# Can I get a list of existing ELBs in a VPC ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [April 12, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-get-a-list-of-existing-elbs-in-a-vpc/17962 "2015-04-12T16:44:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alex\_Leonhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Alex\_Leonhardt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Alex_Leonhardt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-get-a-list-of-existing-elbs-in-a-vpc/17962/1 "2015-04-12T16:44:33Z")
Hi, I’m trying to get a list of ELBs to then use that to add new instances that I create to these ELBs, but am not successful - the ec2\_elbs is always empty when checking. I’m currently trying the basic example that’s meant to add new instances to a ELB, however, I try to do this without knowing the ELBs name(s). Is that even possible ? If so, it’d be great if there was a link to a doc or blog or something on who to get that list of ELBs ? Example: ` - hosts: tag\_Name\_Demo:&tag\_Svc\_Apache gather\_facts: true user: ec2-user # basic pre\_task and post\_task example pre\_tasks: - name: Gathering ec2 facts action: ec2\_facts - name: Instance De-register local\_action: module: ec2\_elb region: eu-west-1 instance\_id: “{{ ansible\_ec2\_instance\_id }}” state: ‘absent’ tasks: - name: install httpd sudo: yes yum: name=httpd state=present - name: ensure httpd is running sudo: yes service: name=httpd state=started - name: Check NTP service sudo: yes service: name=ntpd state=started post\_tasks: - debug: msg=“{{ item }}” with\_items: ec2\_elbs - name: Instance Register local\_action: module: ec2\_elb region: eu-west-1 instance\_id: “{{ ansible\_ec2\_instance\_id }}” ec2\_elbs: “{{ item }}” state: ‘present’ wait: yes ignore\_errors: yes with\_items: ec2\_elbs ` The output i get : ` PLAY [tag\_Name\_Demo:&tag\_Svc\_Apache] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* GATHERING FACTS \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [52.17.75.238] ok: [52.17.52.33] TASK: [Gathering ec2 facts] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [52.17.75.238] ok: [52.17.52.33] TASK: [Instance De-register] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [52.17.75.238 → 127.0.0.1] ok: [52.17.52.33 → 127.0.0.1] TASK: [install httpd] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [52.17.52.33] ok: [52.17.75.238] TASK: [ensure httpd is running] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [52.17.75.238] ok: [52.17.52.33] TASK: [Check NTP service] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [52.17.52.33] ok: [52.17.75.238] TASK: [debug msg=“{{ item }}”] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* skipping: [52.17.52.33] skipping: [52.17.75.238] TASK: [Instance Register] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* skipping: [52.17.52.33] skipping: [52.17.75.238] PLAY RECAP \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* 52.17.52.33 : ok=6 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 52.17.75.238 : ok=6 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 ` Maybe I’m missing the obvious .. the creation of the ELBs is done in a separate play as I want to be able to run the two plays, create environment and create instances, separately. But maybe I can’t do that, so your advice would be very useful 🙂 ! Thanks! Alex ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Leonhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Alex\_Leonhardt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Alex_Leonhardt)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-get-a-list-of-existing-elbs-in-a-vpc/17962/2 "2015-04-15T14:01:04Z")
Hi, Since there’s no reply - possible to get someone at ansible to check / comment ? It seems similar to a question regarding VPCs that was recently asked and also has no answers yet? In fact, when creating the ELBs, can I keep a local list of them thats being produced by the playbook, if I can’t get it dynamically? Thanks! Alex ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Paine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Tom\_Paine](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tom_Paine)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-get-a-list-of-existing-elbs-in-a-vpc/17962/3 "2015-04-16T16:13:44Z")
Looked recently. Ended up using boto’s elbadmin and cutting the output up. command: elbadmin -r eu-west-1 list ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Leonhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Alex\_Leonhardt](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Alex_Leonhardt)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/can-i-get-a-list-of-existing-elbs-in-a-vpc/17962/4 "2015-04-18T19:05:15Z")
Hi All, I’ve done some work around this, for those that are interested : [https://github.com/alex-leonhardt/ansible-modules-core/commit/2c3f7928b8995ec7c6903da6c507643efcad6d1d](https://github.com/alex-leonhardt/ansible-modules-core/commit/2c3f7928b8995ec7c6903da6c507643efcad6d1d) I can’t see where / how to run some unit tests for this module, so I can’t verify if I broke something by changing this, however, creating, listing and deleting ELBs seems to work just fine. I’ve also updated the documentation / examples so you can clone and try yourself if needed. Please let me know what you think. Alex