# 'ERROR!' Telnet 'is not a valid attribute to play **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [January 8, 2019, 6:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-telnet-is-not-a-valid-attribute-to-play/29394 "2019-01-08T18:54:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eduardo\_Nunes\_Pereir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85e7bf/32.png) [@Eduardo\_Nunes\_Pereir](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Eduardo_Nunes_Pereir)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 6:54pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-telnet-is-not-a-valid-attribute-to-play/29394/1 "2019-01-08T18:54:58Z")
Hello Everyone, I use ansible 2.7, I’m trying to use the ‘telnet’ module to connect to Cisco devices with IOS but it has the following error: ‘\*\*ERROR!’ Telnet 'is not a valid attribute to play "\*\*any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kai\_Stian\_Olstad](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Kai_Stian_Olstad)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-telnet-is-not-a-valid-attribute-to-play/29394/2 "2019-01-08T20:38:31Z")
You playbook is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![goforawalktwice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c5a1d2/32.png) [@goforawalktwice](https://forum.ansible.com/u/goforawalktwice)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-telnet-is-not-a-valid-attribute-to-play/29394/3 "2019-01-09T00:42:32Z")
Hi, it would help to paste your playbook here. Invoking tasks from a playbook requires specific syntax - one option is under ‘tasks’ - see [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user\_guide/playbooks\_intro.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_intro.html) Alternately you can have your tasks in a role and call the role from your playbook. Hope that helps. Regards, Straff ---
**Author:** ![Eduardo\_Nunes\_Pereir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/85e7bf/32.png) [@Eduardo\_Nunes\_Pereir](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Eduardo_Nunes_Pereir)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:29am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-telnet-is-not-a-valid-attribute-to-play/29394/4 "2019-01-09T11:29:49Z")
Hi, First of all thanks for the answers, below is my playbook and then the error message. ## Playbook - name: Coletct Information Switches connection: network\_cli gather\_facts: false hosts: lab\_telnet tasks: - name: send configuration commands to IOS telnet: user: admin password: xxxx login\_prompt: "Username: " prompts: - “[\>|#]” command: - terminal length 0 - show run # Error message root@DESKTOP-5B1T804:/etc/ansible# ansible-playbook telnet.yml ERROR! ‘telnet’ is not a valid attribute for a Play The error appears to have been in ‘/etc/ansible/telnet.yml’: line 8, column 3, but may be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem. The offending line appears to be: - name: send configuration commands to IOS ^ here ---
**Author:** ![Karl\_Auer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/cc9497/32.png) [@Karl\_Auer](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Karl_Auer)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 11:39am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-telnet-is-not-a-valid-attribute-to-play/29394/5 "2019-01-09T11:39:03Z")
Please repost using a fixed width font so we can check your indentation. Make sure you post your ENTIRE playbook. Also, YAML code should always start with three hyphens on a line by themselves. Regards, K. ---
**Author:** ![Tchia04](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/fbc32d/32.png) [@Tchia04](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tchia04)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/error-telnet-is-not-a-valid-attribute-to-play/29394/6 "2019-01-09T14:48:39Z")
I believe you need to have two spaces indentation for the telnet task