Ansible Network Automation: Modules

In today's hyper-connected world, where the demand for faster, more reliable, and secure networks continues to grow, the manual configuration and management of network infrastructure have become increasingly challenging. Network automation is a revolutionary approach that is transforming the way we design, deploy, and operate networks. By leveraging cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and software-defined networking (SDN), network automation is driving efficiency, scalability, and agility in network operations.

Ansible ships with a number of modules that can be executed directly on remote hosts or through Playbooks.

Users can also write their own modules. These modules can control system resources, like services, packages, or files, or handle executing system commands.

ansible --help command provides information about the function, syntax, operands of commands. this information is obtained and displayed on your terminal session in response for your request for help.

As shown in below snippet ansible command has many options reflecting to wide capabilities like

Privilege Escalation Options: to control how and which user you become as on target hosts.

Connection Options: to control as whom and how to connect to hosts.

[ielsawy@black_diamond ~]$ ansible --help
usage: ansible [-h] [--version] [-v] [-b] [--become-method BECOME_METHOD]
               [--become-user BECOME_USER] [-K] [-i INVENTORY] [--list-hosts]
               [-l SUBSET] [-P POLL_INTERVAL] [-B SECONDS] [-o] [-t TREE] [-k]
               [--private-key PRIVATE_KEY_FILE] [-u REMOTE_USER]
               [-c CONNECTION] [-T TIMEOUT]
               [--ssh-common-args SSH_COMMON_ARGS]
               [--sftp-extra-args SFTP_EXTRA_ARGS]
               [--scp-extra-args SCP_EXTRA_ARGS]
               [--ssh-extra-args SSH_EXTRA_ARGS] [-C] [--syntax-check] [-D]
               [-e EXTRA_VARS] [--vault-id VAULT_IDS]
               [--ask-vault-pass | --vault-password-file VAULT_PASSWORD_FILES]
               [-f FORKS] [-M MODULE_PATH] [--playbook-dir BASEDIR]
               [-a MODULE_ARGS] [-m MODULE_NAME]
               pattern

Define and run a single task 'playbook' against a set of hosts

positional arguments:
  pattern               host pattern

optional arguments:
  --ask-vault-pass      ask for vault password
  --list-hosts          outputs a list of matching hosts; does not execute
                        anything else
  --playbook-dir BASEDIR
                        Since this tool does not use playbooks, use this as a
                        substitute playbook directory.This sets the relative
                        path for many features including roles/ group_vars/
                        etc.
  --syntax-check        perform a syntax check on the playbook, but do not
                        execute it
  --vault-id VAULT_IDS  the vault identity to use
  --vault-password-file VAULT_PASSWORD_FILES
                        vault password file
  --version             show program's version number, config file location,
                        configured module search path, module location,
                        executable location and exit
  -B SECONDS, --background SECONDS
                        run asynchronously, failing after X seconds
                        (default=N/A)
  -C, --check           don't make any changes; instead, try to predict some
                        of the changes that may occur
  -D, --diff            when changing (small) files and templates, show the
                        differences in those files; works great with --check
  -M MODULE_PATH, --module-path MODULE_PATH
                        prepend colon-separated path(s) to module library (def
                        ault=~/.ansible/plugins/modules:/usr/share/ansible/plu
                        gins/modules)
  -P POLL_INTERVAL, --poll POLL_INTERVAL
                        set the poll interval if using -B (default=15)
  -a MODULE_ARGS, --args MODULE_ARGS
                        module arguments
  -e EXTRA_VARS, --extra-vars EXTRA_VARS
                        set additional variables as key=value or YAML/JSON, if
                        filename prepend with @
  -f FORKS, --forks FORKS
                        specify number of parallel processes to use
                        (default=5)
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i INVENTORY, --inventory INVENTORY, --inventory-file INVENTORY
                        specify inventory host path or comma separated host
                        list. --inventory-file is deprecated
  -l SUBSET, --limit SUBSET
                        further limit selected hosts to an additional pattern
  -m MODULE_NAME, --module-name MODULE_NAME
                        module name to execute (default=command)
  -o, --one-line        condense output
  -t TREE, --tree TREE  log output to this directory
  -v, --verbose         verbose mode (-vvv for more, -vvvv to enable
                        connection debugging)

Privilege Escalation Options:
  control how and which user you become as on target hosts

  --become-method BECOME_METHOD
                        privilege escalation method to use (default=sudo), use
                        `ansible-doc -t become -l` to list valid choices.
  --become-user BECOME_USER
                        run operations as this user (default=root)
  -K, --ask-become-pass
                        ask for privilege escalation password
  -b, --become          run operations with become (does not imply password
                        prompting)

Connection Options:
  control as whom and how to connect to hosts

  --private-key PRIVATE_KEY_FILE, --key-file PRIVATE_KEY_FILE
                        use this file to authenticate the connection
  --scp-extra-args SCP_EXTRA_ARGS
                        specify extra arguments to pass to scp only (e.g. -l)
  --sftp-extra-args SFTP_EXTRA_ARGS
                        specify extra arguments to pass to sftp only (e.g. -f,
                        -l)
  --ssh-common-args SSH_COMMON_ARGS
                        specify common arguments to pass to sftp/scp/ssh (e.g.
                        ProxyCommand)
  --ssh-extra-args SSH_EXTRA_ARGS
                        specify extra arguments to pass to ssh only (e.g. -R)
  -T TIMEOUT, --timeout TIMEOUT
                        override the connection timeout in seconds
                        (default=10)
  -c CONNECTION, --connection CONNECTION
                        connection type to use (default=smart)
  -k, --ask-pass        ask for connection password
  -u REMOTE_USER, --user REMOTE_USER
                        connect as this user (default=None)

Some modules do not make sense in Ad-Hoc (include, meta, etc)        

ansible-doc displays information on modules installed in Ansible libraries. It displays a terse listing of plugins and their descriptions, provides a printout of their documentation strings, examples mentioned in each module can be copied in the developed Playbooks.

[ielsawy@black_diamond ~]$ ansible-doc
usage: ansible-doc [-h] [--version] [-v] [-M MODULE_PATH]
                   [--playbook-dir BASEDIR]
                   [-t {become,cache,callback,cliconf,connection,httpapi,inventory,lookup,netconf,shell,module,strategy,vars}]
                   [-j] [-F | -l | -s | --metadata-dump]
                   [plugin [plugin ...]]

plugin documentation tool

positional arguments:
  plugin                Plugin

optional arguments:
  --metadata-dump       **For internal testing only** Dump json metadata for
                        all plugins.
  --playbook-dir BASEDIR
                        Since this tool does not use playbooks, use this as a
                        substitute playbook directory.This sets the relative
                        path for many features including roles/ group_vars/
                        etc.
  --version             show program's version number, config file location,
                        configured module search path, module location,
                        executable location and exit
  -F, --list_files      Show plugin names and their source files without
                        summaries (implies --list)
  -M MODULE_PATH, --module-path MODULE_PATH
                        prepend colon-separated path(s) to module library (def
                        ault=~/.ansible/plugins/modules:/usr/share/ansible/plu
                        gins/modules)
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -j, --json            Change output into json format.
  -l, --list            List available plugins
  -s, --snippet         Show playbook snippet for specified plugin(s)
  -t {become,cache,callback,cliconf,connection,httpapi,inventory,lookup,netconf,shell,module,strategy,vars}, --type {become,cache,callback,cliconf,connection,httpapi,inventory,lookup,netconf,shell,module,strategy,vars}
                        Choose which plugin type (defaults to "module").
                        Available plugin types are : ('become', 'cache',
                        'callback', 'cliconf', 'connection', 'httpapi',
                        'inventory', 'lookup', 'netconf', 'shell', 'module',
                        'strategy', 'vars')
  -v, --verbose         verbose mode (-vvv for more, -vvvv to enable
                        connection debugging)        

--list or -l option can be used to list all installed modules and grep to filter this the listed modules related to a specific topic, for example:

BGP related modules

[root@black_diamond ~]# ansible-doc -l | grep bgp
ce_bgp_af                                                     Manages BGP Address-family configuration on HUAWEI CloudEngine switch...
pn_vrouterbgp                                                 CLI command to add/remove/modify vrouter-bgp
eos_bgp                                                       Configure global BGP protocol settings on Arista EOS
iosxr_bgp                                                     Configure global BGP protocol settings on Cisco IOS-XR
pn_vrouter_bgp_network                                        CLI command to add/remove vrouter-bgp-network
nxos_bgp_af                                                   Manages BGP Address-family configuration
nxos_bgp_neighbor_af                                          Manages BGP address-family's neighbors configuration
nxos_bgp_neighbor                                             Manages BGP neighbors configurations
frr_bgp                                                       Configure global BGP settings on Free Range Routing(FRR)
ios_bgp                                                       Configure global BGP protocol settings on Cisco IOS
ce_bgp                                                        Manages BGP configuration on HUAWEI CloudEngine switches
cnos_bgp                                                      Manage BGP resources and attributes on devices running CNOS
nxos_bgp                                                      Manages BGP configuration
ce_evpn_bgp                                                   Manages BGP EVPN configuration on HUAWEI CloudEngine switches
fortios_router_bgp                                            Configure BGP in Fortinet's FortiOS and FortiGate
onyx_bgp                                                      Configures BGP on Mellanox ONYX network devices
ce_bgp_neighbor_af                                            Manages BGP neighbor Address-family configuration on HUAWEI CloudEngi...
ce_evpn_bgp_rr                                                Manages RR for the VXLAN Network on HUAWEI CloudEngine switches
ce_bgp_neighbor                                               Manages BGP peer configuration on HUAWEI CloudEngine switches
pn_vrouter_bgp                                                CLI command to add/modify/remove vrouter-bgp        

vmware related modules

[root@black_diamond ~]# ansible-doc -l | grep vmware
vmware_category                                               Manage VMware categories
vmware_host_feature_info                                      Gathers info about an ESXi host's feature capability information
vmware_maintenancemode                                        Place a host into maintenance mode
vmware_host_vmhba_info                                        Gathers info about vmhbas available on the given ESXi host
vmware_cluster                                                Manage VMware vSphere clusters
vmware_host_capability_facts                                  Gathers facts about an ESXi host's capability information
vmware_datastore_maintenancemode                              Place a datastore into maintenance mode
vmware_vm_info                                                Return basic info pertaining to a VMware machine guest
vmware_migrate_vmk                                            Migrate a VMK interface from VSS to VDS
vmware_host_feature_facts                                     Gathers facts about an ESXi host's feature capability information
vmware_guest_powerstate                                       Manages power states of virtual machines in vCenter
vmware_tag_info                                               Manage VMware tag info
vmware_vm_host_drs_rule                                       Creates vm/host group in a given cluster
vmware_dvswitch_uplink_pg                                     Manage uplink portproup configuration of a Distributed Switch
vmware_vm_vss_dvs_migrate                                     Migrates a virtual machine from a standard vswitch to distributed
vmware_guest_disk_facts                                       Gather facts about disks of given virtual machine
vmware_datastore_info                                         Gather info about datastores available in given vCenter
vmware_dvswitch_lacp                                          Manage LACP configuration on a Distributed Switch
vmware_host_ipv6                                              Enables/Disables IPv6 support for an ESXi host system
vmware_content_library_info                                   Gather information about VMware Content Library
vmware_vm_vm_drs_rule                                         Configure VMware DRS Affinity rule for virtual machine in given clust...
vmware_portgroup                                              Create a VMware portgroup
vmware_about_facts                                            Provides information about VMware server to which user is connecting ...
vmware_guest_custom_attributes                                Manage custom attributes from VMware for the given virtual machine
vmware_host_firewall_facts                                    Gathers facts about an ESXi host's firewall configuration information
vmware_about_info                                             Provides information about VMware server to which user is connecting ...
vmware_tag                                                    Manage VMware tags
vmware_export_ovf                                             Exports a VMware virtual machine to an OVF file, device files and a m...
vmware_host_config_info                                       Gathers info about an ESXi host's advance configuration information
vmware_guest_snapshot_info                                    Gather info about virtual machine's snapshots in vCenter
vmware_guest                                                  Manages virtual machines in vCenter
vmware_vswitch                                                Manage a VMware Standard Switch to an ESXi host
vmware_host_facts                                             Gathers facts about remote ESXi hostsystem
vmware_target_canonical_facts                                 Return canonical (NAA) from an ESXi host system
vmware_host_service_manager                                   Manage services on a given ESXi host
vmware_host                                                   Add, remove, or move an ESXi host to, from, or within vCenter
vmware_vmkernel_facts                                         Gathers VMKernel facts about an ESXi host
vmware_resource_pool_info                                     Gathers info about resource pool information
vmware_object_role_permission                                 Manage local roles on an ESXi host
vmware_guest_boot_info                                        Gather info about boot options for the given virtual machine
vmware_guest_video                                            Modify video card configurations of specified virtual machine in give...
vmware_host_package_facts                                     Gathers facts about available packages on an ESXi host
vmware_guest_customization_info                               Gather info about VM customization specifications
vmware_guest_info                                             Gather info about a single VM
vmware_dvswitch                                               Create or remove a Distributed Switch
vmware_portgroup_info                                         Gathers info about an ESXi host's Port Group configuration
vmware_local_user_info                                        Gather info about users on the given ESXi host
vmware_host_scanhba                                           Rescan host HBA's and optionally refresh the storage system
vmware_vcenter_settings                                       Configures general settings on a vCenter server
vmware_cluster_ha                                             Manage High Availability (HA) on VMware vSphere clusters
vmware_folder_info                                            Provides information about folders in a datacenter
vmware_target_canonical_info                                  Return canonical (NAA) from an ESXi host system
vmware_host_package_info                                      Gathers info about available packages on an ESXi host
vmware_vm_storage_policy_info                                 Gather information about vSphere storage profile defined storage poli...
vmware_host_firewall_info                                     Gathers info about an ESXi host's firewall configuration information
vmware_vmotion                                                Move a virtual machine using vMotion, and/or its vmdks using storage ...
vmware_datastore_cluster                                      Manage VMware vSphere datastore clusters
vmware_cluster_drs                                            Manage Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) on VMware vSphere cluster...
vmware_host_datastore                                         Manage a datastore on ESXi host
vmware_guest_tools_upgrade                                    Module to upgrade VMTools
vmware_drs_rule_info                                          Gathers info about DRS rule on the given cluster
vmware_local_role_info                                        Gather info about local roles on an ESXi host
vmware_host_ntp_info                                          Gathers info about NTP configuration on an ESXi host
vmware_host_powerstate                                        Manages power states of host systems in vCenter
vmware_dvs_portgroup_find                                     Find portgroup(s) in a VMware environment
vmware_host_dns_facts                                         Gathers facts about an ESXi host's DNS configuration information
vmware_host_lockdown                                          Manage administrator permission for the local administrative account ...
vmware_dvswitch_nioc                                          Manage distributed switch Network IO Control
vmware_vmkernel_ip_config                                     Configure the VMkernel IP Address
vmware_guest_screenshot                                       Create a screenshot of the Virtual Machine console
vmware_host_ssl_info                                          Gather info of ESXi host system about SSL
vmware_host_ssl_facts                                         Gather facts of ESXi host system about SSL
vmware_vmkernel_info                                          Gathers VMKernel info about an ESXi host
vmware_dvs_host                                               Add or remove a host from distributed virtual switch
vmware_datacenter                                             Manage VMware vSphere Datacenters
vmware_content_deploy_template                                Deploy Virtual Machine from template stored in content library
vmware_host_snmp                                              Configures SNMP on an ESXi host system
vmware_vswitch_info                                           Gathers info about an ESXi host's vswitch configurations
vmware_host_config_manager                                    Manage advanced system settings of an ESXi host
vmware_drs_group_facts                                        Gathers facts about DRS VM/Host groups on the given cluster
vmware_guest_customization_facts                              Gather facts about VM customization specifications
vmware_guest_disk_info                                        Gather info about disks of given virtual machine
vmware_drs_rule_facts                                         Gathers facts about DRS rule on the given cluster
vmware_host_vmhba_facts                                       Gathers facts about vmhbas available on the given ESXi host
vmware_vmkernel                                               Manages a VMware VMkernel Adapter of an ESXi host
vmware_host_hyperthreading                                    Enables/Disables Hyperthreading optimization for an ESXi host system
vmware_local_user_facts                                       Gather facts about users on the given ESXi host
vmware_host_active_directory                                  Joins an ESXi host system to an Active Directory domain or leaves it
vmware_dvs_portgroup_info                                     Gathers info DVS portgroup configurations
vmware_dvswitch_pvlans                                        Manage Private VLAN configuration of a Distributed Switch
vmware_host_powermgmt_policy                                  Manages the Power Management Policy of an ESXI host system
vmware_cfg_backup                                             Backup / Restore / Reset ESXi host configuration
vmware_guest_tools_wait                                       Wait for VMware tools to become available
vmware_vm_shell                                               Run commands in a VMware guest operating system
vmware_vspan_session                                          Create or remove a Port Mirroring session
vmware_dvs_portgroup                                          Create or remove a Distributed vSwitch portgroup
vmware_portgroup_facts                                        Gathers facts about an ESXi host's Port Group configuration
vmware_guest_disk                                             Manage disks related to virtual machine in given vCenter infrastructu...
vmware_host_kernel_manager                                    Manage kernel module options on ESXi hosts
vmware_evc_mode                                               Enable/Disable EVC mode on vCenter
vmware_guest_snapshot                                         Manages virtual machines snapshots in vCenter
vmware_category_facts                                         Gather facts about VMware tag categories
vmware_host_dns_info                                          Gathers info about an ESXi host's DNS configuration information
vmware_vcenter_statistics                                     Configures statistics on a vCenter server
vmware_host_service_info                                      Gathers info about an ESXi host's services
vmware_local_role_facts                                       Gather facts about local roles on an ESXi host
vmware_vswitch_facts                                          Gathers facts about an ESXi host's vswitch configurations
vmware_host_capability_info                                   Gathers info about an ESXi host's capability information
vmware_guest_boot_manager                                     Manage boot options for the given virtual machine
vmware_vsan_cluster                                           Configure VSAN clustering on an ESXi host
vmware_guest_sendkey                                          Send USB HID codes to the Virtual Machine's keyboard
vmware_local_role_manager                                     Manage local roles on an ESXi host
vmware_host_acceptance                                        Manage the host acceptance level of an ESXi host
vmware_host_service_facts                                     Gathers facts about an ESXi host's services
vmware_host_ntp_facts                                         Gathers facts about NTP configuration on an ESXi host
vmware_host_vmnic_info                                        Gathers info about vmnics available on the given ESXi host
vmware_guest_vnc                                              Manages VNC remote display on virtual machines in vCenter
vmware_content_library_manager                                Create, update and delete VMware content library
vmware_host_firewall_manager                                  Manage firewall configurations about an ESXi host
vmware_drs_group                                              Creates vm/host group in a given cluster.
vmware_category_info                                          Gather info about VMware tag categories
vmware_host_vmnic_facts                                       Gathers facts about vmnics available on the given ESXi host
vmware_dvs_portgroup_facts                                    Gathers facts DVS portgroup configurations
vmware_resource_pool                                          Add/remove resource pools to/from vCenter
vmware_dns_config                                             Manage VMware ESXi DNS Configuration
vmware_guest_network                                          Manage network adapters of specified virtual machine in given vCenter...
vmware_guest_custom_attribute_defs                            Manage custom attributes definitions for virtual machine from VMware
vmware_guest_find                                             Find the folder path(s) for a virtual machine by name or UUID
vmware_cluster_vsan                                           Manages virtual storage area network (vSAN) configuration on VMware v...
vmware_cluster_info                                           Gather info about clusters available in given vCenter
vmware_guest_boot_facts                                       Gather facts about boot options for the given virtual machine
vmware_host_config_facts                                      Gathers facts about an ESXi host's advance configuration information
vmware_resource_pool_facts                                    Gathers facts about resource pool information
vmware_tag_manager                                            Manage association of VMware tags with VMware objects
vmware_host_ntp                                               Manage NTP server configuration of an ESXi host
vmware_guest_move                                             Moves virtual machines in vCenter
vmware_guest_file_operation                                   Files operation in a VMware guest operating system without network
vmware_deploy_ovf                                             Deploys a VMware virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file
vmware_local_user_manager                                     Manage local users on an ESXi host
vmware_drs_group_info                                         Gathers info about DRS VM/Host groups on the given cluster        

junos related modules

[root@black_diamond ~]# ansible-doc -l | grep junos
junos_rpc                                                     Runs an arbitrary RPC over NetConf on an Juniper JUNOS device
junos_lacp_interfaces                                         Manage Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) attributes of interfa...
junos_l2_interface                                            Manage Layer-2 interface on Juniper JUNOS network devices
junos_user                                                    Manage local user accounts on Juniper JUNOS devices
junos_scp                                                     Transfer files from or to remote devices running Junos
junos_lacp                                                    Manage Global Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) on Juniper Jun...
junos_banner                                                  Manage multiline banners on Juniper JUNOS devices
junos_package                                                 Installs packages on remote devices running Junos
junos_config                                                  Manage configuration on devices running Juniper JUNOS
junos_l3_interface                                            Manage L3 interfaces on Juniper JUNOS network devices
junos_lldp_interface                                          Manage LLDP interfaces configuration on Juniper JUNOS network devices
junos_lldp_interfaces                                         Manage link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) attributes of interfaces ...
junos_facts                                                   Collect facts from remote devices running Juniper Junos
junos_lldp                                                    Manage LLDP configuration on Juniper JUNOS network devices
junos_l3_interfaces                                           Manage Layer 3 interface on Juniper JUNOS devices
junos_l2_interfaces                                           Manage Layer-2 interface on Juniper JUNOS devices
junos_command                                                 Run arbitrary commands on an Juniper JUNOS device
junos_lldp_global                                             Manage link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) attributes on Juniper JUN...
junos_ping                                                    Tests reachability using ping from devices running Juniper JUNOS
junos_netconf                                                 Configures the Junos Netconf system service
junos_logging                                                 Manage logging on network devices
junos_vlan                                                    Manage VLANs on Juniper JUNOS network devices
junos_linkagg                                                 Manage link aggregation groups on Juniper JUNOS network devices
junos_lag_interfaces                                          Manage Link Aggregation on Juniper JUNOS devices
junos_interfaces                                              Manages interface attributes of Juniper Junos OS network devices
junos_static_route                                            Manage static IP routes on Juniper JUNOS network devices
junos_vlans                                                   Create and manage VLAN configurations on Junos OS
junos_interface                                               Manage Interface on Juniper JUNOS network devices
junos_vrf                                                     Manage the VRF definitions on Juniper JUNOS devices
junos_system                                                  Manage the system attributes on Juniper JUNOS devices        

ansible-doc <module_name> command is used to show details of a specific module illustrating the purpose, options, and configuration capabilities. in addition to a simple playbook example using this module.

[ielsawy@black_diamond ~]$ ansible-doc iosxr_interfaces
> IOSXR_INTERFACES    (/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible/modules/network/iosxr/iosxr_interfaces.py)

        This module manages the interface attributes on Cisco IOS-XR network devices.

  * This module is maintained by The Ansible Network Team
OPTIONS (= is mandatory):

- config
        A dictionary of interface options
        [Default: (null)]
        elements: dict
        suboptions:
          description:
            description:
            - Interface description.
            type: str
          duplex:
            choices:
            - full
            - half
            description:
            - Configures the interface duplex mode. Default is auto-negotiation when not configured.
            type: str
          enabled:
            default: true
            description:
            - Administrative state of the interface.
            - Set the value to `True' to administratively enable the interface or `False'
              to disable it.
            type: bool
          mtu:
            description:
            - Sets the MTU value for the interface. Applicable for Ethernet interfaces only.
            - Refer to vendor documentation for valid values.
            type: int
          name:
            description:
            - Full name of the interface to configure in `type + path' format. e.g. `GigabitEthernet0/0/0/0'
            required: true
            type: str
          speed:
            description:
            - Configure the speed for an interface. Default is auto-negotiation when not configured.
            type: int

        type: list

EXAMPLES:
---
- name: Configure Ethernet interfaces
  iosxr_interfaces:
    config:
      - name: GigabitEthernet0/0/0/2
        description: 'Configured by Ansible'
        enabled: True
      - name: GigabitEthernet0/0/0/3
        description: 'Configured by Ansible Network'
        enabled: False
        duplex: full
    state: merged        

ansible ad-hoc command combined with previously mentioned optional arguments can be used to query information from the network node or apply a change on it using one of the existing ansible modules without developing a playbook.

-m MODULE_NAME, --module-name MODULE_NAME

-a MODULE_ARGS, --args MODULE_ARGS module arguments

can you expect the output of below ad-hoc commands? :)

[ielsawy@black_diamond ~]$ ansible core-routers-cisco -m iosxr_command -a "commands='show version | include uptime'"
[ielsawy@black_diamond ~]$ ansible esxi-servers -m vmware_vm_info -a "commands='esxcli network vm list'"
[ielsawy@black_diamond ~]#  ansible -m ios_facts core-routers-cisco
[ielsawy@black_diamond ~]#  ansible -m ios_facts -a 'gather_subset=config' core-routers-cisco         

References: