Running the same task on 2 different groups , each group have different variables

[דודו דודו‎]

Goal:  Running the same task on different inventory group, each group with different variables

Setup: 

In my inventory hosts file, I have 2 groups.  Web-Server and Manager servers.

I have created a playbook that format and mounting disks, each group have a different number of disks and different mount point name. Therefore I have created VARs per group - but the tasks should be the same for the 2 groups. 

How can I define the tasks to use the variables that are relevant to each group?  I have managed to run it a single group 

Host file 

[web_server]

130.1.1.1

130.1.1.2

130.1.1.3

[managr_server]

130.1.1.5

130.1.1.6

130.1.1.7

Playbook:

- hosts: all
  become: true
  vars:
    web_server:
      - {drive: /dev/sdb ,mount_path: /data1, partition_id: 1}
      - {drive: /dev/sdc ,mount_path: /data2, partition_id: 1}

      - {drive: /dev/sdd ,mount_path: /data3, partition_id: 1}
      manager_server:
        - {drive: /dev/sdb ,mount_path: /manager1,  partition_id: 1}
        - {drive: /dev/sdc ,mount_path: /manager2,  partition_id: 1}


  tasks:

  - name: create directory
    file:
      path: "{{item.mount_path}}"
      state: directory
    with_items: "{{web_server}}"

  - name: Create a new primary partition
    parted:
      device: "{{item.drive}}"
      number: 1
      state: present
    with_items: "{{web_server}}"

  - name: Create a ext4 filesystem
    filesystem:
      fstype: ext4
      dev: "{{item.drive}}{{item.partition_id}}"
    with_items: "{{web_server}}"

  - name: Mount drives
    mount:
      path: "{{item.mount_path}}"
      src: "{{item.drive}}{{item.partition_id}}"
      fstype: ext4
      state: present
    with_items: "{{web_server}}"

[Vladimir Botka]

> Host file
>
> [web_server]
> 130.1.1.1
> 130.1.1.2
> 130.1.1.3
>
> [managr_server]
> 130.1.1.5
> 130.1.1.6
> 130.1.1.7

Systemic Ansible-way would be to create a role and use group_vars. For example

1) Keep the inventory (fix "manager_server" group label)
2) Create a role e.g. "manage_drives" with the tasks
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_reuse_roles.html

a) Use ansible-galaxy to create an empty role
$ ansible-galaxy init manage_drives

b) Create tasks.

tasks/main.yml

- name: create directory
file:
path: "{{ item.mount_path }}"
state: directory

loop: "{{ my_drives }}"

- name: Create a new primary partition
parted:
device: "{{item.drive}}"
number: 1
state: present

loop: "{{ my_drives }}"

- name: Create a ext4 filesystem
filesystem:
fstype: ext4
dev: "{{ item.drive }}{{ item.partition_id }}"

loop: "{{ my_drives }}"

- name: Mount drives
mount:
path: "{{ item.mount_path }}"
src: "{{ item.drive }}{{ item.partition_id }}"
fstype: ext4
state: present

loop: "{{ my_drives }"

c) Review other artefacts of the role that you don't need right now
(defaults, files, handlers, meta, templates, tests, vars).

d) You might want to create empty list my_drives by default

defaults/main.yml
my_drives: []

3) Create group_vars

$ tree group_vars/
group_vars/
├── manager_server.yml
└── web_server.yml

$ cat group_vars/manager_server.yml
my_drives:

- {drive: /dev/sdb ,mount_path: /manager1, partition_id: 1}
- {drive: /dev/sdc ,mount_path: /manager2, partition_id: 1}

$ cat group_vars/web_server.yml
my_drives:

- {drive: /dev/sdb ,mount_path: /data1, partition_id: 1}
- {drive: /dev/sdc ,mount_path: /data2, partition_id: 1}
- {drive: /dev/sdd ,mount_path: /data3, partition_id: 1}

4) Create a playbook. Run it first with "--syntax-check" then with
"--check". Then try it sharp.

- hosts: manager_server
become: true
roles:
- manage_drives

- hosts: web_server
become: true
roles:
- manage_drives

HTH,

-vlado