How to check `uptime` of Remote Server thru Ansible and send report as CSV and HTML via mail?

Question

How to check `uptime` of Remote Server thru Ansible and send report as CSV and HTML via mail?

889 Views Asked by sab At 06 April 2025 at 16:46

I have created an Ansbile script to check uptime of Remote Servers (nearly 60+ servers in a inventory group linux) and to send it to email with CSV and HTML file. It's working but its sending seperate mail for each server.

I need it to gather the output and send a single mail with all server uptime and hostname in csv and HTML.

Here is my script.

main.yaml

---
- name: Generate Uptime HTML Report and Send Email
  hosts: linux
  gather_facts: true

  vars:

    email_subject: Uptime Report
    email_host: xyz
    email_from: xyz
    email_to: xyz
    email_body_template: templates/report.html.j2
    csv_path: /tmp
    csv_filename: report.csv
    headers: Hostname,Uptime_In_Days

  tasks:

    - name: Get Uptime
      command: uptime
      register: uptime_result

    - name: Extract Uptime in Days
      set_fact:
        uptime_days: "{{ uptime_result.stdout | regex_replace('^.*up ([0-9]+) day.*', '\\1') | int }}"
      when: uptime_result.rc == 0

    - name: Create CSV Data
      set_fact:
        csv_data:
          - Hostname: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
            Uptime_In_Days: "{{ uptime_days }}"
      when: uptime_result.rc == 0

    - name: Transfer CSV Data File
      copy:
        content: "{{ csv_data | to_nice_json }}"
        dest: "{{ csv_path }}/{{ csv_filename }}"
        mode: '0644'

    - name: Send Email
      mail:
        host: "{{ email_host }}"
        from: "{{ email_from }}"
        to: "{{ email_to }}"
        subject: "[Ansible] {{ email_subject }}"
        body: "{{ lookup('template', email_body_template) }}"
        attach: "{{ csv_path }}/{{ csv_filename }}"
        subtype: html

html.j2

<sub><table style="border: 1px solid black; border-collapse: collapse;">
<tr>
    {% for header in headers.split(",") %}
    <th style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 8px 16px;">{{ header }}</th>
    {% endfor %}
</tr>
{% for host in csv_data %}
<tr>
    {% for header in headers.split(",") %}
    <td style="border: 1px solid black; padding: 8px 16px;">{{ host[header] }}</td>
    {% endfor %}
</tr>
{% endfor %}
</table></sub>

Original Q&A

There are 2 best solutions below

**Vladimir Botka** · Answer 1

Take the attribute uptime_seconds from ansible_facts and set the variable uptime in days

    - set_fact:
        uptime: "{{ (ansible_facts.uptime_seconds/86400)|round(2) }}"

Declare the dictionary

  host_uptime: "{{ dict(ansible_play_hosts|
                        zip(ansible_play_hosts|
                            map('extract', hostvars, 'uptime'))) }}"

gives, for example

  host_uptime:
    test_11: '0.52'
    test_13: '0.52'

Create the templates. Fit the formats to your needs

shell> cat templates/report.html.j2
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Report hosts uptime</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <table>
      <tr>
{% for header in headers.split(',') %}
        <th>{{ header }}</th>
{% endfor %}
      </tr>
{% for host in ansible_play_hosts %}
      <tr>
        <td>{{ host }}</td><td>{{ host_uptime[host] }}</td>
      </tr>
{% endfor %}
    </table>
  </body>
</html>

shell> cat templates/report.csv.j2
{{ headers }}
{% for host,uptime in host_uptime.items() %}
{{ host }},{{ uptime }}
{% endfor %}

Test the HTML template

    - debug:
        msg: "{{ lookup('template', 'report.html.j2') }}"

gives

  msg: |-
    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html lang="en">
      <head>
        <title>Report hosts uptime</title>
      </head>
      <body>
        <table>
          <tr>
            <th>Host</th>
            <th>Uptime_In_Days</th>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>test_11</td><td>0.52</td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
            <td>test_13</td><td>0.52</td>
          </tr>
        </table>
      </body>
    </html>

Test the CSV template

    - debug:
        msg: "{{ lookup('template', 'report.csv.j2') }}"

gives

  msg: |-
    Host,Uptime_In_Days
    test_11,0.52
    test_13,0.52

Write the file on the localhost

    - template:
        src: report.csv.j2
        dest: /tmp/report.csv
        mode: 0644
      delegate_to: localhost
      run_once: true

gives

shell> cat /tmp/report.csv 
Host,Uptime_In_Days
test_11,0.52
test_13,0.52

Send the email

   - mail:
        host: localhost
        from: "{{ ansible_user }}"
        to: root
        subject: '[Ansible] Report uptime'
        body: "{{ lookup('template', 'report.html.j2') }}"
        subtype: html
        attach: /tmp/report.csv
      delegate_to: localhost
      run_once: true

gives (where the email client renders HTML to text)

^{Return-Path: <[email protected]>
X-Original-To: root
Delivered-To: [email protected]
Received: from [127.0.0.1] (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by example.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 2FCC41802F6
for <root>; Tue, 24 Oct 2023 05:24:20 +0200 (CEST)
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; -charset="utf-8"; boundary="===============6826681646037083043=="
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: [email protected]
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2023 05:24:20 +0200
Subject: [Ansible] Report uptime
X-Mailer: Ansible mail module
To: [email protected]
Cc:
Message-Id: <[email protected]>

Report hosts uptime
Host Uptime_In_Days
test_110.52
test_130.52

[report.csv application/octet-stream (65 bytes)]

Example of a complete playbook for testing
- name: Mail uptime table
hosts: all
gather_facts: true

vars:

headers: Host,Uptime_In_Days
host_uptime: "{{ dict(ansible_play_hosts|
zip(ansible_play_hosts|
map('extract', hostvars, 'uptime'))) }}"

tasks:

- set_fact:
uptime: "{{ (ansible_facts.uptime_seconds/86400)|round(2) }}"

- block:

- debug:
var: host_uptime
- debug:
msg: "{{ lookup('template', 'report.html.j2') }}"
- debug:
msg: "{{ lookup('template', 'report.csv.j2') }}"

when: debug|d(false)|bool
run_once: true

- block:

- template:
src: report.csv.j2
dest: /tmp/report.csv
mode: 0644

- mail:
host: localhost
from: "{{ ansible_user }}"
to: root
subject: '[Ansible] Report uptime'
body: "{{ lookup('template', 'report.html.j2') }}"
subtype: html
attach: /tmp/report.csv
when: mail_enable|d(false)|bool

delegate_to: localhost
run_once: true}

**U880D** · Answer 2

How to gather uptime on Linux Remote Nodes?

Since you are already gather_facts in order to have Ansible facts avaibale, it also contain ansible_uptime_seconds. See the minimal reproducible example

---
- hosts: localhost
  become: false
  gather_facts: true

  tasks:

  - debug:
      msg: "Days up: {{ (ansible_facts.uptime_seconds / 86400) | int }}"

There is no need for command and set_fact.

It's working but its ... for each server.

A CSV report can therefore directly be written on the Control Node for all hosts in the current play.

---
- hosts: linux
  become: false
  gather_facts: true

  vars:

    csv_path: '.'
    csv_filename: 'report.csv'

  tasks:

  - name: Write uptime into CSV
    delegate_to: localhost # aka Control Node
    lineinfile:
      dest: "{{ csv_path }}/{{ csv_filename }}"
      line: "{{ inventory_hostname }},{{ (ansible_facts.uptime_seconds / 86400) | int }}"
      create: true
      state: present
    loop: "{{ ansible_play_hosts }}"

For How to proceed further? you may have a look into

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