# Ansible group\_vars not loading or am I making a fundamental mistake here?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-group-vars-not-loading-or-am-i-making-a-fundamental-mistake-here/18235>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [May 15, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-group-vars-not-loading-or-am-i-making-a-fundamental-mistake-here/18235 "2015-05-15T02:14:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Satish\_Muthali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Satish\_Muthali](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Satish_Muthali)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-group-vars-not-loading-or-am-i-making-a-fundamental-mistake-here/18235/1 "2015-05-15T02:14:54Z")

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Hello experts,  
This is the following ansible directory structure I have:

├── environments  
│ └── azure\_sandbox  
├── filter\_plugins  
├── group\_vars  
│ ├── all.yml  
│ └── uswest\_sandbox.yml  
├── hierarchy.README  
├── host\_vars  
├── library  
├── roles  
│ ├── cassandra  
│ ├── common  
│ │ ├── default  
│ │ ├── files  
│ │ ├── handlers  
│ │ │ └── main.yml  
│ │ ├── meta  
│ │ ├── tasks  
│ │ │ ├── Debian.yml  
│ │ │ ├── docker\_base\_centos7.yml  
│ │ │ ├── main.yml  
│ │ │ ├── RedHat.yml  
│ │ │ ├── rh6.yml  
│ │ │ ├── rh7.yml  
│ │ │ ├── rh\_java.yml  
│ │ │ └── rh\_pytools.yml  
│ │ ├── templates  
│ │ │ ├── docker-defaults.j2  
│ │ │ └── docker-init.j2  
│ │ └── vars  
│ │ └── main.yml  
│ ├── docker  
│ │ ├── handlers  
│ │ │ └── main.yml  
│ │ ├── meta  
│ │ ├── tasks  
│ │ │ ├── Debian.yml  
│ │ │ ├── main.yml  
│ │ │ ├── RedHat.yml  
│ │ │ ├── rh6.yml  
│ │ │ ├── rh7.yml  
│ │ │ └── rh\_pytools.yml  
│ │ ├── templates  
│ │ │ ├── docker-defaults.j2  
│ │ │ └── docker-init.j2  
│ │ └── vars  
│ │ └── main.yml  
│ ├── elasticsearch  
│ ├── kafka  
│ ├── netty  
│ ├── nginx  
│ │ ├── handlers  
│ │ │ └── main.yml  
│ │ ├── meta  
│ │ ├── tasks  
│ │ │ ├── Debian.yml  
│ │ │ ├── main.yml  
│ │ │ ├── RedHat.yml  
│ │ │ ├── rh6.yml  
│ │ │ └── rh7.yml  
│ │ ├── templates  
│ │ │ ├── docker-defaults.j2  
│ │ │ └── docker-init.j2  
│ │ └── vars  
│ │ └── main.yml  
│ ├── storm\_deploy  
│ ├── storm\_supervisor  
│ └── zookeeper  
└── top\_level\_playbooks  
├── top\_level\_base.yml  
├── top\_level\_docker.yml  
└── top\_level\_java.yml

Here’s the inventory file:

# uswest: sandbox: UI

[sandbox\_webtier\_uswest]

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**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-group-vars-not-loading-or-am-i-making-a-fundamental-mistake-here/18235/2 "2015-05-15T14:16:04Z")

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group/host vars need to be relative to either the inventory or the  
playbook, you seem to have them in a directory above both, ansible has  
no reason to look there. You will have the same problem with your  
'library' dir which I assume you want to use for custom modules, it  
must be adjacent to your plays or inside the role that uses them or is  
loaded in your play.

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**Author:** ![Satish\_Muthali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Satish\_Muthali](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Satish_Muthali)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-group-vars-not-loading-or-am-i-making-a-fundamental-mistake-here/18235/3 "2015-06-01T21:57:09Z")

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Thanks Brain, you were spot on. Sorry for the late reply. I realized my mistake once I had posted the question.

-Satish