Ansible playbook yaml syntax errors

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1

Hi all,

I am new to Ansible learning and I start practicing yaml playbook writings.
Though I am able to have a program with correct indent, ansible-playbook still pointing errors. I have no programming experience than bash scripting.

Could someone highlight, what I am missing.
Any guidance to do a search here before posting will be much appreciated.

Thanks

`

[student@mgmvm1 ~]$ ansible --version
ansible 2.3.1.0
config file = /home/student/ansible.cfg
configured module search path = Default w/o overrides
python version = 2.7.5 (default, Nov 6 2016, 00:28:07) [GCC 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-11)]
[student@mgmvm1 ~]$ python -c ‘import yaml, sys; print yaml.load(sys.stdin)’ < test.yml
[{‘become’: True, ‘tasks’: [{‘block’: [{‘state’: ‘latest’, ‘yum’: None, ‘name’: ‘httpd’}, {‘state’: ‘latest’, ‘yum’: None, ‘name’: ‘firewalld’}]}, {‘block’: [{‘state’: ‘enabled’, ‘permanent’: True, ‘name’: ‘firewalld permits http service’, ‘service’: ‘http’, ‘firewalld’: None, ‘immediate’: True}]}, {‘block’: [{‘state’: ‘started’, ‘enabled’: True, ‘name’: ‘httpd’, ‘service’: None}, {‘state’: ‘started’, ‘enabled’: True, ‘name’: ‘firewalld’, ‘service’: None}]}, {‘block’: [{‘content’: ‘Welcome to the example.com intranet!\n’, ‘dest’: ‘/var/www/html/index.html’, ‘copy’: None, ‘name’: ‘test html page’}]}], ‘hosts’: ‘ctlvm.example.com’, ‘name’: ‘intranet services’}, {‘tasks’: [{‘url’: ‘http://ctlvm.example.com’, ‘status_code’: 200, ‘name’: ‘connect to intranet’, ‘uri’: None}], ‘hosts’: ‘localhost’, ‘name’: ‘test’}]
[student@mgmvm1 ~]$ ansible-playbook --syntax-check test.yml
[WARNING]: While constructing a mapping from /home/student/test.yml, line 7, column 9, found a duplicate dict key (name).
Using last defined value only.

[WARNING]: While constructing a mapping from /home/student/test.yml, line 13, column 9, found a duplicate dict key (name).
Using last defined value only.

[WARNING]: While constructing a mapping from /home/student/test.yml, line 28, column 9, found a duplicate dict key (name).
Using last defined value only.

[WARNING]: While constructing a mapping from /home/student/test.yml, line 34, column 9, found a duplicate dict key (name).
Using last defined value only.

ERROR! ‘state’ is not a valid attribute for a Task

The error appears to have been in ‘/home/student/test.yml’: line 7, column 9, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.

The offending line appears to be:

  • block:
  • name: latest httpd version installed
    ^ here

[student@mgmvm1 ~]$ cat test.yml

2

Hi all,

I am new to Ansible learning and I start practicing yaml playbook
writings.
Though I am able to have a program with correct indent, ansible-playbook
still pointing errors. I have no programming experience than bash scripting.

It's a valid YAML, but not a valid Ansible syntax.
You need to study the multiple examples in the documentation and pay attention to the indentation level used in them.

Could someone highlight, what I am missing.
Any guidance to do a search here before posting will be much
appreciated.

Instead of just giving the answer I going to explain the process of checking it yourself.
All you task have the same error so I'm only going to take the first two ones.

  - block:
      - name: latest httpd version installed
        yum:
        name: httpd
        state: latest

      - name: latest firewalld version is present
        yum:
        name: firewalld
        state: latest

You don't need the block here, block is to grouping task that you need common directives on or you need error handling.

If you check the documentation of the yum module you'll find examples in the bottom[1]
Look closely at the indentation and you'll see that yours don't match.

Do that for all you task, since they all have incorrect indentation.

[1] https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/yum_module.html#examples

3

Thanks a Lot.

What I did is ,indent the lines as in the exact examples of per the examples of modules yum, copy and uri and it worked .
This program is an example given for me to learn block and I continue with that . when I learn block completely , I will do the changes as you suggested.

So , was indent was the only problem I had?
if so , the service module indent is not the exact one in my program but still it works ?

[student@mgmvm1 ~]$ cat test.yml

  • name: intranet services
    hosts: ctlvm.example.com
    become: yes
    tasks:

  • block:

  • name: latest httpd version installed
    yum:
    name: httpd
    state: latest

  • name: latest firewalld version is installed
    yum:
    name: firewalld
    state: latest

  • block:

  • name: firewalld permits http service
    firewalld:
    service: http
    permanent: yes
    state: enabled
    immediate: yes

  • block:

  • name: httpd enabled and running
    service:
    name: httpd
    enabled: yes
    state: started

  • name: firewalld is enabled and running
    service:
    name: firewalld
    enabled: yes
    state: started

  • block:

  • name: test html page
    copy:
    content: “Welcome to the example.com intranet!\n”
    dest: /var/www/html/index.html

  • name: test
    hosts: localhost
    tasks:

  • name: connect to intranet
    uri:
    url: http://ctlvm.example.com
    status_code: 200
    [student@mgmvm1 ~]$ ansible-playbook --syntax-check test.yml
    playbook: test.yml
    [student@mgmvm1 ~]$

I am assuming that I will follow the below steps of yaml writing . Will it be ok?

write yaml with exact syntax
indent as exactly as given(example) in each module
validate the yaml format
validate the ansible format.

4

So , was indent was the only problem I had?
if so , the service module indent is not the exact one in my program
but still it works ?

The order of the lines on the same indentation doesn't matter and some directive is optional like the name.
So these three is correct syntax:

  - yum:
      name: httpd
      state: latest

  - name: latest httpd version installed
    yum:
      name: httpd
      state: latest

  - yum:
      name: httpd
      state: latest
    name: latest httpd version installed

I am assuming that I will follow the below steps of yaml writing .
Will it be ok?

write yaml with exact syntax
indent as exactly as given(example) in each module
validate the yaml format
validate the ansible format.

Pretty much, when the syntax is correct you have some leeway in the order the lines in the task is written.
My suggestion is to look at the code of other and you'll see what you think is more readable and stick to that form.

5

Thanks a Lot.
Will continue to learn writing yaml …