I wish it were the case that repos were the problem. On the subject system...
[root@dbb001 ~]# yum search httpd
Loaded plugins: product-id, rhnplugin, security, subscription-manager
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or RHN Satellite.
============================== N/S Matched: httpd ==============================
httpd24u-debuginfo.x86_64 : Debug information for package httpd24u
libmicrohttpd-devel.i686 : Development files for libmicrohttpd
libmicrohttpd-devel.x86_64 : Development files for libmicrohttpd
libmicrohttpd-doc.noarch : Documentation for libmicrohttpd
httpd.x86_64 : Apache HTTP Server
httpd-devel.i686 : Development interfaces for the Apache HTTP server
httpd-devel.x86_64 : Development interfaces for the Apache HTTP server
httpd-manual.noarch : Documentation for the Apache HTTP server
httpd-tools.x86_64 : Tools for use with the Apache HTTP Server
httpd24u.x86_64 : Apache HTTP Server
httpd24u-devel.x86_64 : Development interfaces for the Apache HTTP server
httpd24u-filesystem.noarch : The basic directory layout for the Apache HTTP
: server
httpd24u-manual.noarch : Documentation for the Apache HTTP server
httpd24u-tools.x86_64 : Tools for use with the Apache HTTP Server
libmicrohttpd.i686 : Lightweight library for embedding a webserver in
: applications
libmicrohttpd.x86_64 : Lightweight library for embedding a webserver in
: applications
mod_auth_mellon.x86_64 : A SAML 2.0 authentication module for the Apache Httpd
: Server
mod_dav_svn.x86_64 : Apache httpd module for Subversion server
mod_dnssd.x86_64 : An Apache HTTPD module which adds Zeroconf support
Name and summary matches only, use "search all" for everything.
yum search doesn't seem to have a problem finding packages that match 'httpd'. Playbook does though