ansible.builtin.mail (v2.9.27) — module

Send an email

| "added in version" 0.8 of ansible.builtin"

Authors: Dag Wieers (@dagwieers)

stableinterface | supported by community

Install Ansible via pip

Install with pip install ansible==2.9.27

Description

This module is useful for sending emails from playbooks.

One may wonder why automate sending emails? In complex environments there are from time to time processes that cannot be automated, either because you lack the authority to make it so, or because not everyone agrees to a common approach.

If you cannot automate a specific step, but the step is non-blocking, sending out an email to the responsible party to make them perform their part of the bargain is an elegant way to put the responsibility in someone else's lap.

Of course sending out a mail can be equally useful as a way to notify one or more people in a team that a specific action has been (successfully) taken.

Usage examples

  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
- name: Example playbook sending mail to root
  mail:
    subject: System {{ ansible_hostname }} has been successfully provisioned.
  delegate_to: localhost
  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
- name: Sending an e-mail using Gmail SMTP servers
  mail:
    host: smtp.gmail.com
    port: 587
    username: username@gmail.com
    password: mysecret
    to: John Smith <john.smith@example.com>
    subject: Ansible-report
    body: System {{ ansible_hostname }} has been successfully provisioned.
  delegate_to: localhost
  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
- name: Send e-mail to a bunch of users, attaching files
  mail:
    host: 127.0.0.1
    port: 2025
    subject: Ansible-report
    body: Hello, this is an e-mail. I hope you like it ;-)
    from: jane@example.net (Jane Jolie)
    to:
    - John Doe <j.d@example.org>
    - Suzie Something <sue@example.com>
    cc: Charlie Root <root@localhost>
    attach:
    - /etc/group
    - /tmp/avatar2.png
    headers:
    - Reply-To=john@example.com
    - X-Special="Something or other"
    charset: us-ascii
  delegate_to: localhost
  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
- name: Sending an e-mail using the remote machine, not the Ansible controller node
  mail:
    host: localhost
    port: 25
    to: John Smith <john.smith@example.com>
    subject: Ansible-report
    body: System {{ ansible_hostname }} has been successfully provisioned.
  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
- name: Sending an e-mail using Legacy SSL to the remote machine
  mail:
    host: localhost
    port: 25
    to: John Smith <john.smith@example.com>
    subject: Ansible-report
    body: System {{ ansible_hostname }} has been successfully provisioned.
    secure: always
  • Success
    Steampunk Spotter scan finished with no errors, warnings or hints.
- name: Sending an e-mail using StartTLS to the remote machine
  mail:
    host: localhost
    port: 25
    to: John Smith <john.smith@example.com>
    subject: Ansible-report
    body: System {{ ansible_hostname }} has been successfully provisioned.
    secure: starttls

Inputs

    
cc:
    description:
    - The email-address(es) the mail is being copied to.
    - This is a list, which may contain address and phrase portions.
    type: list

to:
    aliases:
    - recipients
    default: root
    description:
    - The email-address(es) the mail is being sent to.
    - This is a list, which may contain address and phrase portions.
    type: list

bcc:
    description:
    - The email-address(es) the mail is being 'blind' copied to.
    - This is a list, which may contain address and phrase portions.
    type: list

body:
    default: $subject
    description:
    - The body of the email being sent.
    type: str

from:
    default: root
    description:
    - The email-address the mail is sent from. May contain address and phrase.
    type: str

host:
    default: localhost
    description:
    - The mail server.
    type: str

port:
    default: 25
    description:
    - The mail server port.
    - This must be a valid integer between 1 and 65534
    type: int
    version_added: '1.0'
    version_added_collection: ansible.builtin

attach:
    default: []
    description:
    - A list of pathnames of files to attach to the message.
    - Attached files will have their content-type set to C(application/octet-stream).
    type: list
    version_added: '1.0'
    version_added_collection: ansible.builtin

secure:
    choices:
    - always
    - never
    - starttls
    - try
    default: try
    description:
    - If C(always), the connection will only send email if the connection is Encrypted.
      If the server doesn't accept the encrypted connection it will fail.
    - If C(try), the connection will attempt to setup a secure SSL/TLS session, before
      trying to send.
    - If C(never), the connection will not attempt to setup a secure SSL/TLS session,
      before sending
    - If C(starttls), the connection will try to upgrade to a secure SSL/TLS connection,
      before sending. If it is unable to do so it will fail.
    type: str
    version_added: '2.3'
    version_added_collection: ansible.builtin

charset:
    default: utf-8
    description:
    - The character set of email being sent.
    type: str

headers:
    default: []
    description:
    - A list of headers which should be added to the message.
    - Each individual header is specified as C(header=value) (see example below).
    type: list
    version_added: '1.0'
    version_added_collection: ansible.builtin

subject:
    description:
    - The subject of the email being sent.
    required: true
    type: str

subtype:
    choices:
    - html
    - plain
    default: plain
    description:
    - The minor mime type, can be either C(plain) or C(html).
    - The major type is always C(text).
    type: str
    version_added: '2.0'
    version_added_collection: ansible.builtin

timeout:
    default: 20
    description:
    - Sets the timeout in seconds for connection attempts.
    type: int
    version_added: '2.3'
    version_added_collection: ansible.builtin

password:
    description:
    - If SMTP requires password.
    type: str
    version_added: '1.9'
    version_added_collection: ansible.builtin

username:
    description:
    - If SMTP requires username.
    type: str
    version_added: '1.9'
    version_added_collection: ansible.builtin