# Problem with delegate\_to to group in inventory **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [December 15, 2021, 2:36am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-with-delegate-to-to-group-in-inventory/36112 "2021-12-15T02:36:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Possamai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@Lucas\_Possamai](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lucas_Possamai)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 2:36am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-with-delegate-to-to-group-in-inventory/36112/1 "2021-12-15T02:36:12Z")
Hi guys. I’m trying to use the “delegate\_to”, to only run a certain task to a group in my inventory. inventory file: [zabbixprimary] localhost ansible\_port=2235 # zabbix primary [zabbixslave] localhost ansible\_port=2236 # zabbix secondary [zabbix:children] zabbixprimary zabbixslave main.yml: - name: Setup Zabbix and Grafana hosts: zabbix become: yes become\_user: root gather\_facts: False task.yml: - name: Enable Zabbix HA - primary run\_once: true ansible.builtin.shell: sed -i ‘s/# HANodeName=/HANodeName={{ hostname\_secondary }}/g’ /etc/zabbix/zabbix\_server.conf && sed -i ‘s/# NodeAddress=localhost:10051/NodeAddress={{ hostname\_primary }}:10051/g’ /etc/zabbix/zabbix\_server.conf when: not ansible\_check\_mode and zabbix\_ha delegate\_to: zabbixprimary - name: Enable Zabbix HA - secondary run\_once: true ansible.builtin.shell: sed -i ‘s/# NodeAddress=localhost:10051/NodeAddress={{ hostname\_secondary }}:10051/g’ /etc/zabbix/zabbix\_server.conf when: not ansible\_check\_mode and zabbix\_ha delegate\_to: zabbixslave But I get an error: fatal: [localhost → zabbixprimary]: UNREACHABLE! =\> {“changed”: false, “msg”: “Failed to connect to the host via ssh: ssh: Could not resolve hostname zabbixprimary: nodename nor servname provided, or not known”, “unreachable”: true} Am i doing it right? I couldn’t find much information online about how to achieve this. Thanks! Lucas ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Possamai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@Lucas\_Possamai](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lucas_Possamai)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 3:03am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-with-delegate-to-to-group-in-inventory/36112/2 "2021-12-15T03:03:06Z")
My bad… managed to get it working by using: inventory\_hostname in groups[‘zabbixslave’] Cheers! ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Possamai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@Lucas\_Possamai](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lucas_Possamai)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 3:30am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-with-delegate-to-to-group-in-inventory/36112/3 "2021-12-15T03:30:40Z")
Well… Didn’t quite get it, actually. My task.yml looks like this: - name: Enable Zabbix HA - primary ansible.builtin.shell: sed -i ‘s/# HANodeName=/HANodeName={{ hostname\_secondary }}/g’ /etc/zabbix/zabbix\_server.conf && sed -i ‘s/# NodeAddress=localhost:10051/NodeAddress={{ hostname\_primary }}:10051/g’ /etc/zabbix/zabbix\_server.conf when: inventory\_hostname in groups[‘zabbixprimary’] and zabbix\_ha and not ansible\_check\_mode delegate\_to: “{{ item }}” delegate\_facts: true with\_items: “{{ groups[‘zabbixprimary’] }}” - name: Enable Zabbix HA - secondary ansible.builtin.shell: sed -i ‘s/# NodeAddress=localhost:10051/NodeAddress={{ hostname\_secondary }}:10051/g’ /etc/zabbix/zabbix\_server.conf when: inventory\_hostname in groups[‘zabbixslave’] and zabbix\_ha and not ansible\_check\_mode delegate\_to: “{{ item }}” delegate\_facts: true with\_items: “{{ groups[‘zabbixslave’] }}” However, looks like only one of the hosts is updated. Am I doing it right? ---
**Author:** ![vbotka](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/vbotka/32/359_2.png) [@vbotka](https://forum.ansible.com/u/vbotka)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-with-delegate-to-to-group-in-inventory/36112/4 "2021-12-15T05:44:02Z")
> \>\> > \>\> inventory file: > \>\> [zabbixprimary] > \>\> localhost ansible\_port=2235 # zabbix primary > \>\> > \>\> [zabbixslave] > \>\> localhost ansible\_port=2236 # zabbix secondary > \>\> > \>\> [zabbix:children] > \>\> zabbixprimary > \>\> zabbixslave > \>\> > \>\> - name: Enable Zabbix HA - primary > \>\> ansible.builtin.shell: sed -i 's/# HANodeName=/HANodeName={{ > \>\> ... > \>\> delegate\_to: zabbixprimary > \>\> > \>\> fatal: [localhost -\> zabbixprimary]: UNREACHABLE! =\> {"changed": false, > \>\> "msg": "Failed to connect to the host via ssh: ssh: Could not resolve > \>\> hostname zabbixprimary: nodename nor servname provided, or not known", > \>\> "unreachable": true} It's not possible to delegate a task to a group. Delegate to a host instead. Change the inventory. For example   \> cat hosts   zabbixprimary ansible\_host=localhost ansible\_port=2235   zabbixslave ansible\_host=localhost ansible\_port=2236   [zabbix]   zabbixprimary   zabbixslave You should be able to delegate to the hosts. For example   - hosts: zabbix     tasks:       - shell: echo OK         delegate\_to: zabbixprimary         run\_once: true       - shell: echo OK         delegate\_to: zabbixslave         run\_once: true should work as expected   TASK [shell] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*   changed: [zabbixprimary -\> zabbixprimary]   TASK [shell] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*   changed: [zabbixprimary -\> zabbixslave] ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Possamai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@Lucas\_Possamai](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lucas_Possamai)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 6:00am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-with-delegate-to-to-group-in-inventory/36112/5 "2021-12-15T06:00:07Z")
Interesting! And can I use the “delegate\_to” command to more than one host at a time? Cheers! Lucas ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Possamai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@Lucas\_Possamai](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Lucas_Possamai)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 6:05am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-with-delegate-to-to-group-in-inventory/36112/6 "2021-12-15T06:05:33Z")
> > It’s not possible to delegate a task to a group. Delegate to a host > > instead. Change the inventory. For example > > > > > cat hosts > > > zabbixprimary ansible\_host=localhost ansible\_port=2235 > > > zabbixslave ansible\_host=localhost ansible\_port=2236 > > > > [zabbix] > > zabbixprimary > > zabbixslave > > > > You should be able to delegate to the hosts. For example > > > > - hosts: zabbix > > tasks: > > - shell: echo OK > > delegate\_to: zabbixprimary > > run\_once: true > > - shell: echo OK > > delegate\_to: zabbixslave > > run\_once: true > > > > should work as expected > > > > TASK [shell] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* > > changed: [zabbixprimary → zabbixprimary] > > > > TASK [shell] \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* > > changed: [zabbixprimary → zabbixslave] > > > > – > > Vladimir Botka > > Interesting! And can I use the “delegate\_to” command to more than one host at a time? Yes, I can! Using: delegate\_to: “{{ item }}” delegate\_facts: true loop: - zabbixslave - zabbixslave02 ---
**Author:** ![Vasily\_Klimov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/2bfe46/32.png) [@Vasily\_Klimov](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Vasily_Klimov)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 10:16am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-with-delegate-to-to-group-in-inventory/36112/7 "2021-12-15T10:16:24Z")
[zabbix] zabbixprimary ansible\_host=IP\_ADDRESS ansible\_port=PORT zabbixslave ansible\_host=IP\_ADDRESS ansible\_port=PORT [zabbix:vars] ansible\_python\_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3 ansible\_user=login ansible\_password=password Good luck. среда, 15 декабря 2021 г. в 09:06:17 UTC+3, [drum....@gmail.com](mailto:drum....@gmail.com): ---
**Author:** ![utoddl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/utoddl/32/249_2.png) [@utoddl](https://forum.ansible.com/u/utoddl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2021, 12:36pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/problem-with-delegate-to-to-group-in-inventory/36112/8 "2021-12-15T12:36:22Z")
BTW, your initial problem was that you had delegate\_to: zabbixprimary where you needed delegate\_to: “{{ zabbixprimary }}” But you’re well past that now. As my old CompSci prof. used to say, “_Don’t let these little things confuse you. Try to get confused on a higher level._”