Ansible Role: dnf-update

ℹ️ Note
A detailed tutorial is available at: https://www.filipnet.de/ansible-dnf-update

This Ansible role updates Enterprise Linux hosts (RHEL, CentOS, AlmaLinux, Rocky) using dnf, logs the system state before and after updates, generates diffs, and optionally sends a mail report.

Note: This role supports the automatic creation of snapshots for Proxmox LXC containers and QEMU virtual machines. It requires an additional role, which will be documented in a follow-up tutorial.

• Further information and usage details can be found in the tutorial: https://www.filipnet.de/ansible-proxmox-snapshot/

• The role’s source code is available on GitHub: https://github.com/filipnet/ansible-proxmox-snapshot

Table of contents

• Ansible Role: dnf-update
  • Table of contents
  • Features
  • Role Variables
  • Example Playbook
  • Contributions
  • License

Features

• Update packages using dnf
• Log system state before and after updates (installed packages, running services)
• Generate diffs for packages and services
• Timestamped logs stored in /var/log/dnf-update
• Optional system reboot after update
• Optional Proxmox snapshot before update
• Optional email report with diffs included in the mail body
• Optional dry-run mode for testing

Role Variables

Main variables can be configured in defaults/main.yml.
Recommendation: Define them in group_vars/all.yml or a group-specific vars file.
Configuring them per host is possible but not efficient, since you would have to set them on every single system you want to update.

Example Playbook

Create a playbook update.yml:

Here is an example of how to run the role against all Red Hat–based VMs and LXC containers.

- hosts: all
  become: yes
  roles:
    - role: dnf-update
      when: ansible_os_family == "RedHat"

If you want to run it against a specific host instead of all hosts in your inventory, use the -l (limit) flag.

ansible-playbook update.yml -l myserver.example.com

You can also use an IP address:

ansible-playbook update.yml -l 192.168.1.10

Or run it against multiple hosts separated by commas:

ansible-playbook update.yml -l "web01,db02"

Or limit to an inventory group:

ansible-playbook update.yml -l production

Or if you use a specific inventory

ansible-playbook -i inventory/example update.yml -l web01.examplecorp.io

Contributions

Contributions are welcome! If you would like to improve this project, please feel free to submit a pull request. All contributions, bug reports, and feature suggestions are appreciated.

License

dnf-update and all individual scripts are under the BSD 3-Clause license unless explicitly noted otherwise. See the LICENSE file for more details.