# Host\_vars not working as expected **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Tags:** playbook, getting-started, ee\ **Created:** [January 8, 2024, 12:27pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/host-vars-not-working-as-expected/3199 "2024-01-08T12:27:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![msmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/msmith/32/1934_2.png) [@msmith](https://forum.ansible.com/u/msmith)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 12:27pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/host-vars-not-working-as-expected/3199/1 "2024-01-08T12:27:59Z")
Hi, I’m very new to Ansible and I’m sure this is me being stupid, but I’m struggling to get host\_vars and group\_vars working. I’m trying to configure a few Aruba switches, and obviously some settings are group or host specific, so I want to define them in group\_vars and host\_vars. As an example, this works perfectly in my playbook - - file = configswitches.yml ```auto - hosts: core collections: - arubanetworks.aoscx tasks: - name: VSX configuration aoscx_vsx: isl_port: lag99 keepalive_peer_ip: 10.0.0.2 keepalive_src_ip: 10.0.0.1 system_mac: 00:FF:11:EE:22:DD ``` But if I move the IPs and MAC to the host\_vars file then they are ignored - - file = host\_vars/core01.yml ```auto --- aoscx_vsx: keepalive_peer_ip: 10.0.0.2 keepalive_src_ip: 10.0.0.1 system_mac: 00:FF:11:EE:22:DD ``` - file = hosts.yml ```auto --- core: hosts: core01: ansible_host: 10.1.1.227 core02: ansible_host: 10.1.1.228 ``` Can anyone please point me in the right direction? Thanks! Mike ---
**Author:** ![shertel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/shertel/32/1241_2.png) [@shertel](https://forum.ansible.com/u/shertel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 12:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/host-vars-not-working-as-expected/3199/2 "2024-01-08T12:53:01Z")
Once the variables are in host\_vars/group\_vars, they need to still be included for the specific tasks. ```auto tasks: - name: VSX configuration aoscx_vsx: keepalive_peer_ip: "{{ aoscx_vsx.keepalive_peer_ip }}" ... ``` If you’re trying to reduce some repetitive option passing, you might be interested in using [`module_defaults`](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbook_guide/playbooks_module_defaults.html), which can be set on a play or block. ```auto - hosts: core module_defaults: aoscx_vsx: "{{ aoscx_vsx }}" # variable can be defined in host_vars tasks: aoscx_vsx: # Add individual arguments here to override or add to the defaults ``` ---
**Author:** ![msmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/msmith/32/1934_2.png) [@msmith](https://forum.ansible.com/u/msmith)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 1:18pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/host-vars-not-working-as-expected/3199/3 "2024-01-08T13:18:45Z")
Thanks Shertel, that’s awesome! I needed the fully qualified name for the module\_defaults in the playbook - ```auto module_defaults: arubanetworks.aoscx.aoscx_vsx: "{{ aoscx_vsx }}" # variable can be defined in host_vars ``` My only issue now is that I have tried to move the isl\_port to group\_vars and leave the others in host\_vars and it appears to be ignoring the group\_vars/core.yml file. This works - ```auto cat host_vars/core01.yml --- aoscx_vsx: isl_port: lag99 device_role: primary keepalive_peer_ip: 10.0.0.2 keepalive_src_ip: 10.0.0.1 system_mac: 00:FF:11:EE:22:DD ``` but this doesn’t - ```auto cat host_vars/core01.yml --- aoscx_vsx: device_role: primary keepalive_peer_ip: 10.0.0.2 keepalive_src_ip: 10.0.0.1 system_mac: 00:FF:11:EE:22:DD cat group_vars/core.yml --- aoscx_vsx: isl_port: lag99 ``` ---
**Author:** ![akira6592](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/akira6592/32/222_2.png) [@akira6592](https://forum.ansible.com/u/akira6592)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/host-vars-not-working-as-expected/3199/4 "2024-01-08T13:39:22Z")
Hello @msmith The `host_vars` has higher precedence than the `group_vars`. [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbook\_guide/playbooks\_variables.html#understanding-variable-precedence](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbook_guide/playbooks_variables.html#understanding-variable-precedence) So, the variable `aoscx_vsx` in group\_vars is ignored. How about using flatten variable definition as follows? cat host\_vars/core01.yml ```yaml --- device_role: primary keepalive_peer_ip: 10.0.0.2 keepalive_src_ip: 10.0.0.1 system_mac: 00:FF:11:EE:22:DD ``` cat group\_vars/core.yml ```yaml --- isl_port: lag99 ``` ---
**Author:** ![kurokobo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/kurokobo/32/182_2.png) [@kurokobo](https://forum.ansible.com/u/kurokobo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/host-vars-not-working-as-expected/3199/5 "2024-01-08T14:32:42Z")
Hi, let me show you an alternative approach; using [ansible.builtin.combine](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/combine_filter.html) filter. Define both group\_vars and host\_vars with different names, and define new combined variable in host\_vars: ```yaml # group_vars/core.yml --- _group_aoscx_vsx: isl_port: lag99 ``` ```yaml # host_vars/core01.yml --- _host_aoscx_vsx: device_role: primary keepalive_peer_ip: 10.0.0.2 keepalive_src_ip: 10.0.0.1 system_mac: 00:FF:11:EE:22:DD aoscx_vsx: "{{ _group_aoscx_vsx | ansible.builtin.combine(_host_aoscx_vsx, recursive=true) }}" ``` Now we can use `aoscx_vsx` that have complete values from group\_vars and host\_vars: ```yaml module_defaults: arubanetworks.aoscx.aoscx_vsx: "{{ aoscx_vsx }}" ``` ---
**Author:** ![msmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/msmith/32/1934_2.png) [@msmith](https://forum.ansible.com/u/msmith)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/host-vars-not-working-as-expected/3199/6 "2024-01-08T14:57:06Z")
Thanks everyone, you’ve really helped me out! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![msmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/msmith/32/1934_2.png) [@msmith](https://forum.ansible.com/u/msmith)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 2:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/host-vars-not-working-as-expected/3199/7 "2024-02-23T14:14:25Z")
Hi all, I figured out another way to do this by just using different variable names and then passing them back through, eg for ‘aoscx\_vsx.keepalive\_peer\_ip’ I just create a new var at the most specific level in the group\_vars or host\_vars file and then map it in the more general vars file. I think this is what akira suggested with flattened variables, but I was too much of a noob to understand that a few weeks ago! ```auto host_vars/core01.yml ka_peer_ip: 10.0.0.2 ka_src_ip: 10.0.0.1 host_vars/core02.yml ka_peer_ip: 10.0.0.1 ka_src_ip: 10.0.0.2 group_vars/switches.yml aoscx_vsx: isl_port: lag99 keepalive_peer_ip: "{{ ka_peer_ip }}" keepalive_src_ip: "{{ ka_src_ip }}" system_mac: 00:FF:11:EE:22:DD ``` Thanks again everyone for your help, I’m learning 🙂 I do, however, have a new question on the same subject. This time it’s for Dell OS10 switches rather than Aruba and I’m configuring VLANs and ports as shown below. I define ‘nicprefix’ so I can change this on different switches, in this case the servers all have their OCP NICs connected to one switch and their PCI NICs connected to another, so I set ‘nicprefix: PCI’ on the second switch. So the snippet below works perfectly to create a couple of VLANs and set the appropriate interfaces to be tagged - ```auto host_vars/labsw1.yml nicprefix: OCP portgroup01range: 1/1/1-1/1/8 portgroup01desc: "{{ nicprefix }}1-VM-Mgmt-vMotion" # os10_vlan: # VM Mgmt vlan 50: vlan-name: V0050-ESXi state: present tagged_members: - port: range ethernet {{ portgroup01range }},{{ portgroup09range }} desc: V0050-ESXi state: present access_vlan: "false" # VM vMotion vlan "{{vlan-vMotion}}" : state: present tagged_members: - port: range ethernet {{ portgroup01range }} desc: V0203-vMotion state: present access_vlan: "false" # Dell S4148 switch - labsw1# show vlan Codes: * - Default VLAN, M - Management VLAN, R - Remote Port Mirroring VLANs, @ - Attached to Virtual Network, P - Primary, C - Community, I - Isolated, S - VLAN-Stack VLAN Q: A - Access (Untagged), T - Tagged NUM Status Description Q Ports 50 Inactive T Eth1/1/1-1/1/10 203 Inactive T Eth1/1/1-1/1/8 ``` But when I come to set the interface descriptions the yml below does not work and I get the error shown below - ```auto host_vars/labsw1.yml # os10_interface: range ethernet "{{ portgroup01range }}": desc: "{{ portgroup01desc }}" TASK [dellemc.os10.os10_interface : Provisioning interface configuration for os10] ******************************************************************************************** fatal: [labsw1]: FAILED! => { "changed": false, "command": "interface range ethernet\"{{", "rc": -32603 } MSG: interface range "ethernet{{ % Error: Illegal parameter. labsw1(conf-range-eth1/1/28-1/1/30)# ``` but this works fine - ```auto os10_interface: range ethernet 1/1/1-1/1/8: desc: "{{ portgroup01desc }}" ``` I get the same if I try to replace VLAN numbers with vars - ```auto vlan_vMotion: 203 os10_vlan: # VM vMotion vlan "{{vlan_vMotion}}" : state: present tagged_members: - port: range ethernet {{ portgroup01range }} desc: V0203-vMotion state: present access_vlan: "false" TASK [dellemc.os10.os10_vlan : Provisioning VLAN configuration for os10] ****************************************************************************************************** fatal: [labsw1]: FAILED! => { "changed": false, "command": "interface vlan\"{{", "rc": -32603 } MSG: interface vlan"{{ % Error: Illegal parameter. labsw1(conf-if-po-47)# ``` Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Mike ---
**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2024, 7:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/host-vars-not-working-as-expected/3199/8 "2024-02-23T19:24:12Z")
See this rather [long discussion](https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/19664).