diff --git a/ansible/plugins/action/onie.py b/ansible/plugins/action/onie.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bedaaa70833
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ansible/plugins/action/onie.py
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
+__metaclass__ = type
+
+from ansible.plugins.action import ActionBase
+from ansible.utils.boolean import boolean
+from ansible.utils.unicode import to_unicode
+
+import ast
+
+class ActionModule(ActionBase):
+
+    def run(self, tmp=None, task_vars=None):
+        if task_vars is None:
+            task_vars = dict()
+
+        self._display.vvv('ActionModule run')
+
+        result = super(ActionModule, self).run(tmp, task_vars)
+
+        _template = self._task.args.get('template', None)
+        _host     = self._task.args.get('host', None)
+        _install  = boolean(self._task.args.get('install', 'no'))
+        _url      = self._task.args.get('url', None)
+        _timeout  = self._task.args.get('timeout', None)
+
+        if _timeout is None:
+            _timeout = 300
+
+        if _template is not None:
+            if self._task._role is not None:
+                _template = self._loader.path_dwim_relative(self._task._role._role_path, 'templates', _template)
+            else:
+                _template = self._loader.path_dwim_relative(self._loader.get_basedir(), 'templates', _template)
+
+            f = open(_template, 'r')
+            template_data = to_unicode(f.read())
+            f.close()
+
+            _template = self._templar.template(template_data)
+
+        self._display.vvv(self._connection.transport)
+        result['stdout'] = self._connection.exec_command(template=_template,
+                                      host=_host,
+                                      url=_url,
+                                      install=_install,
+                                      timeout=_timeout)
+
+        return result
+
diff --git a/ansible/plugins/connection/onie.py b/ansible/plugins/connection/onie.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3cf430fe7ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ansible/plugins/connection/onie.py
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
+__metaclass__ = type
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+import shlex
+import pipes
+import pexpect
+import random
+import select
+import fcntl
+import pwd
+import time
+
+from ansible import constants as C
+from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleConnectionFailure, AnsibleFileNotFound
+from ansible.plugins.connection import ConnectionBase
+
+class Connection(ConnectionBase):
+    ''' ssh based connections with expect '''
+
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        super(Connection, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        self.host = self._play_context.remote_addr
+        self.connection_retry_interval = 60
+
+    @property
+    def transport(self):
+        ''' used to identify this connection object from other classes '''
+        return 'onie'
+
+    # The connection is created by running expect from the exec_command, so we don't
+    # need to do any connection management here.
+
+    def _connect(self):
+        self._connect = True
+        return self
+
+    def _build_command(self):
+        self._ssh_command = ['ssh', '-tt', '-q']
+        ansible_ssh_args = C.ANSIBLE_SSH_ARGS
+        if ansible_ssh_args:
+            self._ssh_command += shlex.split(ansible_ssh_args)
+        else:
+            self._ssh_command += ['-o', 'ControlMaster=auto',
+                                  '-o', 'ControlPersist=60s',
+                                  '-o', 'ControlPath=/tmp/ansible-ssh-%h-%p-%r']
+
+        if not C.HOST_KEY_CHECKING:
+            self._ssh_command += ['-o', 'StrictHostKeyChecking=no']
+            self._ssh_command += ['-o', 'UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null']
+
+        self._ssh_command += ['-o', 'GSSAPIAuthentication=no',
+                              '-o', 'PubkeyAuthentication=no']
+        self._ssh_command += ['-o', 'ConnectTimeout=30']
+
+    def _spawn_connect(self):
+        client = None
+
+        cmd = self._ssh_command + ['-l', "root", self.host]
+        client = pexpect.spawn(' '.join(cmd), env={'TERM': 'dumb'})
+        client.expect(['#'])
+
+        self.before_backup = client.before.split()
+
+        return client
+
+    def exec_command(self, *args, **kwargs):
+
+        self.template = kwargs['template']
+        if kwargs['host'] is not None:
+            self.host     = kwargs['host']
+        self.url      = kwargs['url']
+        self.install  = kwargs['install']
+
+        self._build_command()
+
+        client = self._spawn_connect()
+
+        # Set command timeout after connection is spawned
+        if kwargs['timeout']:
+            client.timeout = int(kwargs['timeout'])
+
+        prompts = ["ONIE:.+ #", pexpect.EOF]
+
+        stdout = ""
+        if self.template:
+            cmds = self.template.split('\n')
+        else:
+            cmds = []
+        for cmd in cmds:
+            self._display.vvv('> %s' % (cmd), host=self.host)
+            client.sendline(cmd)
+            client.expect(prompts)
+        
+            stdout += client.before
+            self._display.vvv('< %s' % (client.before), host=self.host)
+
+        if self.install:
+            client.sendline('onie-discovery-stop')
+            client.expect(prompts)
+            stdout += client.before
+            client.sendline("onie-nos-install %s" % self.url)
+            i = client.expect(["Installed SONiC base image SONiC-OS successfully"] + prompts)
+            stdout += client.before
+            if i != 0:
+                raise AnsibleError("Failed to install sonic image. %s" % stdout)
+            self._display.vvv("SONiC installed.", host=self.host)
+            # for some platform, e.g., DELL S6000, it will do hard reboot,
+            # which will not give EOF
+            client.expect([pexpect.EOF, pexpect.TIMEOUT], timeout=15)
+            stdout += client.before
+            self._display.vvv("ONIE Rebooted. %s" % stdout, host=self.host)
+
+        return stdout
+
+    def put_file(self, in_path, out_path):
+        pass
+
+    def fetch_file(self, in_path, out_path):
+        pass
+
+    def close(self):
+        self._connected = False
diff --git a/ansible/upgrade_sonic.yml b/ansible/upgrade_sonic.yml
index 02f7ab5cb35..c5191a3d2df 100644
--- a/ansible/upgrade_sonic.yml
+++ b/ansible/upgrade_sonic.yml
@@ -9,10 +9,6 @@
   gather_facts: no
   tasks:
 
-    - name: Gather minigraph facts for the switch {{ inventory_hostname }}
-      minigraph_facts: host={{ inventory_hostname }}
-      tags: always
-
     - set_fact:
         real_ansible_host: "{{ ansible_ssh_host }}"
 
@@ -39,29 +35,9 @@
             timeout: 300
           changed_when: false
 
-        - name: Stop onie discovery
-          shell: ssh root@{{ real_ansible_host }} '/bin/ash -ilc "onie-discovery-stop"'
-          delegate_to: 127.0.0.1
-
-          # since onie install will reboot the box, the shell command cannot exit in synchronized mode.
-          # Now, use async mode and set a maximum wait period, the next task will wait for installation
-          # to finish and switch to reboot
-        - name: Install the target image from {{ image_url }}
-          shell: ssh root@{{ real_ansible_host }} '/bin/ash -ilc "onie-nos-install {{ image_url }}"'
-          delegate_to: 127.0.0.1
-          async: 60
-          poll: 5
-          ignore_errors: true
-
-        - name: Wait for switch to reboot again (ONIE installation finishes)
-          local_action: wait_for
-          args:
-            host: "{{ real_ansible_host }}"
-            port: 22
-            state: stopped
-            delay: 5
-            timeout: 600
-          changed_when: false
+        - name: Install SONiC image in ONIE
+          action: onie install=yes url={{ image_url }}
+          connection: onie
 
       when: upgrade_type == "onie"