get ec2 instance id after ec2 creation

[Colin Byrne]

Hey, so I feel like I am following all the tutorials.... but I can't seem to get the instance id after I create and instance with the ec2 module, to use for other modules, like the ec2_vol module, which depends on the ec2 instance id to attach it to the correct instance. I am not sure if I am missing some underlying concept, or missing a variable or missing something else.   Here are my ec2 and ec2_vol modules:

---

- name: Launch instances based on server list

  ec2:

    key_name: "{{ environment_settings[item.0.environment].key_name }}"

    group_id: "{{ environment_settings[item.0.environment].security_groups[item.1.type] }}"

    instance_type: "{{ environment_settings[item.0.environment].instance_type[item.1.type] }}"

    image: "{{ environment_settings[item.0.environment].image }}"

    termination_protection: "{{ environment_settings[item.0.environment].termination_protection }}"

    wait: true

    region: "{{ environment_settings[item.0.environment].region }}"

    instance_tags:

      Type: "{{ item.0.environment }}"

      Name: "{{ item.1.name }}"

    exact_count: 1   

    count_tag:

      Name: "{{ item.1.name }}"

    vpc_subnet_id: "{{ environment_settings[item.0.environment].subnet_id }}"

    assign_public_ip: "{{ environment_settings[item.0.environment].assign_public_ip[item.1.type] }}"

    private_ip: "{{ item.1.private_ip }}"

  register: ec2

  with_subelements:

     - server_environments

     - servers

- name: Attach volumes to created instances

  ec2_vol:

    instance: "{{ item.id }}"

    device_name: /dev/xvdb

    volume_size: 200

    volume_type: gp2

    iops: 600

  with_items: ec2.instances

  register: ec2_vol

The output I get from the second task is : 

[DEPRECATION WARNING]: Skipping task due to undefined attribute, in the future this will be a fatal error.. This feature will be removed in a future release. Deprecation warnings can 

be disabled by setting deprecation_warnings=False in ansible.cfg.

 I know this error is thrown by the 'ec2.instances' not being properly defined. I am using ansible 2.1.0. 

As a secondary issue, is there a way to define a variable for reuse so I can clean up my super-messy traversing of the nested dictionary?

Thanks for any help, C

[Alexey Vazhnov]

It is strange, look like all must to work. I don't understand why you received "undefined attribute".

Try to add after first task:

- debug: var=ec2

[Colin Byrne]

hey, thanks, thats a good idea. Here is my output. Instances is clearly empty... I am using  private vpc subnet instances.... Do you think that may be why they aren't loading?

my debug output is:

ok: [localhost] => {

    "ec2": {

        "changed": false,

        "msg": "All items completed",

        "results": [

            {

                "_ansible_no_log": false,

                "changed": false,

                "instance_ids": null,

                "instances": [],

                "invocation": {

                    "module_args": {

                        "assign_public_ip": false,

                        "aws_access_key": null,

                        "aws_secret_key": null,

                        "count": 1,

                        "count_tag": {

                            "Name": "s-test"

                        },

                        "ebs_optimized": false,

                        "ec2_url": null,

                        "exact_count": 1,

                        "group": null,

                        "group_id": [

                            "sg-81398ee4",

                            "sg-a6398ec3"

                        ],

                        "id": null,

                        "image": "ami-06116566",

                        "instance_ids": null,

                        "instance_profile_name": null,

                        "instance_tags": {

                            "Name": "s-test",

                            "Type": "staging"

                        },

                        "instance_type": "t2.medium",

                        "kernel": null,

                        "key_name": "ansible_provisioning",

                        "monitoring": false,

                        "network_interfaces": null,

                        "placement_group": null,

                        "private_ip": "10.101.1.33",

                        "profile": null,

                        "ramdisk": null,

                        "region": "us-east-1",

                        "security_token": null,

                        "source_dest_check": true,

                        "spot_launch_group": null,

                        "spot_price": null,

                        "spot_type": "one-time",

                        "spot_wait_timeout": 600,

                        "state": "present",

                        "tenancy": "default",

                        "termination_protection": false,

                        "user_data": null,

                        "validate_certs": true,

                        "volumes": null,

                        "vpc_subnet_id": "subnet-819f45cd8",

                        "wait": true,

                        "wait_timeout": 300,

                        "zone": null

                    },

                    "module_name": "ec2"

                },

                "item": [

                    {

                        "environment": "staging"

                    },

                    {

                        "name": "s-test",

                        "private_ip": "10.101.1.33",

                        "type": "app"

                    }

                ],

                "tagged_instances": [

                    {

                        "ami_launch_index": "0",

                        "architecture": "x86_64",

                        "block_device_mapping": {

                            "/dev/sda1": {

                                "delete_on_termination": true,

                                "status": "attached",

                                "volume_id": "vol-c14a1569"

                            }

                        },

                        "dns_name": "",

                        "ebs_optimized": false,

                        "groups": {

                            "sg-81398ee4": "ssh",

                            "sg-a6398ec3": "default"

                        },

                        "hypervisor": "xen",

                        "id": "i-11eeg8a3",

                        "image_id": "ami-06116566",

                        "instance_type": "t2.medium",

                        "kernel": null,

                        "key_name": "ansible_provisioning",

                        "launch_time": "2016-02-03T22:47:37.000Z",

                        "placement": "us-west-1a",

                        "private_dns_name": "ip-10-101-1-33.us-west-1.compute.internal",

                        "private_ip": "10.101.1.33",

                        "public_dns_name": "",

                        "public_ip": null,

                        "ramdisk": null,

                        "region": "us-west-1",

                        "root_device_name": "/dev/sda1",

                        "root_device_type": "ebs",

                        "state": "running",

                        "state_code": 16,

                        "tags": {

                            "Name": "s-colin",

                            "Type": "integ"

                        },

                        "tenancy": "default",

                        "virtualization_type": "hvm"

                    }

                ]

            }

        ]

    }

}

[Colin Byrne]

I just confirmed that having only a private ip is NOT the reason for the failure here. I haven't yet tested wether being under a vpc subnet is the reason, which I would doubt...