library
|
|
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
|
|
The ``requests-credssp`` wrapper can be installed using ``pip``:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: bash
|
|
|
|
pip install pywinrm[credssp]
|
|
|
|
CredSSP and TLS 1.2
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++
|
|
By default the ``requests-credssp`` library is configured to authenticate over
|
|
the TLS 1.2 protocol. TLS 1.2 is installed and enabled by default for Windows Server 2012
|
|
and Windows 8 and more recent releases.
|
|
|
|
There are two ways that older hosts can be used with CredSSP:
|
|
|
|
* Install and enable a hotfix to enable TLS 1.2 support (recommended
|
|
for Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7).
|
|
|
|
* Set ``ansible_winrm_credssp_disable_tlsv1_2=True`` in the inventory to run
|
|
over TLS 1.0. This is the only option when connecting to Windows Server 2008, which
|
|
has no way of supporting TLS 1.2
|
|
|
|
To enable TLS 1.2 support on Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, the optional update
|
|
`KRB3080079 <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3080079/update-to-add-rds-support-for-tls-1.1-and-tls-1.2-in-windows-7-or-windows-server-2008-r2>`_
|
|
needs to be installed.
|
|
|
|
Once the update has been applied and the Windows host rebooted, run the following
|
|
PowerShell commands to enable TLS 1.2:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
$reg_path = "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProvider\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2"
|
|
New-Item -Path $reg_path
|
|
New-Item -Path "$reg_path\Server"
|
|
New-Item -Path "$reg_path\Client"
|
|
|
|
New-ItemProperty -Path "$reg_path\Server" -Name "Enabled" -Value 1 -PropertyType DWord
|
|
New-ItemProperty -Path "$reg_path\Server" -Name "DisabledByDefault" -Value 0 -PropertyType DWord
|
|
New-ItemProperty -Path "$reg_path\Client" -Name "Enabled" -Value 1 -PropertyType DWord
|
|
New-ItemProperty -Path "$reg_path\Client" -Name "DisabledByDefault" -Value 0 -PropertyType DWord
|
|
|
|
Set CredSSP Certificate
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
CredSSP works by encrypting the credentials through the TLS protocol and uses a self-signed certificate by default. The ``CertificateThumbprint`` option under the WinRM service configuration can be used to specify the thumbprint of
|
|
another certificate.
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: This certificate configuration is independent of the WinRM listener
|
|
certificate. With CredSSP, message transport still occurs over the WinRM listener,
|
|
but the TLS-encrypted messages inside the channel use the service-level certificate.
|
|
|
|
To explicitly set the certificate to use for CredSSP:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
# note the value $certificate_thumbprint will be different in each
|
|
# situation, this needs to be set based on the cert that is used.
|
|
$certificate_thumbprint = "7C8DCBD5427AFEE6560F4AF524E325915F51172C"
|
|
|
|
# set the thumbprint value
|
|
Set-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\Service\CertificateThumbprint -Value $certificate_thumbprint
|
|
|
|
Non-Administrator Accounts
|
|
``````````````````````````
|
|
WinRM is configured by default to only allow connections from accounts in the local
|
|
``Administrators`` group. This can be changed by running:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
winrm configSDDL default
|
|
|
|
This will display an ACL editor, where new users or groups may be added. To run commands
|
|
over WinRM, users and groups must have at least the ``Read`` and ``Execute`` permissions
|
|
enabled.
|
|
|
|
While non-administrative accounts can be used with WinRM, most typical server administration
|
|
tasks require some level of administrative access, so the utility is usually limited.
|
|
|
|
WinRM Encryption
|
|
````````````````
|
|
By default WinRM will fail to work when running over an unencrypted channel.
|
|
The WinRM protocol considers the channel to be encrypted if using TLS over HTTP
|
|
(HTTPS) or using message level encryption. Using WinRM with TLS is the
|
|
recommended option as it works with all authentication options, but requires
|
|
a certificate to be created and used on the WinRM listener.
|
|
|
|
The ``ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1`` creates a self-signed certificate and
|
|
creates the listener with that certificate. If in a domain environment, ADCS
|
|
can also create a certificate for the host that is issued by the domain itself.
|
|
|
|
If using HTTPS is not an option, then HTTP can be used when the authentication
|
|
option is ``NTLM``, ``Kerberos`` or ``CredSSP``. These protocols will encrypt
|
|
the WinRM payload with their own encryption method before sending it to the
|
|
server. The message-level encryption is not used when running over HTTPS because the
|
|
encryption uses the more secure TLS protocol instead. If both transport and
|
|
message encryption is required, set ``ansible_winrm_message_encryption=always``
|
|
in the host vars.
|
|
|
|
A last resort is to disable the encryption requirement on the Windows host. This
|
|
should only be used for development and debugging purposes, as anything sent
|
|
from Ansible can viewed by anyone on the network. To disable the encryption
|
|
requirement, run the following from PowerShell on the target host:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: guess
|
|
|
|
Set-Item -Path WSMan:\localhost\Service\AllowUnencrypted -Value $true
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: Do not disable the encryption check unless it is
|
|
absolutely required. Doing so could allow sensitive information like
|
|
credentials and files to be intercepted by others on the network.
|
|
|
|
Inventory Options
|
|
`````````````````
|
|
Ansible's Windows support relies on a few standard variables to indicate the
|
|
username, password, and connection type of the remote hosts. These variables
|
|
are most easily set up in the inventory, but can be set on the ``host_vars``/
|
|
``group_vars`` level.
|
|
|
|
When setting up the inventory, the following variables are required::
|
|
|
|
# it is suggested that these be encrypted with ansible-vault:
|
|
# ansible-vault edit group_vars/windows.yml
|
|
ansible_connection: winrm
|
|
|
|
# may also be passed on the command-line via --user
|
|
ansible_user: Administrator
|
|
|
|
# may also be supplied at runtime with --ask-pass
|
|
ansible_password: SecretPasswordGoesHere
|
|
|
|
|
|
Using the variables above, Ansible will connect to the Windows host with Basic
|
|
authentication through HTTPS. If ``ansible_user`` has a UPN value like
|
|
``username@MY.DOMAIN.COM`` then the authentication option will automatically attempt
|
|
to use Kerberos unless ``ansible_winrm_transport`` has been set to something other than
|
|
``kerberos``.
|
|
|
|
The following custom inventory variables are also supported
|
|
for additional configuration of WinRM connections:
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_port``: The port WinRM will run over, HTTPS is ``5986`` which is
|
|
the default while HTTP is ``5985``
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_scheme``: Specify the connection scheme (``http`` or
|
|
``https``) to use for the WinRM connection. Ansible uses ``https`` by default
|
|
unless ``ansible_port`` is ``5985``
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_path``: Specify an alternate path to the WinRM endpoint,
|
|
Ansible uses ``/wsman`` by default
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_realm``: Specify the realm to use for Kerberos
|
|
authentication. If ``ansible_user`` contains ``@``, Ansible will use the part
|
|
of the username after ``@`` by default
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_transport``: Specify one or more authentication transport
|
|
options as a comma-separated list. By default, Ansible will use ``kerberos,
|
|
basic`` if the ``kerberos`` module is installed and a realm is defined,
|
|
otherwise it will be ``plaintext``
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation``: Specify the server certificate
|
|
validation mode (``ignore`` or ``validate``). Ansible defaults to
|
|
``validate`` on Python 2.7.9 and higher, which will result in certificate
|
|
validation errors against the Windows self-signed certificates. Unless
|
|
verifiable certificates have been configured on the WinRM listeners, this
|
|
should be set to ``ignore``
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_operation_timeout_sec``: Increase the default timeout for
|
|
WinRM operations, Ansible uses ``20`` by default
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_read_timeout_sec``: Increase the WinRM read timeout, Ansible
|
|
uses ``30`` by default. Useful if there are intermittent network issues and
|
|
read timeout errors keep occurring
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_message_encryption``: Specify the message encryption
|
|
operation (``auto``, ``always``, ``never``) to use, Ansible uses ``auto`` by
|
|
default. ``auto`` means message encryption is only used when
|
|
``ansible_winrm_scheme`` is ``http`` and ``ansible_winrm_transport`` supports
|
|
message encryption. ``always`` means message encryption will always be used
|
|
and ``never`` means message encryption will never be used
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_ca_trust_path``: Used to specify a different cacert container
|
|
than the one used in the ``certifi`` module. See the HTTPS Certificate
|
|
Validation section for more details.
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_send_cbt``: When using ``ntlm`` or ``kerberos`` over HTTPS,
|
|
the authentication library will try to send channel binding tokens to
|
|
mitigate against man in the middle attacks. This flag controls whether these
|
|
bindings will be sent or not (default: ``True``).
|
|
|
|
* ``ansible_winrm_*``: Any additional keyword arguments supported by
|
|
``winrm.Protocol`` may be provided in place of ``*``
|
|
|
|
In addition, there are also specific variables that need to be set
|
|
for each authentication option. See the section on authentication above for more information.
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: Ansible 2.0 has deprecated the "ssh" from ``ansible_ssh_user``,
|
|
``ansible_ssh_pass``, ``ansible_ssh_host``, and ``ansible_ssh_port`` to
|
|
become ``ansible_user``, ``ansible_password``, ``ansible_host``, and
|
|
``ansible_port``. If using a version of Ansible prior to 2.0, the older
|
|
style (``ansible_ssh_*``) should be used instead. The shorter variables
|
|
are ignored, without warning, in older versions of Ansible.
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: ``ansible_winrm_message_encryption`` is different from transport
|
|
encryption done over TLS. The WinRM payload is still encrypted with TLS
|
|
when run over HTTPS, even if ``ansible_winrm_message_encryption=never``.
|
|
|
|
IPv6 Addresses
|
|
``````````````
|
|
IPv6 addresses can be used instead of IPv4 addresses or hostnames. This option
|
|
is normally set in an inventory. Ansible will attempt to parse the address
|
|
using the `ipaddress <https://docs.python.org/3/library/ipaddress.html>`_
|
|
package and pass to pywinrm correctly.
|
|
|
|
When defining a host using an IPv6 address, just add the IPv6 address as you
|
|
would an IPv4 address or hostname::
|
|
|
|
[windows-server]
|
|
2001:db8::1
|
|
|
|
[windows-server:vars]
|
|
ansible_user=username
|
|
ansible_password=password
|
|
ansible_connection=winrm
|
|
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: The ipaddress library is only included by default in Python 3.x. To
|
|
use IPv6 addresses in Python 2.7, make sure to run ``pip install ipaddress`` which installs
|
|
a backported package.
|
|
|
|
HTTPS Certificate Validation
|
|
````````````````````````````
|
|
As part of the TLS protocol, the certificate is validated to ensure the host
|
|
matches the subject and the client trusts the issuer of the server certificate.
|
|
When using a self-signed certificate or setting
|
|
``ansible_winrm_server_cert_validation: ignore`` these security mechanisms are
|
|
bypassed. While self signed certificates will always need the ``ignore`` flag,
|
|
certificates that have been issued from a certificate authority can still be
|
|
validated.
|
|
|
|
One of the more common ways of setting up a HTTPS listener in a domain
|
|
environment is to use Active Directory Certificate Service (AD CS). AD CS is
|
|
used to generate signed certificates from a Certificate Signing Request (CSR).
|
|
If the WinRM HTTPS listener is using a certificate that has been signed by
|
|
another authority, like AD CS, then Ansible can be set up to trust that
|
|
issuer as part of the TLS handshake.
|
|
|
|
To get Ansible to trust a Certificate Authority (CA) like AD CS, the issuer
|
|
certificate of the CA can be exported as a PEM encoded certificate. This
|
|
certificate can then be copied locally to the Ansible controller and used as a
|
|
source of certificate validation, otherwise known as a CA chain.
|
|
|
|
The CA chain can contain a single or multiple issuer certificates and each
|
|
entry is contained on a new line. To then use the custom CA chain as part of
|
|
the validation process, set ``ansible_winrm_ca_trust_path`` to the path of the
|
|
file. If this variable is not set, the default CA chain is used instead which
|
|
is located in the install path of the Python package
|
|
`certifi <https://github.com/certifi/python-certifi>`_.
|
|
|
|
.. Note:: Each HTTP call is done by the Python requests library which does not
|
|
use the systems built-in certificate store as a trust authority.
|
|
Certificate validation will fail if the server's certificate issuer is
|
|
only added to the system's truststore.
|
|
|
|
Limitations
|
|
```````````
|
|
Due to the design of the WinRM protocol , there are a few limitations
|
|
when using WinRM that can cause issues when creating playbooks for Ansible.
|
|
These include:
|
|
|
|
* Credentials are not delegated for most authentication types, which causes
|
|
authentication errors when accessing network resources or installing certain
|
|
programs.
|
|
|
|
* Many calls to the Windows Update API are blocked when running over WinRM.
|
|
|
|
* Some programs fail to install with WinRM due to no credential delegation or
|
|
because they access forbidden Windows API like WUA over WinRM.
|
|
|
|
* Commands under WinRM are done under a non-interactive session, which can prevent
|
|
certain commands or executables from running.
|
|
|
|
* You cannot run a process that interacts with ``DPAPI``, which is used by some
|
|
installers (like Microsoft SQL Server).
|
|
|
|
Some of these limitations can be mitigated by doing one of the following:
|
|
|
|
* Set ``ansible_winrm_transport`` to ``credssp`` or ``kerberos`` (with
|
|
``ansible_winrm_kerberos_delegation=true``) to bypass the double hop issue
|
|
and access network resources
|
|
|
|
* Use ``become`` to bypass all WinRM restrictions and run a command as it would
|
|
locally. Unlike using an authentication transport like ``credssp``, this will
|
|
also remove the non-interactive restriction and API restrictions like WUA and
|
|
DPAPI
|
|
|
|
* Use a scheduled task to run a command which can be created with the
|
|
``win_scheduled_task`` module. Like ``become``, this bypasses all WinRM
|
|
restrictions but can only run a command and not modules.
|
|
|
|
|
|
.. seealso::
|
|
|
|
:doc:`index`
|
|
The documentation index
|
|
:doc:`playbooks`
|
|
An introduction to playbooks
|
|
:doc:`playbooks_best_practices`
|
|
Best practices advice
|
|
:ref:`List of Windows Modules <windows_modules>`
|
|
Windows specific module list, all implemented in PowerShell
|
|
`User Mailing List <https://groups.google.com/group/ansible-project>`_
|
|
Have a question? Stop by the google group!
|
|
`irc.freenode.net <http://irc.freenode.net>`_
|
|
#ansible IRC chat channel
|