IOS Command ARP Issue

[Emir Hayric]

I am trying to develop a Playbook which will reference an external variables file that contains numerous MAC addresses that I want to interrogate a network core device for.

If I use a very simple playbook just showing the entire ARP table such as this I get the expected results as show.

---

- name: IP From Arp For ISE Cleanup

  hosts: CoreTest

  gather_facts: false

  connection: network_cli

  tasks:

    #Execute commands on specified hosts, interating through imported items.

  - name: Interrogate ARP Tables on Customer Core Devices

    ios_command:

      commands: sh ip arp vrf ipt 

    register: results

    #Print Results

  - name: Print Results

    debug:

      msg: "{{ results }}"

    stdout_lines:

-     - Protocol  Address          Age (min)  Hardware Addr   Type   Interface

      - Internet  172.17.x.x              -   0000.0c9f.f1fc  ARPA   Vlan508

      - Internet  172.17.x.x            110   001f.6dcc.5e4a  ARPA   Vlan508

      - Internet  172.17.x.x             77   001f.6dcc.5447  ARPA   Vlan508

However when I use the include filter and point to an external variables files which includes the specific MAC addresses I want to find the debug output doesn't show me that it ever gets the IP addresses.

Can anyone tell me why this is happening?

---

- name: IP From Arp For ISE Cleanup

  hosts: CoreTest

  gather_facts: false

  connection: network_cli

  tasks:

    # Imports the variables

  - name: Include MAC Addresses From External File

    include_vars:

      file: mac_addresses.yml

      name: mac_addresses

    #Execute commands on specified hosts, interating through imported items.

  - name: Interrogate ARP Tables on Customer Core Devices

    ios_command:

      commands: sh ip arp vrf ipt | include "{{ item }}"

    with_items: "{{ mac_addresses.macs }}"

    register: results

    #Print Results

  - name: Print Results

    debug:

      msg: "{{ item }}"

    with_items: "{{ mac_addresses.macs }}"

TASK [Include MAC Addresses From External File] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

task path: /etc/ansible/ip_arp.yml:10

ok: [Switch.Sc] => changed=false 

  ansible_facts:

    mac_addresses:

      macs:

      - 001a.e82a.9f0d

      - 001a.e82a.9f71

  ansible_included_var_files:

  - /etc/ansible/mac_addresses.yml
TASK [Interrogate ARP Tables on Customer Core Devices] *************************************************************************************************************************************************

ok: [Switch.Sc] => (item=001a.e82a.9f0d) => changed=false 

  invocation:

    module_args:

      auth_pass: null

      authorize: null

      commands:

      - sh ip arp vrf ipt | include "001a.e82a.9f0d"

      host: null

      interval: 1

      match: all

      password: null

      port: null

      provider: null

      retries: 10

      ssh_keyfile: null

      timeout: null

      username: null

      wait_for: null

  item: 001a.e82a.9f0d

  stdout:

  - ''

  stdout_lines: <omitted>