# style question: fail or skip tasks if credentials are not present?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/style-question-fail-or-skip-tasks-if-credentials-are-not-present/25538>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [September 19, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/style-question-fail-or-skip-tasks-if-credentials-are-not-present/25538 "2017-09-19T21:21:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gordonmessmer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/gordonmessmer/32/1925_2.png) [@gordonmessmer](https://forum.ansible.com/u/gordonmessmer)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/style-question-fail-or-skip-tasks-if-credentials-are-not-present/25538/1 "2017-09-19T21:21:30Z")

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I’m getting started with Ansible, having worked with other systems previously. I think I have a reasonable grasp on the technical aspects of the tool, but I have a question about what the community regards as best practices or Ansible style…

I’m automating the configuration of systems that integrate with a kerberos system (FreeIPA). That requires that the Ansible process has a kerberos ticket available, with rights to manage the IPA server.

What should I instruct ansible to do when no ticket is available? One option would be to simply fail immediately, and print an error indicating that a ticket is required. The other would be to skip the items that require the ticket and print a warning, leaving the play “successful” but incomplete.

A third, I suppose, would be to segregate the parts that require a ticket into a separate playbook, and that one could prompt for a password, then acquire a ticket, and then run the tasks that require the ticket.

What do the rest of you do?