# take no action if entity exists in users & groups **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Tags:** ubuntu\ **Created:** [March 22, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/take-no-action-if-entity-exists-in-users-groups/12560 "2013-03-22T23:37:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dave\_Cottlehuber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@Dave\_Cottlehuber](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dave_Cottlehuber)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/take-no-action-if-entity-exists-in-users-groups/12560/1 "2013-03-22T23:37:24Z")
Hi, I'm another new ansible user. Over the last 2 months I've experimented with all the other CM tools and this one seems the best fit by far - thanks! I'm cleaning up some infrastructure and need to use the following logic: if group ubuntu doesn't yet exist, create it with a specific gid set some group parameters in all cases if user ubuntu doesn't yet exist, create it with a specific uid set some user parameters in all cases Is there a simple way to do this? Should user module be extended to have a "create=yes" mode? Then I could try: ```auto - name: create ubuntu user if missing user: name=ubuntu password=* state=present create=yes uid=999 user: name=ubuntu password=* createhome=yes create=no system=yes state=present groups=admin,ubuntu ``` A+ Dave ---
**Author:** ![Romeo\_Theriault](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Romeo\_Theriault](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Romeo_Theriault)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/take-no-action-if-entity-exists-in-users-groups/12560/2 "2013-03-23T00:56:20Z")
If you need to check if a user or group exists to do some follow up action you can do something like this:     - name: Check if user exists       action: shell /usr/bin/getent passwd $user | /usr/bin/wc -l | tr -d ' '       register: user\_exist     - name: create $user account       action: user name=$user group=its shell=/bin/bash createhome=yes home=/home/$user uid=12933 password="passwd"       only\_if: ${user\_exist.stdout} == 0       tags:           - users Same goes for group, just check if it exists, storing the results in a register. ---
**Author:** ![Yves\_Dorfsman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yves\_Dorfsman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Yves_Dorfsman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/take-no-action-if-entity-exists-in-users-groups/12560/3 "2013-03-23T01:09:58Z")
The idea in ansible (and actually most CM systems) is that you describe the end state, no action is taken on systems that are already there, corrective actions are taken on the others. There is no need fora create=yes for the user module, it is implied by default that the user will be created if it does not exist. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/take-no-action-if-entity-exists-in-users-groups/12560/4 "2013-03-23T01:13:52Z")
Exactly. This is true, though it's also true that ansible will modify the user id if not set right -- which I believe you didn't want to do. That being said, this is pretty much what everyone wants. It ensures the system is in exactly the state you want it to be, not in two different states based on a pre-condition, and you are assured your infrastructure is more-or-less homogenous. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Cottlehuber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@Dave\_Cottlehuber](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dave_Cottlehuber)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/take-no-action-if-entity-exists-in-users-groups/12560/5 "2013-03-23T01:52:23Z")
I agree with that in principle, but in practice I have servers with differing gid and uids, and changing file permissions everywhere to match a standardised gid/uid is not a workable solution. Over time, its possible to recommission clean boxes after shuffling the workload, but not right now. I think maybe I can use facts to retrieve that and run a special playlist to only create the user if missing perhaps. Then I could leave the gid/uid out of the main playlist. Thanks everybody for the helpful ideas. A+ Dave