# Per-host remote user **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [October 18, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/per-host-remote-user/11997 "2012-10-18T14:44:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grzegorz\_Nosek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5daacb/32.png) [@Grzegorz\_Nosek](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Grzegorz_Nosek)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/per-host-remote-user/11997/1 "2012-10-18T14:44:49Z")
Hi, Is is possible to specify a different user for a certain host? As in: host1 ansible\_remote\_user=foobar host2 host3 … I mostly care about the machine running ansible. I don’t give out root there to everybody who has root elsewhere, so cannot really allow ansible to connect back to itself as root. Still, I want to expose some management tasks on this machine to ansible, so I created a dedicated user with limited sudo access. Now, how do I tell ansible to always ssh ansible@localhost instead of ssh root@localhost (I have remote\_user=root set in /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg)? Alternatively, getting ansible to execute “sudo -u ansible” with local exec() is fine too. I have seen some playbook examples but none particularly enlightening for me. What do I need to change in the following snippet (hand coded on the spot, please excuse bugs)? hosts: $host tasks: # this attempts ssh root@$host and succeeds - action: command set\_up\_remote\_host --whatever # this attempts ssh root@localhost and fails - action: command set\_up\_local\_host --whatever delegate\_to: localhost Best regards, Grzegorz Nosek ---
**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:** [October 18, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/per-host-remote-user/11997/2 "2012-10-18T14:57:23Z")
> Hi, > > Is is possible to specify a different user for a certain host? As in: > > host1 ansible\_remote\_user=foobar > host2 > host3 no, as this is not a property of the host ... but if you are using a playbook you can set the user seperately in each play. > ... > > I mostly care about the machine running ansible. I don't give out root there > to everybody who has root elsewhere, so cannot really allow ansible to > connect back to itself as root. At least in 0.8, when using local\_action, ansible uses the local connection type, which seems useful in your case. > I have seen some playbook examples but none particularly enlightening for > me. What do I need to change in the following snippet (hand coded on the > spot, please excuse bugs)? > > hosts: $host > tasks: > # this attempts ssh root@$host and succeeds > - action: command set\_up\_remote\_host --whatever > # this attempts ssh root@localhost and fails > - action: command set\_up\_local\_host --whatever >    delegate\_to: localhost I'd remove delegate\_to and use "local\_action" instead of action. ---
**Author:** ![Grzegorz\_Nosek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5daacb/32.png) [@Grzegorz\_Nosek](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Grzegorz_Nosek)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/per-host-remote-user/11997/3 "2012-10-18T15:36:19Z")
W dniu 18.10.2012 16:57, Michael DeHaan pisze: > but if you are using a playbook you can set the user seperately in each play. The flip side is I \*have\* to, instead of specifying it once in the inventory. > > I have seen some playbook examples but none particularly enlightening for > > me. What do I need to change in the following snippet (hand coded on the > > spot, please excuse bugs)? > > > > hosts: $host > > > tasks: > > # this attempts ssh root@$host and succeeds > > - action: command set\_up\_remote\_host --whatever > > # this attempts ssh root@localhost and fails > > - action: command set\_up\_local\_host --whatever > >    delegate\_to: localhost > > I'd remove delegate\_to and use "local\_action" instead of action. Hmm, after poking a bit around, I think I get it. I realized I need to split the playbook in multiple plays like this: hosts: $host tasks:   - action: command set\_up\_remote\_host --whatever hosts: localhost connection: local user: ansible   - action: command set\_up\_local\_host --whatever I guess I was thinking that a play should be somewhat self-contained (like a puppet class). Apparently that's completely wrong and the (rough) equivalent for a puppet class is an entire playbook, right? Thanks, Grzegorz Nosek ---
**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:** [October 18, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/per-host-remote-user/11997/4 "2012-10-18T15:40:04Z")
>   - action: command set\_up\_local\_host --whatever > > I guess I was thinking that a play should be somewhat self-contained > (like a puppet class). Apparently that's completely wrong and the > (rough) equivalent for a puppet class is an entire playbook, right? Puppet classes really don't model multiple things on multiple hosts at the same time very well so they don't even try. They also run everything as root all of the time. There's store configs for sharing data between hosts via a database, sure -- but they can't really orchestrate "do this here, then that over here, than that over here again" at all.