how to set different backup directory than current while using backup=yes

[Sameer Modak]

how to set different backup directory than current while using backup=yes in ansible modules.

It takes backup in current directory with .conf.date which actually valid for application .conf anything

do we have any way where we can give specific backup directory path 

[Todd Lewis]

That's not an option.

Your best bet is to handle the backup yourself before invoking ansible.builtin.copy or ansible.builtin.template etc. and don't specify backup (or "backup: false").

Use ansible.builtin.stat to get the mtime.

Then use ansible.builtin.copy to copy the .conf file where you want it. Specify "remote_src: true" and use the registered mtime to provide an extension to "dest:" that looks like what "backup: true" does. Or make it look different if you don't like it that way.

You can wrap all that up into a task file that you can pass variables to so it's easy to use for multiple files.

[Brian Coca]

The backup system returns the 'backup_file' information so you can
then operate on the built in backup, like moving it to a central
location on the target, copying it to a backup server and/or managing
the number/recency of backups.

I would not 'manage it beforehand' as you do not know if a backup is
needed until after the task that creates the backup runs, mtime is not
the best indicator.

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Brian Coca

[solarflow99]

Is there any code example of this?

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[Brian Coca]

This is an example role I made https://github.com/bcoca/local_backup.
this is just ONE way to do it. If using awx/Tower/Controller I would
recommend creating a workflow.




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Brian Coca

[Todd Lewis]

(For background, a great discussion surrounding the missing backup_dir: task option can be read here: here. Highly recommended.)

You are absolutely correct, and yet I must respectfully disagree with practically every point.

> The backup system …

There is no backup system. I understand you may think there is, because you've written some incredibly impressive code that uses it in the role you cited elsewhere in this thread. But if it isn't documented it doesn't exist. I've been crawling all over Ansible documentation for the last five years, and I would never have guessed such a thing was possible.

And even if I knew in my bones it could be done, I wouldn't have been able to create such a thing.

And even if I had written such a thing, I wouldn't dare use it in production, because it deals with Ansible internals in a way that screams, "Subject to change without notice."

The docs have improved tremendously in that time, by the way. It's not surprising that internal interfaces aren't as well documented as the user side of the bread-n-butter modules, especially as so much has changed in that time. That rapid change isn't slowing, though, which makes tying business process to those internals even less attractive.

> I would not 'manage it beforehand'…

No, you wouldn't, because you are as familiar with the magic behind the mirror - the internal workings of Ansible - as the rest of us who are limited to the user-facing side. But the rest of us have to build our wheels with the stick-n-stones within our reach.

> …as you do not know if a backup is needed…

He wants to ensure he has a copy of the file. That's not a big ask.

It isn't a backup, because "backup" implies a lot of things that aren't true. They also aren't true when you say "backup: true" on a task. But that's beside the point. If the user creates and maintains a copy with the copy module, with the dest name that includes the src's mtime, and does it before potentially clobbering the live conf file, then he's effectively done what "backup: true" would do, except he hasn't trashed his conf directory. Also, the copy task wouldn't make another copy if the file hadn't changed. It would only do anything if either the contents or the mtime changed, which is really all he's asking for.

[Sameer Modak]

Thanks todd for explanation 

[Vladimir Botka]

On Tue, 31 Oct 2023 05:17:35 -0700 (PDT)
Todd Lewis <uto...@gmail.com> wrote:

> There is no backup system. ... I wouldn't have been able
> to create such a thing ... I wouldn't dare use it in
> production ... the rest of us have to build our

> wheels with the stick-n-stones within our reach.
>

> On Monday, October 30, 2023 at 11:34:33 AM UTC-4 Brian Coca wrote:
>
> > The backup system returns the 'backup_file' information so you can
> > then operate on the built in backup, like moving it to a central

> > location ...

This can be achieved with ~20 lines of code. For example, let's
declare the module defaults

- hosts: all
module_defaults:
lineinfile:
create: true
backup: true

and register the results

tasks:

- lineinfile:
path: /tmp/test1.txt
line: "{{ item }}"
loop: [line1, line2, line3]
register: ns_result_001

- lineinfile:
path: /tmp/test2.txt
line: line1
register: ns_result_0021

- lineinfile:
path: /tmp/test2.txt
line: line2
register: ns_result_0022

Declare the list of all variables *ns_result_* and declare the list
of all backup files

vars:

my_ns_results: "{{ q('vars', *q('varnames', '^ns_result_*')) }}"

ns_bfiles: "{{ (my_ns_results|json_query('[].backup') +
my_ns_results|json_query('[].results[].backup'))|
flatten|select }}"

Fetch the backup files to the controller and optionally delete them on
the remote hosts

post_tasks:

- fetch:
src: "{{ item }}"
dest: /tmp/ansible/backup
loop: "{{ ns_bfiles }}"

- file:
src: "{{ item }}"
state: absent
loop: "{{ ns_bfiles }}"
when: ns_bfiles_delete|d(false)|bool

For example,

shell> tree /tmp/ansible/backup/
/tmp/ansible/backup/
└── test_11
└── tmp
├── test1.txt.7143.2023-10-31@14:18:07~
├── test1.txt.7156.2023-10-31@14:18:08~
└── test2.txt.7182.2023-10-31@14:18:11~

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Vladimir Botka

[Todd Lewis]

That looks fine as far as it goes. I think we all agree that none of this is particularly hard to implement.

However, the way I read the original poster's original problem, there is an implied constraint: One cannot go creating additional files in the .conf directory. Full stop. So the "backup: true" option - which lacks the long sought "backup_dir:" modifier - is off the table.

The options I see are: (a) create and maintain a staging directory and copy the files from there to the target .conf directory; (b) handle copies in advance - which is essentially implementing what you wish "backup_dir:" would do if existed; (c) give up on "roll your own 'backup: true'" altogether.