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Luca Berton is an Ansible automation expert, author of 8 Ansible books published by Apress and Leanpub including "Ansible for VMware by Examples" and "Ansible for Kubernetes by Example", and creator of the Ansible Pilot YouTube channel. He shares practical automation knowledge through tutorials, books, and video courses to help IT professionals and DevOps engineers master infrastructure automation.

community.routeros 3.18.0 — New Feature for API Modify Module

By Luca Berton · Published 2024-01-01 · Category: installation

community.routeros 3.18.0 adds a new feature for the api_modify module supporting the interface veth path on MikroTik RouterOS devices.

community.routeros 3.18.0 Release

community.routeros 3.18.0 has been released with a new feature for the api_modify module.

See also: Automate Mikrotik RouterOS Config Backups with Ansible

What's New

  • Interface veth support in the api_modify module path, enabling management of virtual Ethernet interfaces on MikroTik RouterOS devices

How to Install or Upgrade

ansible-galaxy collection install community.routeros:==3.18.0 --upgrade

About community.routeros

The community.routeros collection provides modules for managing MikroTik RouterOS devices via Ansible:

  • routeros_command — Run commands on RouterOS devices
  • api_modify — Modify RouterOS configuration via API
  • api_info — Retrieve RouterOS configuration via API
  • routeros_facts — Gather facts from RouterOS devices

Resources

See also: Ansible on MikroTik RouterOS 7 Automation Complete Guide

How to Verify the Install

After installing or upgrading the collection, confirm the version is what you expect:

ansible-galaxy collection list community.routeros
ansible-galaxy collection verify community.routeros:3.18.0

Expected output:

Collection         Version
------------------ -------
community.routeros 3.18.0

If you maintain a requirements.yml, pin the version explicitly so CI runs are reproducible:

collections:
  - name: community.routeros
    version: "3.18.0"

Then install with ansible-galaxy collection install -r requirements.yml --force.

Module Discovery

List every module shipped by the collection and read the inline docs:

ansible-doc -l community.routeros
ansible-doc community.routeros.<module_name>

Use ansible-doc -t plugin_type community.routeros to enumerate filter, lookup, callback, inventory, and other plugin types beyond modules.

See also: community.openwrt 1.2.0 — New Module and Bug Fixes for OpenWrt

Best Practices for Production Use

  • Pin the collection version in requirements.yml — never rely on "latest" in a CI pipeline. Patch releases can change behavior even when SemVer says they should not.
  • Run ansible-galaxy collection verify in CI to detect tampering / corrupted tarballs.
  • Build an Execution Environment with the pinned collection so the same artifacts run in dev, staging, and prod (ansible-builder build).
  • Test idempotency: every task using a module from this collection should be changed=0 on a second run. If not, file an issue or guard with changed_when.
  • Read the changelog before upgrading — minor and patch releases of community collections occasionally include breaking fixes that the maintainers consider "correctness" rather than SemVer-breaking.

Should You Upgrade?

  • If you're on the same MAJOR version, upgrading to 3.18.0 is generally safe and brings bug fixes plus new module parameters.
  • If 3.18.0 is a new MAJOR (X.0.0), review the changelog for module renames, removed parameters, and deprecation warnings — these accumulate even in actively-maintained collections.
  • For locked enterprise deployments, stage the upgrade in a non-production Execution Environment first.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I install community.routeros 3.18.0 from Ansible Galaxy?

ansible-galaxy collection install community.routeros:3.18.0

To upgrade an existing install in place, append --upgrade (or --force to overwrite without version check).

Where does Ansible install collections by default?

User collections install to ~/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community/routeros/. System-wide installs go to /usr/share/ansible/collections/. Override with the -p / --collections-path flag or the ANSIBLE_COLLECTIONS_PATH environment variable.

Can I use community.routeros 3.18.0 with older ansible-core versions?

Most community collections declare a minimum ansible-core requirement in their runtime.yml. Run ansible-galaxy collection install and watch for warnings; if the collection requires a newer ansible-core than yours, the install will warn and modules may fail at runtime with cryptic errors. Always upgrade ansible-core in lockstep with major collection bumps.

How do I report a bug in community.routeros?

Open an issue at https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.routeros including the output of ansible --version, ansible-galaxy collection list community.routeros, and a minimal playbook reproducer.

Is community.routeros certified by Red Hat?

community. collections are community-maintained and not included in Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform's certified content stream. For supported equivalents, look for the matching redhat. or vendor-specific certified collection on https://console.redhat.com/ansible/automation-hub.

Category: installation

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