# How to choose remote\_user accoring to OS distribution? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Tags:** fedora\ **Created:** [July 10, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-choose-remote-user-accoring-to-os-distribution/18729 "2015-07-10T21:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Adam\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Adam\_R](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Adam_R)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-choose-remote-user-accoring-to-os-distribution/18729/1 "2015-07-10T21:07:14Z")
Hello, I am creating a role to upgrade my servers. Some are CentOS others are Fedora. CentOS servers use remote\_user: root and Fedora servers remote\_user: fedora How can i setup my playbook to use one remote\_user according to ansible\_distribution? In the Ansible FAQ there is a section that deals with these issue setting inventory variables in the inventory file, but i am using dynamic inventory. [http://docs.ansible.com/faq.html#how-do-i-handle-different-machines-needing-different-user-accounts-or-ports-to-log-in-with](http://docs.ansible.com/faq.html#how-do-i-handle-different-machines-needing-different-user-accounts-or-ports-to-log-in-with) Or there is a way to try sshing as some user if the connection fails, try another login user? How to choose remote user according to OS? Or it is easier to create a separate playbook for each ansible\_distribution? Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Adam\_R](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Adam_R)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-choose-remote-user-accoring-to-os-distribution/18729/2 "2015-07-10T21:16:25Z")
A better description is "How to set remote\_user for according to OS distribution ---
**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:** [July 10, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-choose-remote-user-accoring-to-os-distribution/18729/3 "2015-07-10T21:28:32Z")
There are several ways, the easiest is if your inventory script provides OS info: remote\_user: "{{ansible\_distibution == 'Fedora'|ternary('fedora', 'root') If you have no info ahead of time you can test connecting and then use group\_by (example below) or the same expression above on the result var. If using group\_by you can preset group\_vars/fedora =\> ansible\_ssh\_user: fedora - hosts: all   remote\_user: root   gather\_facts: False   tasks:      - ping:        register: rootlogin        ignore\_errors: yes     - group\_by: key=fedora       when: rootlogin|failed ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Adam\_R](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Adam_R)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-choose-remote-user-accoring-to-os-distribution/18729/4 "2015-07-14T03:25:49Z")
Thank you Brian for your reply. Based on your suggestions, i created this playbook: (create two groups and then apply the role to each subset) - hosts: all remote\_user: root gather\_facts: false tasks: - ping: register: rootlogin ignore\_errors: true - group\_by: key=fedora-user when: rootlogin|failed - group\_by: key=root-user when: rootlogin|success - name: Execute play for CentOS instances hosts: root-user remote\_user: root roles: - { role: path/to\_role } - name: Execute play for Fedora instances hosts: fedora-user remote\_user: fedora sudo: yes sudo\_user: root roles: - { role: path/to\_role } The problem is that only the root-user group it is created. created ‘group\_by’ ActionModule: key=stage-root-user No fedora-user group was created. When it comes the time to execute the rol for the fedora instances. skipping: no hosts matched I did also tried, create the two groups using multi plays(same idea), but the groups were created with the same elements: - name: Group CentOS instances hosts: all remote\_user: root gather\_facts: no # ignore\_errors: true tasks: - name: remote\_user is root group\_by: key=root\_user ignore\_errors: true - name: Group Fedora instances hosts: all gather\_facts: no remote\_user: fedora sudo: yes sudo\_user: root tasks: - name: remote\_user is fedora group\_by: key=fedora\_user ignore\_errors: true - name: Execute play for CentOS instances hosts: root\_user remote\_user: root roles: - { role: path/to\_role } - name: Execute play for Fedora instances hosts: fedora\_user remote\_user: fedora sudo: yes sudo\_user: root roles: - { role: path/to\_role } FATAL: no hosts matched or all hosts have already failed – aborting Thank you! Ansible 1.9 ---
**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:** [July 14, 2015, 4:14am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-choose-remote-user-accoring-to-os-distribution/18729/5 "2015-07-14T04:14:19Z")
you really only need 1 group, not sure why both did not get created though. with one group you can have these play targets: - hosts: group - hosts: all:!group ^ first will target all hosts in the group, the 2nd all hosts NOT in the group. ---
**Author:** ![Adam\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9a28c/32.png) [@Adam\_R](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Adam_R)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-choose-remote-user-accoring-to-os-distribution/18729/6 "2015-07-20T21:57:36Z")
Hello Brian, I have made some tests and it seems that hosts conditional it is not working for the instances that cannot login (either root or fedora, tested both). First test: If i create the group according to fedora access rules, the group for the centos instances it is not created: