Pull of List in a Variable File as Extra-Vars

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1

Hello Team,

Can I ask some help on how to pull items as Extra-Vars?
So, here is the scenario.

dirname.yml
dir_list:

  • hello
  • goodbye
  • take-care

patch_file.yml
patch_lib:

  • lib_1
  • lib_2

general_var.yml
main_dir: “{{ app_name }}-{{ ansible_hostname }}-{{ ver }}”

main_playbook.yml

  • name: Test Playbook Script for Debug
    hosts: all

vars_files:

  • general_var.yml

  • dirname.yml

  • patch_file.yml

tasks:

  • name: Copy | All Mule v392 Patch to LIB-User Directory for “{{Application_Runtime | upper}}” Runtime
    copy:
    src: “/user/lib/{{ item .0 }}”
    dest: “/home/{{ item.1 }}/lib/user/”
    mode: 0644
    with_nested:
  • “{{ patch_lib }}”
  • “{{ main_dir }}”

And here’s my playbook script that doesn’t work.
ansible-playbook main_playbook.yml --limit awssandbox001.us.com -e “app_name= dir_list”

The idea, it should be able to copy the list of 'patch_lib" into each “main_dir”.

dest:
/home/hello-awssandbox001.us.com-123/lib/user
/home/goodbye-awssandbox001.us.com-123/lib/user

/home/take-care-awssandbox001.us.com-123/lib/user

Look forward for anybody that can able to help.

Thanks… WP

2

Are you getting an error? Can we see it?

3

Yeah, I forgot to mention the result.
Basically, there was no error but instead it creates a new directory from the value of ‘app_name’ rather than the item list of the dir_list.

Result: /home/dir_list-awssandbox001.us.com-123/lib/user
Expected:

  • /home/hello-awssandbox001.us.com-123/lib/user

  • /home/goodbye-awssandbox001.us.com-123/lib/user

  • /home/take-care-awssandbox001.us.com-123/lib/user

Appreciated.

Thanks,
WP

4

See if this does what you want …

  • name: Test Playbook Script for Debug
    hosts: localhost

vars_files:

  • general_var.yml
  • dirname.yml
  • patch_file.yml

tasks:

  • name: Copy | All Mule v392 Patch to LIB-User Directory for “{{Application_Runtime | upper}}” Runtime
    copy:
    src: “/user/lib/{{ item .0 }}”
    dest: “/home/{{ item.1 }}-{{ ansible_hostname }}-{{ ver }}/lib/user/”

mode: 0644
with_nested:

  • “{{ patch_lib }}”
    - “{{ dir_list }}”
5

Thank You, Walter.
It does work as expected however, I do have couple of variables inside the dirname.yml and different directories inside of the home path.
The idea, I don’t want to run the copy module (etc) in one execution but instead putting them in a group or set. Another purpose, I don’t want them to restart them at the same time wherein it will be on schedule on when it will happen.

dirname.yml
dir_list:

  • hello
  • goodbye
  • take-care

another_list:

  • say
  • tell
  • make

exam_list:

  • etc
  • other

Home Directory

  • /home/hello-awssandbox001.us.com-123

  • /home/goodbye-awssandbox001.us.com-123

  • /home/takecare-awssandbox001.us.com-123

  • /home/say-awssandbox001.us.com-123

  • /home/tell-awssandbox001.us.com-123

  • /home/make-awssandbox001.us.com-123

  • /home/etc-awssandbox001.us.com-123

  • /home/other-awssandbox001.us.com-123

Appreciated and thanks… WP

6

You can group your inventory and provide the group name to the execution and it will only run on that group.

$ ansible-playbook --inventory my_inventory_file --limit group_name … rest of your command …

The “hosts: all” in your playbook will be limited to the group from your inventory that you specify on the command line.

Walter

7

Hello,

I have tried something like this one… Btw, I’ve been using group_vars already for my other variables.

dir tree:

  • inventory

  • inv_test_01 (file)

  • group_vars (dir)

  • awssbx (file)

inv_test_01 (file)
[awssbx]
awssandbox001.us.com

[awsdev]

awsdev001
awsdev002

awssbx (file)

dir_list:

  • hello
  • goodbye
  • take-care

Command:

$ ansible-playbook --inventory inv_test_01 --limit awssbx … rest of the command …
-e “app_name= dir_list”

or even without the -inventory also doesn’t work. It is still creating folder of the ‘dir_list’.

Thank you and appreciated… WP

8

Are you thinking there is different “dir_list” for each group?

–limit awssxb would also need an awssbx vars file that has one list of values for dir_list
–limt awssbx2 would also need an awssbx2 vars file that has a different list of values for dir_list?

In your playbook you can reference vars file by variable names, so you could use the group name

vars_files:

  • general_var.yml

- “{{ ansible_limit }}.yml”

  • patch_file.yml
9

https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/special_variables.html

Look for ansible_limit …

10

Thank you Walter…
Honestly, I have no idea and trying to understand and learning it now.
I’ll get back once I have tried again.

Thank you and appreciated… WP

11

> *general_var.yml*
> main_dir: "{{ app_name }}-{{ ansible_hostname }}-{{ ver }}"

Use *vars* lookup plugin to indirectly reference the value of the
variable stored in *app_name*. Then use filter *product* to create
the combinations. For example, given

* the extra variable '-e app_name=dir_list'
* the variable *dir_list*
  > cat dirname.yml
  dir_list:
    - hello
    - goodbye
    - take-care
* the inventory
  > cat hosts
  host01 ansible_hostname=01.us.com
* the variable 'ver=123'

The variable *main_dir*

  > cat general_var.yml
  main_dir: "{{ lookup('vars', app_name)|
                product([ansible_hostname])|
                product([ver])|
                map('flatten')|
                map('join','-')|list }}"

gives the list you want (simplified)

  main_dir:
    - hello-01.us.com-123
    - goodbye-01.us.com-123
    - take-care-01.us.com-123

Test the iteration

    - debug:
        msg: "copy {{ item.0 }} to {{ item.1 }}"
      with_nested:
        - "{{ patch_lib }}"
        - "{{ main_dir }}"

gives (abridged)

  msg: copy lib_1 to hello-01.us.com-123
  msg: copy lib_1 to goodbye-01.us.com-123
  msg: copy lib_1 to take-care-01.us.com-123
  msg: copy lib_2 to hello-01.us.com-123
  msg: copy lib_2 to goodbye-01.us.com-123
  msg: copy lib_2 to take-care-01.us.com-123

Fit the details to your needs.

12

Hello Vladimir,

It does works successfully. Many thanks and highly appreciated.

This thread is RESOLVED.

Thanks… WP