I want to show the group variables, looping over all groups

[Norbert Klamann]

Hello all,

i use Ansible to document and manage a small network of computers and other devices. So I bulit an inventory with several groups and hosts and defined a bunch of variables  on each level to describe what i want to achieve,  Each host and each group has for example a variable named `host_comment` or `group_comment` respectively.

This is very useful on the host level, but i want to show the group variables separately in a loop over all groups.

I can show a group variable via `hostvars[host].group_comment`but because every hosts belongs to several groups i cannot control, whicht name is displayed.

This template

```

{% for group in groups  if  group != 'ungrouped' %}

  {% for host in groups[group] %}

  {% if loop.first %}{% set hvh = hostvars[host] %}

  {{ group }}     {{ hvh.group_comment }}

  {% endif %}

  {% endfor %}

{% endfor %}

```

gives

```

  all     Nicht per Ansible erreichbare Maschinen, aber sie sollen durch (Meta-) Variablen doukmentiert werden

  lxc_container     Alle Hosts in FM 174 (soweit Ansible-fähig)

  fm174     Alle Hosts in FM 174 (soweit Ansible-fähig)

  hetzner     Alle Hosts bei Hetzner (cloud)

  controllable     Alle Hosts in FM 174 (soweit Ansible-fähig)

  virtual_FM174     Virtuelle Ansible Hosts in FM174

  virtual_ansible_hosts     Nicht per Ansible erreichbare Maschinen, aber sie sollen durch (Meta-) Variablen doukmentiert werden

```

I think it is visible that this result makes no sense.

Can anyone help here ?

Thanks a lot !

Norbert

[Stefan Hornburg (Racke)]

On 08/02/2023 09:21, Norbert Klamann wrote:
> Hello all,
> i use Ansible to document and manage a small network of computers and other devices. So I bulit an inventory with several groups and hosts and defined a bunch of variables  on each level to describe what i want to achieve,  Each host and each group has for example a variable named `host_comment` or `group_comment` respectively.
>
> This is very useful on the host level, but i want to show the group variables separately in a loop over all groups.
>
> I can show a group variable via `hostvars[host].group_comment`but because every hosts belongs to several groups i cannot control, whicht name is displayed.
>
> This template
> ```
> {% forgroupingroupsifgroup!='ungrouped'%}
>   {% forhostingroups[group]%}

>   {% ifloop.first%}{% sethvh=hostvars[host]%}

> {{ group }}{{ hvh.group_comment }}
>   {% endif%}
>   {% endfor%}
> {% endfor%}
> ```
>
> gives
> ```
>   all     Nicht per Ansible erreichbare Maschinen, aber sie sollen durch (Meta-) Variablen doukmentiert werden
>   lxc_container     Alle Hosts in FM 174 (soweit Ansible-fähig)
>   fm174     Alle Hosts in FM 174 (soweit Ansible-fähig)
>   hetzner     Alle Hosts bei Hetzner (cloud)
>   controllable     Alle Hosts in FM 174 (soweit Ansible-fähig)
>   virtual_FM174     Virtuelle Ansible Hosts in FM174
>   virtual_ansible_hosts     Nicht per Ansible erreichbare Maschinen, aber sie sollen durch (Meta-) Variablen doukmentiert werden
>
> ```
> I think it is visible that this result makes no sense.

Hello Norbert,

can you give an example of the desired output?

Regards

            Racke

>
> Can anyone help here ?
>
> Thanks a lot !
>
> Norbert
>
>

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Automation expert - Ansible and friends
Linux administrator & Debian maintainer
Perl Dancer & conference hopper

[Norbert Klamann]

Yes of course , it should look  like this

```

all                   - "alle interessierenden Hosts, auch nicht per ansible kontrollierbare"

controllable          - Alle Hosts, die mit ansible kontrolliert werden koennten

fm174                 - Alle Hosts in FM 174 (soweit Ansible-fähig)

hetzner               - Alle Hosts bei Hetzner (cloud)

virtual_ansible_hosts - Nicht per Ansible erreichbare Maschinen, aber sie sollen durch (Meta-) Variablen doukmentiert werden

virtual_FM174         - Virtuelle Ansible Hosts in FM174

```

[Stefan Hornburg (Racke)]

On 08/02/2023 09:58, Norbert Klamann wrote:
> Yes of course , it should look  like this
> ```
> all                   - "alle interessierenden Hosts, auch nicht per ansible kontrollierbare"
> controllable          - Alle Hosts, die mit ansible kontrolliert werden koennten
> fm174                 - Alle Hosts in FM 174 (soweit Ansible-fähig)
> hetzner               - Alle Hosts bei Hetzner (cloud)
> virtual_ansible_hosts - Nicht per Ansible erreichbare Maschinen, aber sie sollen durch (Meta-) Variablen doukmentiert werden
> virtual_FM174         - Virtuelle Ansible Hosts in FM174
>
> ```

Hello Norbert,

take a look at the Jinja sort filter: https://jinja.palletsprojects.com/en/3.0.x/templates/#jinja-filters.sort

Regards

        Racke

> > To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/fadc4912-aaab-4cfa-aa18-22dd5fe1d12dn%40googlegroups.com <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/fadc4912-aaab-4cfa-aa18-22dd5fe1d12dn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/fadc4912-aaab-4cfa-aa18-22dd5fe1d12dn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>>.

>
>
> --
> Automation expert - Ansible and friends
> Linux administrator & Debian maintainer
> Perl Dancer & conference hopper
>

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[Todd Lewis]

I see what you want, but it isn't possible. From each host's perspective, the `group_comment` variable will have the value as set in whichever one of that host's groups where the group name sorts last, as that's the last one loaded. So it is consistent, just not a solution to your problem.

You can work around it if you want to go to the trouble. Say you have groups named gr1, gr2, gr3, etc. Within each group, put that group's comment in a variable called `group_comment_<group_name>`, i.e. `group_comment_gr1`, `group_comment_gr2`, `group_comment_gr3`, etc.

Then do something like the following to create a `group_comments` list for each host.

    - name: Create a list of group_comment_* variable names

      ansible.builtin.set_fact:

        # Two different ways to do it.

        group_comment_names_a: "{{ ['group_comment_'] | product(vars.group_names) | map('join') | flatten }}"

        group_comment_names_b: "{{ query('ansible.builtin.varnames', '^group_comment_.+') }}"

    - name: Join group_comment_* into a list

      ansible.builtin.set_fact:

        group_comments: |

            {% set gclist = [] %}

            {% for gcn in group_comment_names_a %}

            {% set _ = gclist.append(query('ansible.builtin.vars', gcn)) %}

            {% endfor %}{{ gclist | flatten }}

I tried lots of different ways to invoke `ansible.builtin.vars` on a list using "normal" jinja pipelines before resorting to the old-school for loop above. If somebody knows how to do it I'd love to see your solution.

Anyway, you end up with each host having a list containing each comment from each of its groups. But I somehow doubt that solves your problem either. It's still a host-centric view of your group comments.

[Norbert Klamann]

" It's still a host-centric view of your group comments.  "

yes thats the problem  if you want to call ut so. It would be nice if groups would be objects in their own right but I presume its a can of worms which nobody wants to open because of the felxibility of the concept

[Todd Lewis]

Maybe need to back up a bit and ask what information you hope to get from the display.

If you were to put together your ideal report by hand, what would it look like, fully articulated?

[Todd Lewis]

Last week I said, "If somebody knows how to do it I'd love to see your solution." Well, I found the solution hiding in plain sight in https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbook_guide/complex_data_manipulation.html#id15 and it boils down to this one-liner:

    q('vars', *q('varnames', '^group_comment_'))

That asterisk isn't a typo; it's Python argument list unpacking. I had not appreciated how that could be used in Jinja expressions, but there it is.

[Brian Coca]

ansible-inventory has an --export option, this is only thing that
keeps 'group variables' as such. Ansible internally always flattens
variables to the host and groups are only a way to label hosts and to
mass assign variables, they are not a first class entity. So the
solutions above ONLY work when either variables are only defined in a
specific group or hosts are not members of more than one group that
defines the variable.


--
----------
Brian Coca