I’ve recently been playing with OpenWRT, and decided to see if I could use Ansible to manage it.  From a basic install of OpenWRT, here is what needs to be done to be able to manage with Ansible:

• Use the WebUI to upload your SSH public key
• Install a few packages, either via the WebUI or from the CLI with “opkg install”
  • python-light
  • python-logging
  • python-crypto
• On your Ansible control node, specify the following in your ansible.cfg (dropbear does not include the sftp subsystem):

  [ssh_connection]
  scp_if_ssh = True

• Give it a test (output trimmed below for brevity):

  $ ansible -msetup -i [email protected], all
  [email protected] | SUCCESS => {
  "ansible_facts": {
    ...
    "ansible_architecture": "mips",
    ...
    "ansible_distribution": "LEDE",
    "ansible_distribution_version": "17.01.4, Reboot",
    ...
    "ansible_os_family": "LEDE",
    "ansible_pkg_mgr": "opkg",
    ...
    }
  }