Error register variable "The task includes an option with an undefined variable"

[SysAdmin EM]

Hello, 30 minutes ago I am reviewing my playbook and I do not find the error, I am going crazy, i see this error:

I run the playbook this way

/usr/bin/ansible-playbook -i hosts --extra-vars "CARRIER=xx" tasks/create_ec2_stage.yaml

I see this error:

fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"msg": "The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: list object has no element 0\n\nThe e
rror appears to be in '/etc/ansible/loyalty/tasks/create_ec2_stage.yaml': line 63, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exac
t syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n      register: ec2_metadata\n    - name: Parse < JSON >\n      ^ here\n"}  

My playbook:

---
- name: New EC2 instances
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no
  vars_files:
    - /etc/ansible/loyalty/vars/vars.yaml
  tasks:
    - name: Run EC2 Instances
      amazon.aws.ec2_instance:
        name: "new-{{ CARRIER }}.test"
        aws_secret_key: "{{ ec2_secret_key }}"
        aws_access_key: "{{ ec2_access_key }}"
        region: us-east-1
        key_name: Kiu
        instance_type: t2.medium
        image_id: xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        wait: yes
        wait_timeout: 500
        volumes:
          - device_name: /dev/xvda
            ebs:
              volume_type: gp3
              volume_size: 20
              delete_on_termination: yes
        vpc_subnet_id: xxxxxxxxxxxx
        network:
          assign_public_ip: no
        security_groups: ["xxxxxxxxxx", "xxxxxxxxxxx", "xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"]
        tags:
          Enviroment: TEST
        count: 1
    - name: Pause Few Seconds
      pause:
        seconds: 20
        prompt: "Please wait"
    - name: Get Information for EC2 Instances
      ec2_instance_info:
        region: us-east-1
        filters:
          "tag:Name": new-{{ CARRIER }}.test
      register: ec2_metadata
    - name: Parse JSON
      set_fact:
        ip_addr: "{{ ec2_metadata.instances[0].network_interfaces[0].private_ip_address }}"

Any help, please?

Regards,

[Matt Martz]

The problem is with this line:

ip_addr: "{{ ec2_metadata.instances[0].network_interfaces[0].private_ip_address }}"

One of those llist vars is empty. You will probably need to debug them, to see what the data structure is.

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Matt Martz
@sivel
sivel.net

[SysAdmin EM]

I tried something a little smaller and it works properly:

---
- name: New EC2 Instances

  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no
  vars_files:
    - /etc/ansible/loyalty/vars/vars.yaml

  vars:
    pwd_alias: "{{ lookup('password', '/dev/null length=15 chars=ascii_letters') }}"
    CARRIER_UPPERCASE: "{{ CARRIER | upper }}"
  tasks:
    - set_fact:
       MY_PASS: "{{ pwd_alias }}"
    - name: Get EC2 info
      ec2_instance_info: 
        region: us-east-1
        filters:
          "tag:Name": new-{{ CARRIER }}.stage
      register: ec2_metadata
    - name: Parsing JSON
      set_fact: 

        ip_addr: "{{ ec2_metadata.instances[0].network_interfaces[0].private_ip_address }}"

    - name: Show Result
      debug:
        msg: "{{ ip_addr }}"

Why is this example working for me and the other one not? I’m a little lost, someone could help me?

TASK [Show Result] *********************************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "msg": "172.31.x.x"
}

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[Dick Visser]

A few observations inline:

Here you explicitly decrease the wait_timeout by 100 seconds (default = 600).
This may cause the instance(s) to be not ready yet, which in turn
might cause the error.
Suggestion: either use the default (i.e. do not define wait_timeout),
or use a higher value - to increase the likelihood that all instances
are in the state that you want them to be.
While we're on that topic - you didn't define this desired state, so
the default ('present') is used:
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/amazon/aws/ec2_instance_module.html#parameter-state
If you spin up new instances, state 'present' means just that - it's
there. But it might or might not have all of its network interfaces
added and/or configured.

> volumes:
> - device_name: /dev/xvda
> ebs:
> volume_type: gp3
> volume_size: 20
> delete_on_termination: yes
> vpc_subnet_id: xxxxxxxxxxxx
> network:
> assign_public_ip: no
> security_groups: ["xxxxxxxxxx", "xxxxxxxxxxx", "xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"]
> tags:
> Enviroment: TEST
> count: 1
> - name: Pause Few Seconds
> pause:
> seconds: 20
> prompt: "Please wait"

Here you seem to work around the unstable 'present' state that you
implicitly required in the previous task?

> - name: Get Information for EC2 Instances
> ec2_instance_info:
> region: us-east-1
> filters:
> "tag:Name": new-{{ CARRIER }}.test
> register: ec2_metadata
> - name: Parse JSON
> set_fact:
> ip_addr: "{{ ec2_metadata.instances[0].network_interfaces[0].private_ip_address }}"
>
> Any help, please?

1. Drop the entire pause task
2. Drop the entire ec2_instance_info task
3. Remove the 'wait_timeout' parameter from the ec2_instance task
4. Add a state parameter with value 'running' to the ec2_instance task
5. Register the output of the ec2_instance task in a variable (say
'my_instances')
6. Add a debug task for the my_instances variable. This should have
the information you are looking for. Based on the exact structure of
that you can select the required keys/indices (or use json_query etc)


Dick