# Delegation - Multiple and Parallel

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegation-multiple-and-parallel/20355>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [January 26, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegation-multiple-and-parallel/20355 "2016-01-26T19:21:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Abhishek\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Abhishek\_R](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Abhishek_R)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2016, 7:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegation-multiple-and-parallel/20355/1 "2016-01-26T19:21:10Z")

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Hi,

For plays, the “hosts” element accepts multiple hosts separated by colon. That is,

hosts: “host1:host2:host3”

- works. However, within a task, when delegating to other hosts, the same pattern does not seem to work. That is,

delegate\_to: “host1:host2:host3”

- doesn’t appear to work. I get a “ControlPath too long” error, possibly because ansible is interpreting the concatenated hosts as a single host.

So, how do can a task be delegated to multiple hosts and run on them in parallel?

Any insight into this is appreciated.

Regards

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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:** [January 28, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/delegation-multiple-and-parallel/20355/2 "2016-01-28T22:34:56Z")

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you can delegate to multiple hosts, but not run them in paralell

- task:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;delegate\_to: "{{item}}"  
&nbsp;&nbsp;with\_items:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- host1  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- host2  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- host3