# Other host's host variables not available (for Zookeeper) **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [January 26, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/other-hosts-host-variables-not-available-for-zookeeper/12253 "2013-01-26T20:59:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blair\_Zajac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@Blair\_Zajac](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Blair_Zajac)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/other-hosts-host-variables-not-available-for-zookeeper/12253/1 "2013-01-26T20:59:40Z")
I’m trying to build a playbook that will deploy and configure a Zookeeper cluster. For a cluster, Zookeeper requires that “You attribute the server id to each machine by creating a file named myid” [1]. The zoo.cfg needs to have the IP address and myid for all the hosts in the cluster. So I’ve got this for my host list: [zookeepers] 192.168.2.2 myid=1 192.168.2.3 myid=2 192.168.2.4 myid=3 My tasks: ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Hokka\_Zakriss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f05b48/32.png) [@Daniel\_Hokka\_Zakriss](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Daniel_Hokka_Zakriss)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/other-hosts-host-variables-not-available-for-zookeeper/12253/2 "2013-01-26T21:04:36Z")
Blair Zajac wrote: > I'm trying to build a playbook that will deploy and configure a Zookeeper > cluster. For a cluster, Zookeeper requires that "You attribute the server > id to each machine by creating a file named myid" [1]. The zoo.cfg needs > to have the IP address and myid for all the hosts in the cluster. > > So I've got this for my host list: > > [zookeepers] > 192.168.2.2 myid=1 > 192.168.2.3 myid=2 > 192.168.2.4 myid=3 > > My tasks: > > --- > - name: install zookeeperd >   action: apt pkg=zookeeperd > > - name: write zookeeper's myid >   action: template src=../templates/myid.j2 dest=/var/lib/zookeeper/myid >   notify: >     - restart zookeeper > > - name: write zookeeper' zoo.cfg >   action: template src=../templates/zoo.cfg.j2 > dest=/etc/zookeeper/conf/zoo.cfg backup=yes >   notify: >     - restart zookeeper > > Here is myid.j2: > {{ myid }} > > Here is zoo.cfg > > # specify all zookeeper servers > # The fist port is used by followers to connect to the leader > # The second one is used for leader election > {% for host in groups['zookeepers'] %} > # server.{{ HOW TO GET myid HERE}}={{ host }}:2888:3888 > {% endfor %} This is exactly what hostvars is for. See [http://ansible.cc/docs/playbooks2.html#accessing-information-about-other-hosts](http://ansible.cc/docs/playbooks2.html#accessing-information-about-other-hosts) and then use {{ hostvars[host]['myid'] }} Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 9:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/other-hosts-host-variables-not-available-for-zookeeper/12253/3 "2013-01-26T21:05:19Z")
Have you tried, inside that loop, something like: {{ hostvars[host]['myid'] }} ? Note the hosts must have been talked to at least once previously in the ansible run for that to be loaded for facts, inventory variables should be immediately accessible. ---
**Author:** ![Blair\_Zajac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@Blair\_Zajac](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Blair_Zajac)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/other-hosts-host-variables-not-available-for-zookeeper/12253/4 "2013-01-26T21:07:23Z")
Sweet, thanks for the quick reply, that works great! I think the template doc section could be expanded to mention this, I may put together a patch for it. Blair [1] [http://ansible.cc/docs/modules.html#template](http://ansible.cc/docs/modules.html#template) ---
**Author:** ![Blair\_Zajac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@Blair\_Zajac](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Blair_Zajac)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/other-hosts-host-variables-not-available-for-zookeeper/12253/5 "2013-01-26T21:15:37Z")
Thanks to Daniel's note, that works great. To flush out the docs at [http://ansible.cc/docs/modules.html#template](http://ansible.cc/docs/modules.html#template), besides the following keys, are there any others? I didn't find the other examples that showed this.    groups    hostvars    ansible\_managed    template\_host    template\_uid    template\_path    template\_fullpath    template\_run\_date Blair ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/other-hosts-host-variables-not-available-for-zookeeper/12253/6 "2013-01-26T21:42:19Z")
$ansible\_hostname $ansible\_hostname\_short (does not have FQDN if there was one on the above) ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Hokka\_Zakriss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f05b48/32.png) [@Daniel\_Hokka\_Zakriss](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Daniel_Hokka_Zakriss)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/other-hosts-host-variables-not-available-for-zookeeper/12253/7 "2013-01-26T21:48:54Z")
Michael DeHaan wrote: > $ansible\_hostname > $ansible\_hostname\_short (does not have FQDN if there was one on the > above) No, those are facts from the setup module. inventory\_hostname and inventory\_hostname\_short are special though. In addition, there is group\_names. These are all documented in the section I linked earlier. The template\_\* vars should indeed be documented in the template module documentation, as they are only available for templates. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/other-hosts-host-variables-not-available-for-zookeeper/12253/8 "2013-01-27T02:13:26Z")
General concept correct, actual letters not so much 🙂