How do I read / understand ansible logs on target host (written by syslog)

Question

When you execute ansible on some host, it will write to syslog on that host, something like this:

Dec  1 15:00:22 run-tools python: ansible-<stdin> Invoked with partial=False links=None copy_links=None perms=None owner=False rsync_path=None dest_port=22 _local_rsync_path=rsync group=False existing_only=False archive=True _substitute_controller=False verify_host=False dirs=False private_key=None dest= compress=True rsync_timeout=0 rsync_opts=None set_remote_user=True recursive=None src=/etc/ansible/repo/external/golive/ checksum=False times=None mode=push ssh_args=None delete=False 
Dec  1 15:00:22 run-tools python: ansible-<stdin> Invoked with partial=False links=None copy_links=None perms=None owner=False rsync_path=None dest_port=22 _local_rsync_path=rsync group=False existing_only=False archive=True _substitute_controller=False verify_host=False dirs=False private_key=None dest= compress=True rsync_timeout=0 rsync_opts=None set_remote_user=True recursive=None src=/etc/ansible/repo/external/golive/ checksum=False times=None mode=push ssh_args=None delete=False 
Dec  1 15:00:22 run-tools python: ansible-<stdin> Invoked with partial=False links=None copy_links=None perms=None owner=False rsync_path=None dest_port=22 _local_rsync_path=rsync group=False existing_only=False archive=True _substitute_controller=False verify_host=False dirs=False private_key=None dest= compress=True rsync_timeout=0 rsync_opts=None set_remote_user=True recursive=None src=/etc/ansible/repo/external/golive/ checksum=False times=None mode=push ssh_args=None delete=False 
Dec  1 15:00:56 run-tools python: ansible-<stdin> Invoked with filter=* fact_path=/etc/ansible/facts.d 
Dec  1 15:09:56 run-tools python: ansible-<stdin> Invoked with checksum_algorithm=sha1 mime=False get_checksum=True path=/usr/local/bin/check_open_files_generic.sh checksum_algo=sha1 follow=False get_md5=False 
Dec  1 15:09:56 run-tools python: ansible-<stdin> Invoked with directory_mode=None force=False remote_src=None path=/usr/local/bin/check_open_files_generic.sh owner=root follow=False group=root state=None content=NOT_LOGGING_PARAMETER serole=None diff_peek=None setype=None dest=/usr/local/bin/check_open_files_generic.sh selevel=None original_basename=check_open_files_generic.sh regexp=None validate=None src=check_open_files_generic.sh seuser=None recurse=False delimiter=None mode=0755 backup=None 
Dec  1 15:20:03 run-tools python: ansible-<stdin> Invoked with warn=True executable=None _uses_shell=False _raw_params=visudo -c removes=None creates=None chdir=None 

Is there any documentation or explanation of these logs that would help me understand how to read them? Specifically I would like to be able to see what exactly ansible did, which files it touched etc. Is it possible to find it there? Or reconfigure ansible so that it writes this kind of information in there?

Is it possible to configure these logs at all? How?

Answer 1

I am not aware of documentation that explains the contents of syslog messages specifically. However, you can look at some of the logging code in AnsibleModule.log() to see what's going on. Basically, it's reporting module names and the parameters they were called with.

For configuring logs, there are some good suggestions in response to this related question. The summary is that you can get more information - including your request about what ansible did - by specifying a log path and running with the verbose -v flag. For more fine-grained control, you can attack the problem from two different angles:

• From the playbook side, you can use the debug module or tailor your handling of changed/failed results to suit your needs. Both of those changes can add useful context to your log output.

• Outside of playbooks, you can use Ansible callback plugins to control logging. Here is an example of a callback plugin which intercepts logs and outputs something more human readable.