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The html_fancy and txt_table templates display host information in columns. This page documents all available columns, their data sources, and default visibility.

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Column Overview

Columns can be customized using:
  • --columns flag to specify which columns to include
  • --exclude-cols flag to exclude specific columns
  • Interactive column toggles in the HTML interface

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Available Columns

Name

Column ID: name
Type: string
Default Visibility: Visible
Sortable: YesThe hostname of the system. Links to detailed host information.Source: host.name
Column ID: groups
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesAnsible groups this host belongs to. Multiple groups are displayed on separate lines.Source: host.groups
Column ID: cust
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesCustom customer identifier from host variables.Source: hostvars.cust
Column ID: dtap
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesDTAP (Development, Testing, Acceptance, Production) environment designation.Source: hostvars.dtap
Column ID: comment
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesCustom comment field from host variables.Source: hostvars.comment
Column ID: ext_id
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesExternal identifier for integration with other systems.Source: hostvars.ext_id
Column ID: fqdn
Type: string
Default Visibility: Visible
Sortable: YesFully Qualified Domain Name of the host.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_fqdn
Column ID: main_ip
Type: string
Default Visibility: Visible
Sortable: YesPrimary IPv4 address of the host. For Windows, uses the first IPv4 address; for others, uses the default IPv4 interface.Source:
  • Windows: ansible_facts.ansible_ip_addresses[0] (first IPv4)
  • Other: ansible_facts.ansible_default_ipv4.address
Column ID: all_ipv4
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesAll IPv4 addresses assigned to the host. Multiple addresses are displayed on separate lines.Source:
  • Windows: ansible_facts.ansible_ip_addresses (filtered for IPv4)
  • Other: ansible_facts.ansible_all_ipv4_addresses
Column ID: all_ipv6
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesAll IPv6 addresses assigned to the host. Multiple addresses are displayed on separate lines.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_all_ipv6_addresses
Column ID: os
Type: string
Default Visibility: Visible
Sortable: YesOperating system distribution and version.Source:
  • OpenBSD: ansible_facts.ansible_distribution + ansible_distribution_release
  • Other: ansible_facts.ansible_distribution + ansible_distribution_version
Column ID: kernel
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesKernel version running on the host.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_kernel
Column ID: arch
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesSystem architecture and userspace architecture.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_architecture / ansible_userspace_architecture
Column ID: virt
Type: string
Default Visibility: Visible
Sortable: YesVirtualization type and role (e.g., “kvm / guest” or “physical / host”).Source: ansible_facts.ansible_virtualization_type / ansible_virtualization_role
Column ID: cpu_type
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesCPU model name. Links to CPU benchmark information.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_processor[-1] (last processor in list)
Column ID: vcpus
Type: numeric
Default Visibility: Visible
Sortable: Yes (numeric sort)Number of virtual CPUs available to the system.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_processor_vcpus or ansible_processor_cores
Column ID: ram
Type: numeric
Default Visibility: Visible
Sortable: Yes (numeric sort)Total RAM in GiB (converted from MB).Source: ansible_facts.ansible_memtotal_mb (converted to GiB)
Column ID: mem_usage
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesMemory usage as a progress bar showing used/total memory in GiB.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_memory_mb.nocache.used / ansible_memory_mb.real.totalDisplays a visual progress bar with detailed GiB values.
Column ID: swap_usage
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesSwap usage as a progress bar showing used/total swap in GiB.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_memory_mb.swap.used / ansible_memory_mb.swap.totalDisplays a visual progress bar with detailed GiB values.
Column ID: disk_usage
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesDisk usage for all mounted filesystems. Shows multiple progress bars, one per mount point.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_mounts[]Each mount shows:
  • Progress bar with usage percentage
  • Mount point path
  • Used/total size in GiB
Column ID: physdisk_size
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesPhysical disk sizes for all detected block devices.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_devices[device_name].sizeLists each device name with its size (e.g., “sda: 100GB”).
Column ID: nr_of_ifaces
Type: numeric
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: Yes (numeric sort)Total number of network interfaces.Source: len(ansible_facts.ansible_interfaces)
Column ID: timestamp
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesTimestamp when facts were gathered (ISO 8601 format).Source: ansible_facts.ansible_date_time.iso8601
Column ID: prodname
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesHardware product name from system DMI/SMBIOS.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_product_name
Column ID: prodserial
Type: string
Default Visibility: Hidden
Sortable: YesHardware product serial number from system DMI/SMBIOS.Source: ansible_facts.ansible_product_serial

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Column Usage

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Specifying Columns

Use the --columns flag to specify which columns to display: 
ansible-cmdb -t txt_table --columns name,os,ip,mem,cpus facts/

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Excluding Columns

Use the --exclude-cols flag to hide specific columns: 
ansible-cmdb -t html_fancy --exclude-cols groups,cust -i hosts out/ > overview.html

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Default Visible Columns

The following columns are visible by default in html_fancy:
  • Name (name)
  • FQDN (fqdn)
  • Main IP (main_ip)
  • OS (os)
  • Virt (virt)
  • vCPUs (vcpus)
  • RAM [GiB] (ram)

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Interactive Column Toggles

The html_fancy template provides an interactive column toggle interface at the top of the page. Click column names to show/hide them. Preferences are saved in browser localStorage.

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Column Data Types

Columns have different sort types for proper ordering:
  • string: Alphabetical sorting
  • num: Numeric sorting
Numeric columns (vCPUs, RAM, Nr of Ifaces) use numeric sorting to ensure “10” comes after “9” instead of after “1”.

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Custom Columns

You can extend the built-in columns with custom columns using the --cust-cols flag. Custom columns can use:
  • jsonxs expressions: Path-based lookups into fact data
  • Mako templates: String templates with access to host data
See the ansible-cmdb documentation on extending functionality for details on creating custom columns.

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Column Definitions Location

Column definitions are located in: 
src/ansiblecmdb/data/tpl/html_fancy_defs.html
The var_cols() function (lines 15-59) defines all built-in columns, and individual column functions (lines 499-703) implement the data extraction and formatting logic for each column.

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