When working with Ansible ad-hoc commands, you often need elevated privileges to perform system-level operations. The common approach is to use the --become (or -b) flag with --ask-become-pass, but some environments require the traditional sudo su - approach.

For basic sudo operations in Ansible 2.0.0.2, you would typically use:

ansible somehost -m command -a "cat /etc/passwd" -u someuser --become --ask-become-pass

To specifically emulate sudo su - behavior, you need to combine several parameters:

ansible somehost -m command -a "cat /etc/passwd" \
-u someuser --become --become-method=su \
--become-user=root --ask-become-pass

For frequent usage, consider adding these settings to your ansible.cfg:

[privilege_escalation]
become = True
become_method = su
become_user = root
become_ask_pass = True

Here are common scenarios with sudo su - equivalent commands:

# Install package
ansible webservers -m apt -a "name=nginx state=present" \
--become --become-method=su --ask-become-pass

# Restart service
ansible dbservers -m service -a "name=mysql state=restarted" \
--become --become-method=su

• Ensure the target user has proper sudo rights to execute su -
• Verify /etc/sudoers contains: someuser ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/su -
• Check SELinux context if permissions seem correct but commands fail

When working with Ansible adhoc commands, you often need elevated privileges to perform system-level operations. The standard approach using --ask-sudo-pass works for simple sudo scenarios, but what if your environment requires switching to root via sudo su -?

In Ansible 2.0.0.2, you need to understand several mechanisms:

• The difference between simple sudo and sudo su -
• How Ansible handles privilege escalation
• The proper syntax for complex privilege escalation

For your specific case where sudo su - is required, use this approach:

ansible somehost -m shell -a "sudo su - -c 'cat /etc/passwd'" -u someuser --ask-sudo-pass

In newer Ansible versions, the recommended way is through the become system. For your version (2.0.0.2), you can try:

ansible somehost -m command -a "cat /etc/passwd" -u someuser --become --become-method=su --become-user=root --ask-become-pass

If you encounter problems, check:

1. The remote user's sudoers configuration
2. Password prompt timing (use -vvv for verbose output)
3. SSH connection settings

For complex operations requiring multiple commands as root:

ansible somehost -m shell -a "sudo su - -c 'command1 && command2 || command3'" -u someuser --ask-sudo-pass

Remember that using sudo su - provides full root access. Consider:

• Using more specific sudo privileges when possible
• Implementing proper logging
• Restricting such access to only necessary hosts