Address Information Object

Table of Contents

• Address Information Object
• Table of Contents
• Overview
• Core Methods
• Address Info Model Attributes
• Exceptions
• Basic Configuration
• Usage Examples
  • Retrieving Address Information
  • Getting a Specific Address
  • Listing All Address Objects
  • Filtering by Address Type
  • Filtering by Tags
  • Using Advanced Filtering Options
• Processing Retrieved Information
• Error Handling
• Best Practices
  • Efficient Filtering
  • Container Selection
  • Information Handling
  • Performance Optimization
  • Security Considerations
  • Integration with Other Modules
• Related Modules

Overview

The address_info Ansible module provides functionality to retrieve information about address objects in Palo Alto Networks' Strata Cloud Manager (SCM). This is a read-only module that can retrieve detailed information about a specific address object by name, or list multiple address objects with various filtering options. It supports advanced filtering capabilities including container-based filtering, address type filtering, tag-based filtering, and exclusion filters.

Core Methods

Method	Description	Parameters	Return Type
get()	Gets a specific address by name	name: str, container: str	AddressResponseModel
list()	Lists addresses with filtering	folder: str, **filters	List[AddressResponseModel]
filter()	Applies filters to the results	addresses: List, filter_params: Dict	List[AddressResponseModel]

Address Info Model Attributes

Attribute	Type	Required	Description
name	str	No	The name of a specific address to retrieve
gather_subset	list	No	Determines which information to gather (default: ['config'])
folder	str	One container	Filter addresses by folder (max 64 chars)
snippet	str	One container	Filter addresses by snippet (max 64 chars)
device	str	One container	Filter addresses by device (max 64 chars)
exact_match	bool	No	When True, only return objects in the specified container
exclude_folders	list	No	List of folder names to exclude from results
exclude_snippets	list	No	List of snippet values to exclude from results
exclude_devices	list	No	List of device values to exclude from results
types	list	No	Filter by address types ("netmask", "range", "wildcard", "fqdn")
values	list	No	Filter by address values
tags	list	No	Filter by tags

Exceptions

Exception	Description
ObjectNotPresentError	Address not found
MissingQueryParameterError	Missing required parameters
InvalidFilterError	Invalid filter parameters
AuthenticationError	Authentication failed
ServerError	Internal server error
MultipleMatchesError	Multiple addresses match criteria

Basic Configuration

The Address Info module requires proper authentication credentials to access the Strata Cloud Manager API.

- name: Basic Address Info Configuration
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  vars:
    provider:
      client_id: "your_client_id"
      client_secret: "your_client_secret"
      tsg_id: "your_tsg_id"
      log_level: "INFO"
  tasks:
    - name: Get information about addresses
      cdot65.scm.address_info:
        provider: "{{ provider }}"
        folder: "Texas"
      register: addresses_info

    - name: Display retrieved information
      debug:
        var: addresses_info.addresses

Usage Examples

Retrieving Address Information

The module provides several ways to retrieve address information based on your specific needs.

Getting a Specific Address

This example retrieves detailed information about a specific address by name.

- name: Get information about a specific address
  cdot65.scm.address_info:
    provider: "{{ provider }}"
    name: "web-server"
    folder: "Texas"
  register: address_info

- name: Display address information
  debug:
    var: address_info.address

Listing All Address Objects

This example lists all address objects in a specific folder.

- name: List all address objects in a folder
  cdot65.scm.address_info:
    provider: "{{ provider }}"
    folder: "Texas"
  register: all_addresses

- name: Display count of addresses
  debug:
    msg: "Found {{ all_addresses.addresses | length }} addresses in Texas folder"

Filtering by Address Type

These examples show how to filter addresses by their type.

- name: List only FQDN address objects
  cdot65.scm.address_info:
    provider: "{{ provider }}"
    folder: "Texas"
    types: ["fqdn"]
  register: fqdn_addresses

- name: List all IP/Netmask address objects
  cdot65.scm.address_info:
    provider: "{{ provider }}"
    folder: "Texas"
    types: ["netmask"]
  register: netmask_addresses

Filtering by Tags

This example demonstrates how to find addresses with specific tags.

- name: List addresses with specific tags
  cdot65.scm.address_info:
    provider: "{{ provider }}"
    folder: "Texas"
    tags: ["Production", "Web"]
  register: tagged_addresses

- name: Process tagged addresses
  debug:
    msg: "Address {{ item.name }} is tagged with Production and Web"
  loop: "{{ tagged_addresses.addresses }}"
  when: "'Production' in item.tag and 'Web' in item.tag"

Using Advanced Filtering Options

These examples illustrate more advanced filtering options including exact match and exclusions.

- name: List addresses with exact match and exclusions
  cdot65.scm.address_info:
    provider: "{{ provider }}"
    folder: "Texas"
    exact_match: true
    exclude_folders: ["All"]
    exclude_snippets: ["default"]
  register: filtered_addresses

- name: Use complex filtering with tags and address types
  cdot65.scm.address_info:
    provider: "{{ provider }}"
    folder: "Texas"
    tags: ["Dev"]
    types: ["netmask", "fqdn"]
    exclude_devices: ["DeviceA"]
  register: complex_filtered_addresses

Processing Retrieved Information

After retrieving address information, you can process the data for various purposes such as reporting, inventory management, or integration with other systems.

- name: Create a summary of address information
  block:
    - name: Get all addresses
      cdot65.scm.address_info:
        provider: "{{ provider }}"
        folder: "Texas"
      register: all_addresses

    - name: Group addresses by type
      set_fact:
        netmask_addresses: "{{ all_addresses.addresses | selectattr('ip_netmask', 'defined') | list }}"
        fqdn_addresses: "{{ all_addresses.addresses | selectattr('fqdn', 'defined') | list }}"
        range_addresses: "{{ all_addresses.addresses | selectattr('ip_range', 'defined') | list }}"
        wildcard_addresses: "{{ all_addresses.addresses | selectattr('ip_wildcard', 'defined') | list }}"

    - name: Display summary information
      debug:
        msg: |
          Address Summary:
          - Total Addresses: {{ all_addresses.addresses | length }}
          - IP/Netmask Addresses: {{ netmask_addresses | length }}
          - FQDN Addresses: {{ fqdn_addresses | length }}
          - IP Range Addresses: {{ range_addresses | length }}
          - IP Wildcard Addresses: {{ wildcard_addresses | length }}
          - Addresses with tags: {{ all_addresses.addresses | selectattr('tag', 'defined') | list | length }}

Error Handling

It's important to handle potential errors when retrieving address information.

- name: Retrieve address info with error handling
  block:
    - name: Attempt to retrieve address information
      cdot65.scm.address_info:
        provider: "{{ provider }}"
        name: "nonexistent-address"
        folder: "Texas"
      register: address_info

  rescue:
    - name: Handle address not found error
      debug:
        msg: "Address not found or other error occurred"

    - name: Continue with fallback actions
      cdot65.scm.address_info:
        provider: "{{ provider }}"
        folder: "Texas"
      register: all_addresses

    - name: Log the error and continue
      debug:
        msg: "Continuing with list of all addresses instead of specific address"

Best Practices

Efficient Filtering

• Use specific filters to minimize the result set
• Filter by address type when you only need certain address types
• Combine multiple filters for more precise results
• Consider performance implications when retrieving large datasets

Container Selection

• Use folder, snippet, or device consistently across operations
• Verify container existence before querying
• Use exclusion filters to refine results when working with large containers

Information Handling

• Register results to variables for further processing
• Use Ansible's filtering capabilities (selectattr, map, etc.) on the returned lists
• Check if addresses/address is defined before accessing properties
• Process different address types appropriately (IP/Netmask, FQDN, etc.)

Performance Optimization

• Retrieve only the information you need
• Use name parameter when you need only one specific address
• Use filters to minimize result set size
• Consider caching results for repeated access within the same playbook

Security Considerations

• Protect sensitive information in filter criteria
• Store credentials securely using Ansible Vault
• Limit information gathering to necessary objects only
• Use least privilege accounts for API access

Integration with Other Modules

• Use retrieved address information to inform other module operations
• Combine with address_group_info to understand object relationships
• Create dynamic inventories based on address information
• Generate reports on address usage and distribution

Related Modules

• address - Manage address objects (create, update, delete)
• address_group_info - Retrieve information about address groups
• address_group - Manage address group objects
• tag_info - Retrieve information about tags used with address objects
• security_rule_info - Retrieve information about security rules that use addresses