Define global variables in ansible group_vars/all file

[Xinhuan Zheng]

Hello,

I followed Ansible best practice to create my ansible automation directory structure like following:

group_vars

  group_vars/all

host_vars

os.yml

production

roles

  roles/os-issue

Since I'm using ansible user as a remote user, and sudo method to escalate its privileges globally, I want to define this in group_vars/all file. Here is what I define in group_vars/all directory:

---
# group_vars/all

vars:
  - remote_user: ansible
  - become: yes
  - become_method: sudo

However, when I ran my playbook, I'm still getting Permission Denied error:

ansible-playbook -i production os.yml -l Cluster1 -v

Using /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg as config file

PLAY [all] ****************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] ****************************************************************************************

fatal: [myserver]: UNREACHABLE! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Failed to connect to the host via ssh: ============================================================\n|Permission denied (publickey,password,keyboard-interactive).", "unreachable": true}

PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************************
myserver               : ok=0    changed=0    unreachable=1    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Here is my os.yml playbook:

---
# file: os.yml
# This playbook file is to configure operating system after kickstarting

- hosts: all
  roles:
    - role: os-issue

It is to set /etc/issue file for remote myserver.

Please advise me how I can define global variables in group_vars/all file.

Thank you,

- Xinhuan Zheng

[Vladimir Botka]

On Fri, 6 Dec 2019 08:24:10 -0800 (PST)
Xinhuan Zheng <xinhua...@gmail.com> wrote:

> # group_vars/all
>
> vars:
> - remote_user: ansible
> - become: yes
> - become_method: sudo

It's not necessary to use the "vars:" directive in the files.
See "Organizing host and group variables"
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/intro_inventory.html#organizing-host-and-group-variables

# group_vars/all
remote_user: ansible
become: yes
become_method: sudo

Cheers,

-vlado

[Xinhuan Zheng]

Hello,

It's not necessary to use the "vars:" directive in the files.
See "Organizing host and group variables"
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/intro_inventory.html#organizing-host-and-group-variables

# group_vars/all
remote_user: ansible
become: yes
become_method: sudo

Cheers,

        -vlado

I changed per advice.  Here is my changed file:

---

# group_vars/all

remote_user: ansible
become: yes
become_method: sudo

However, this doesn't work either. I got same Permission Denied error like my previous run

- Xinhuan Zheng

[alicia]

I don’t think the failure is related to using or not using “sudo”. The playbook failed because Ansible could not connect to the remote machine. 

The error message:

fatal: [myserver]: UNREACHABLE! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Failed to connect to the host via ssh: ============================================================\n|Permission denied (publickey,password,keyboard-

interactive).", "unreachable": true}

tells you that Ansible cannot connect to ‘myserver’ over SSH. If you try to connect to the target machine using SSH and the user ‘ansible’ from the command line, does that work? Do you have to type in a password? If you’re using SSH keys, does the ‘ansible’ user have permission to access the correct key?

See https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/connection_details.html#ssh-key-setup for information on setting up SSH keys. 

Hope this helps point you in the right direction.

Alicia

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[Xinhuan Zheng]

Hello Alicia,

I just ran ad-hoc command with -u ansible parameter like below:

$ ansible all -i production  -u ansible -l mygroup -a "uptime"
myserver | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
 12:13:22 up 11 days,  2:26,  2 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.02, 0.05

ansible user is defined on myserver, and it is in sudoers file in wheel group without password required.

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[Matt Martz]

`remote_user` is not an inventory var that ansible looks for to inform ansible how to connect.  You would instead want to use `ansible_user`.

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[Dick Visser]

And if you add the ‘-b’ option to that?

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[Xinhuan Zheng]

Hello Dick,

Yes, I added -b option. That worked fine.

$ ansible all -i production  -u ansible -l mygroup -a "uptime" -b
myserver | CHANGED | rc=0 >> 

  12:26:39 up 11 days,  2:40,  2 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.05

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[Xinhuan Zheng]

Hello All,

I just figured out myself and I want to post it for sharing with other who would have similar issue like myself.

The issue is what variable names I use in group_vars/all file.

remote_user, become and become_method, are not inventory-like recognized variables, they are recognized in playbook, but not in inventory, although those variables are not put in inventory file, I believe, they are inventory variables.

The correct names when putting in group_vars/all file are:

---
# group_vars/all

ansible_user: ansible
ansible_become: true
ansible_become_method: sudo

- Xinhuan Zheng

[Brian Coca]

ansible_user is a variable, can be defined anywhere variables are defined
remote_user is a keyword, as such it can only be set on playbook
objects (play/block/role/task)

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Brian Coca