# Delegate\_to is throwing error "Failed to connect to the host via ssh" **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [January 4, 2018, 7:42am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegate-to-is-throwing-error-failed-to-connect-to-the-host-via-ssh/26413 "2018-01-04T07:42:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gopi\_Krishna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Gopi\_Krishna](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Gopi_Krishna)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 7:42am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegate-to-is-throwing-error-failed-to-connect-to-the-host-via-ssh/26413/1 "2018-01-04T07:42:39Z")
Hi, My hosts file: [ebs] xx.xx.xx.xx [source] xx.xx.xx.xx playbook: ---
**Author:** ![mkempster22uu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@mkempster22uu](https://forum.ansible.com/u/mkempster22uu)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 10:43am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegate-to-is-throwing-error-failed-to-connect-to-the-host-via-ssh/26413/2 "2018-01-04T10:43:22Z")
Hello, If you set your hosts to ‘source’ the playbook will only be able to be run on hosts listed under the [source] group, therefore you cant delegate to a host not in the group you’re telling it to look at ---
**Author:** ![mkempster22uu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@mkempster22uu](https://forum.ansible.com/u/mkempster22uu)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2018, 10:46am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegate-to-is-throwing-error-failed-to-connect-to-the-host-via-ssh/26413/3 "2018-01-04T10:46:05Z")
Further Example: Hosts file: [group1] server1 server2 [group2] server3 server4 Playbook: ---
**Author:** ![Gopi\_Krishna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Gopi\_Krishna](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Gopi_Krishna)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 6:57am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegate-to-is-throwing-error-failed-to-connect-to-the-host-via-ssh/26413/4 "2018-01-05T06:57:22Z")
But, in my case what can be the value for the delegate\_to like: delegate\_to: xx.xx.xx.xx # ip address ?? then it will became static . is there any option to provide like delegate\_to: group2[1] ?? ---
**Author:** ![Gopi\_Krishna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Gopi\_Krishna](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Gopi_Krishna)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 7:04am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegate-to-is-throwing-error-failed-to-connect-to-the-host-via-ssh/26413/5 "2018-01-05T07:04:05Z")
let us say host file look like: [source] xx.xx.xx.xx xx.xx.xx.xx i tried the other way like: hosts: source[0] ---
**Author:** ![Gopi\_Krishna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Gopi\_Krishna](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Gopi_Krishna)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 7:33am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegate-to-is-throwing-error-failed-to-connect-to-the-host-via-ssh/26413/6 "2018-01-05T07:33:33Z")
by the way i tried like this: - hosts: oraclesource[0] tasks: - name: “copy file from 147 to 149 from 141” synchronize: src: /root/gopi dest: /root/gopi delegate\_to: “{{ item }}” with\_items: - “{{ groups[‘oraclesource’][1] }}” script is running but it stuck’s at: PLAY [oraclesource[0]] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* TASK [Gathering Facts] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ok: [10.210.8.149] TASK [copy file from 147 to 149 from 141] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* this is where the program is being idle ---
**Author:** ![mkempster22uu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@mkempster22uu](https://forum.ansible.com/u/mkempster22uu)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 8:16am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegate-to-is-throwing-error-failed-to-connect-to-the-host-via-ssh/26413/7 "2018-01-05T08:16:59Z")
I’m not sure totally how running an inventory dynamically with a [1] etc. works. Have you tried running that last part with a -vvvv option? It looks like its now got to the point where it knows about the host but is hanging copying the file. So your inventory should be okay if its got past there ---
**Author:** ![Gopi\_Krishna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Gopi\_Krishna](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Gopi_Krishna)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2018, 10:38am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegate-to-is-throwing-error-failed-to-connect-to-the-host-via-ssh/26413/8 "2018-01-05T10:38:37Z")
getting this… \<10.210.8.150\> ESTABLISH SSH CONNECTION FOR USER: root \<10.210.8.150\> SSH: EXEC sshpass -d11 ssh -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o User=root -o ConnectTimeout=10 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o ControlPath=/root/.ansible/cp/a26ba33a59 10.210.8.150 ‘/bin/sh -c ‘"’“‘chmod u+x /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1515147067.67-174395529194101/ /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1515147067.67-174395529194101/synchronize.py && sleep 0’”’“‘’ \<10.210.8.150\> (0, ‘’, ‘’) \<10.210.8.150\> ESTABLISH SSH CONNECTION FOR USER: root \<10.210.8.150\> SSH: EXEC sshpass -d11 ssh -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s -o User=root -o ConnectTimeout=10 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o ControlPath=/root/.ansible/cp/a26ba33a59 -tt 10.210.8.150 '/bin/sh -c '”‘"’/usr/bin/python /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1515147067.67-174395529194101/synchronize.py; rm -rf “/root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1515147067.67-174395529194101/” \> /dev/null 2\>&1 && sleep 0’“'”‘’