When running the shell module in a playbook, how to pass a url to the script?

[Emil Kacperski]

Hello,

If I am running the shell module to run a script and I want to pass a url into the script how would I do this?  Can't use a variable because it's not a dict word?

For example the script is :

echo $url > test.output

The playbook has a task running :

shell echo.sh

If I have a configuration file where the url's are contained, how can I pass it to the script?

Thanks!

Emil

[Шалыгин Константин]

As I understart u want something like this?

- name: 1
  shell: 'date'
  register: echo0_result
- name: 2
  shell: 'echo Current date is - {{ echo0_result.stdout }}'
  register: echo1_result
- name: 3
  debug: msg='1st result is {{ echo0_result.stdout }}, 2nd is {{ echo1_result.stdout }}'

[Emil Kacperski]

Not quite. basically right now I have 10 individual servers where I run a script to bring up a chromium browser output is hdmi.  Basically

I have a videowall with monitors.  Each server has the script and a local screen.conf file which contains the url string.

But instead of logging into each server to change the url or restart the script I want to do this with ansible.

The script and everything is running just fine using the script.  Except of course I want a screen.conf to reside on the ansible server

and not on the remote server.  So that when I run the restart script the url is passed into the script and everything is controlled from

the ansible server logging into the remote servers.

Basically I am not sure how to pass on the url to the remote server script. 

The example I gave is very basic, just assume that the echo.sh is located on the remote server and the url file is located on the ansible

server.  Let's assume screen.conf, so when I run the echo.sh using the shell module I need it to grab the url from the screen.conf

and then pass it to the echo.sh script where it's referenced as $url.

Does this make sense?

[Brian Coca]

if the configuration file is local to the 'master', you can use a lookup:

lookup('pipe', 'cat /file/with/url')

if it is remote, backtick to do same

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--
Brian Coca

[Emil Kacperski]

Are we now going away from Ansible?  Ok on ansible you have a /etc/ansible/task/url.conf file contains:

[server1]

http://www.blah.com

[server2]

http://www.blah2.com

Now you have a playbook:

---

- hosts: server1

  remote_user: remote

  tasks:

  - name: start videowall    

    shell: /etc/ansible/start_video.sh

So now currently inside the start_video.sh file the config file is loaded which contains the url and then when chromium is run it's referenced.  

How can I get Ansible to store the url from the url.conf (on ansible server) and store it within the playbook before the shell command executes

the start_video.sh and when it executes, so that the remote server now knows what $url is when the script runs?

I have tried different methods, including with_vars but it does not seem to work probably because a "var" has to be a dict word.  

Thanks for the help, this last hurdle is always the hardest to figure out ;-).

[Brian Coca]

it would be easier if it were a host/group vars file or even a proper
ini file (there is an ini lookup plugin in queue). But if that is what
you have and assuming the caption is per inventory hostname:

shell: /etc/ansible/start_video.sh {{lookup('pipe', 'grep -A1 ' +
inventory_hostname + ' /etc/ansible/task/url.conf|tail -n 1'}}

^ that should work

--
Brian Coca

[Emil Kacperski]

Thanks Brian, will look into that and see if I can make it work.

Someone else brought up a very easy solution, simply have multiple config files on the ansible server and do a copy

to the dest.  It's funny how I was so determined to get it done a certain way, while a simple solution was right 

in front of me.

Thanks all for the ideas!