# How to retrieve facts about host B inside a playbook which run for host A **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [April 16, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032 "2014-04-16T14:07:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Servermanaged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Servermanaged](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Servermanaged)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032/1 "2014-04-16T14:07:35Z")
Hello friends! Almost sure that this is my fault but at this time is still obscure for me how to retrieve facts about host B inside a playbook which run for host A. This is the real case: I want to populate Icinga host definition running the playbook on host A, but retrieving facts about monitored host B: Already tried [http://docs.ansible.com/playbooks\_variables.html#magic-variables-and-how-to-access-information-about-other-hosts](http://docs.ansible.com/playbooks_variables.html#magic-variables-and-how-to-access-information-about-other-hosts) (templates/host\_def.j2) : define host{ use generic-host host {{ hostvars[‘hostB’][‘ansible\_fqdn’] }} address {{ hostvars[‘hostB’][‘ansible\_eth0.ipv4.address’] }} max\_check\_attempts 5 BLABLA } but this give me an error. Is this the right way to use magic variables? Any pointing? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Servermanaged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Servermanaged](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Servermanaged)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032/2 "2014-04-16T15:30:29Z")
More details. vars.yml fqdn: “{{ hostvars[hostB][‘ansible\_fqdn’] }}” address: “{{ hostvars[hostB][‘ansible\_eth0.ipv4.address’] }}” ---- separator ----- templates/host\_def.j2 define host{ use generic-host host\_name {{ fqdn }} address {{ address }} max\_check\_attempts 5 check\_command check-host-alive } ---- separator ----- task.yml ---
**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Kontusz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tomasz\_Kontusz](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tomasz_Kontusz)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032/3 "2014-04-16T16:49:47Z")
Valentino Gagliardi \ napisał: > More details. > > vars.yml > fqdn: "{{ hostvars[hostB]['ansible\_fqdn'] }}" > address: "{{ hostvars[hostB]['ansible\_eth0.ipv4.address'] }}" If hostB is the inventory name of that host (and not a variable) use 'hostB' in quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Servermanaged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Servermanaged](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Servermanaged)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032/4 "2014-04-16T17:31:21Z")
hostB is defined in inventory. Unfortunately does not single quote nor strong quoting solve the issue: fqdn: “{{ hostvars[‘hostB’][‘ansible\_fqdn’] }}” address: “{{ hostvars[‘hostB’][‘ansible\_eth0’][‘ipv4’][‘address’] }}” Error: fatal: [mon] =\> One or more undefined variables: ‘dict object’ has no attribute ‘ansible\_fqdn’ ---
**Author:** ![Tomasz\_Kontusz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tomasz\_Kontusz](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tomasz_Kontusz)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032/5 "2014-04-16T17:48:25Z")
Valentino Gagliardi \ napisał: > hostB is defined in inventory. Unfortunately does not single quote nor > strong quoting solve the issue: > > fqdn: "{{ hostvars['hostB']['ansible\_fqdn'] }}" > address: "{{ hostvars['hostB']['ansible\_eth0']['ipv4']['address'] }}" > > Error: > > fatal: [mon] =\> One or more undefined variables: 'dict object' has no > attribute 'ansible\_fqdn' That probably means you have not yet gathered facts from that host. I'm not sure how running action: setup with delegate\_to would act, but if that doesn't work you can put a dummy play at the beginning of your playbook. ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca1)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032/6 "2014-04-16T18:19:32Z")
adding a ‘gather play’ before your main play would work - hosts: hostB gather\_facts: True - hosts: hostA … ​ ---
**Author:** ![Servermanaged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Servermanaged](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Servermanaged)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032/7 "2014-04-16T18:58:35Z")
Hello Brian Just added a gather\_facts: yes for hostB and it worked. Thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![Servermanaged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Servermanaged](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Servermanaged)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032/8 "2014-04-16T19:49:09Z")
I’m sorry but there’s another question. This time I want to access {{ hostvars[host][‘ansible\_fqdn’] }} within a task: - name: Copy Host Definition (Server) template: src=templates/host\_def.j2 dest=/etc/icinga/servers/{{ hostvars[host][‘ansible\_fqdn’] }}.cfg owner=root group=root mode=0644 notify: - restart icinga tags: - server\_host This task don’t work. There’s a way to access ansible\_fqdn? Regards. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_Durivage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Paul\_Durivage](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Paul_Durivage)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-retrieve-facts-about-host-b-inside-a-playbook-which-run-for-host-a/15032/9 "2014-04-16T23:45:07Z")
Well, what is the value of “host”? It’s a variable – is it defined? Does it have a sane value? If you’re looking for the value of the “current” host, you can reference ‘ansible\_fqdn’ directly: {{ ansible\_fqdn }}. Otherwise, make sure that host is defined and holds the value it’s supposed to with the **debug** module.