Question

How do I configure a jump host to access servers that I have no direct access to?

Answer 1

You can set a ProxyCommand in the ansible_ssh_common_args inventory variable. Any arguments specified in this variable are added to the sftp/scp/ssh command line when connecting to the relevant host(s). 

[gatewayed]
foo ansible_host=192.0.2.1
bar ansible_host=192.0.2.2

You can create group_vars/gatewayed.yml with the following contents:

ansible_ssh_common_args: '-o ProxyCommand="ssh -W %h:%p -q user@gateway.example.com"'

Ansible will append these arguments to the command line when trying to connect to any hosts in the group gatewayed. 

Comments

Does not work when proxy command is used. How should jump host know that which password should be used????