How do I include another playbook in current playbook?

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1

Hello,

I created a playbook which needs to call another playbook. This is my current playbook:

2

Hello,

I created a playbook which needs to call another playbook. This is my current playbook:

---
# file: current_playbook.yml

- hosts: mywebservers
  gather_facts: yes

#- import_playbook: another.yml

  roles:
    - role: testrole1
      tags: testrole1

  post_tasks:
    - name: Install configuration file
      template:
        src: myconf.j2
        dest: /remote-path/myconf
      tags: testrole1

    - name: Install cron
      cron:
         name: 'run every day'
         minute: '0'
         hour: '0'
         job: "/remote-path/job"
       tags: testrole1

I want to run playbook like: ansible-playbook -i myinventory -l mywebservers current_playbook.yml --tags testrole1. But another.yml playbook needs to run first. Here is another.yml playbook:

---
# file: another.yml

- hosts: all
  gather_facts: yes

  roles:
    - role: myrole1
    - role: myrole2

When I comment back in `#- import_playbook: another.yml' line in current_playbook.yml file, I got below error:

ERROR! 'roles' is not a valid attribute for a PlaybookInclude
- import_playbook: another.yml
  ^ here

How do I call another.yml playbook in my current_playbook.yml file?

Thank you,

- Xinhuan Zheng

      Take a look again at the example in
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/import_playbook_module.html.
To me it does not know where

  roles:
    - role: testrole1
      tags: testrole1

belongs. Should it be

- hosts: mywebservers
  gather_facts: yes

  roles:
    - role: testrole1
      tags: testrole1

#- import_playbook: another.yml

i.e. those roles are related to mywebservers? Or are they related to
all hosts as defined in another.yml?

3

Take a look again at the example in
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/import_playbook_module.html.
To me it does not know where

roles:

  • role: testrole1
    tags: testrole1

belongs. Should it be

  • hosts: mywebservers
    gather_facts: yes

roles:

  • role: testrole1
    tags: testrole1

#- import_playbook: another.yml

i.e. those roles are related to mywebservers? Or are they related to
all hosts as defined in another.yml?

testrole1 belongs to mywebservers. It isn’t related to all hosts as defined in another.yml file. However, another.yml file needs to be called first. I tried using pre_tasks with import_playbook. It doesn’t work either. I also tried using include, still not working. Since another.yml file contains a list of roles, it is supposed to be import_playbook, but I’m not sure how to make import_playbook working in current_playbook.yml file.

Thanks again,

  • Xinhuan
4

You cannot import a playbook anywhere inside a play - importing a playbook is a play of its own.

If you want to run the imported playbook first, try:

  • name: this play runs ‘another.yml’ on the hosts it defines
    import_playbook: another.yml

  • name: this play runs two roles on all hosts in the mywebservers group
    hosts: mywebservers
    gather_facts: yes

roles:

  • role: testrole1
    tags: testrole1
  • role: testrole2
    tags: othertag

If you want to run the roles first, reverse the order of the two plays.

You can also review the general documentation on importing and including at https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/user_guide/playbooks_reuse.html. You may want to edit “another.yml” to make it a tasks file instead of a playbook for greater flexibility.

Hope this helps,
Alicia

5

Hello Alicia,

This is great. I got the idea. Thanks for your help!

  • Xinhuan