How to use multiple filter in setup module

[Vikrant Agarwal]

I want to extract only specific information of the systems using Ansible setup module , like  ansible_memtotal_mb , ansible_machine and ansible_distribution_version .  How to do that in single ansible command ? 

Regards

Vikrant

[Vladimir Botka]

It's possible to 'loop' the 'filter' in the module 'setup'
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/setup_module.html

For example:

- hosts: test_01
gather_facts: false
tasks:
- setup:
filter: "{{ item }}"
loop:
- 'ansible_memtotal_mb'
- 'ansible_machine'
- 'ansible_distribution_version'
- debug:
var: hostvars.test_01.ansible_facts

gives

ok: [test_01] =>
hostvars.test_01.ansible_facts:
distribution_version: '12.0'
machine: i386
memtotal_mb: 3400

It's not possible to create single 'filter' because of the limited
functionality of 'fnmatch', I think
https://docs.python.org/3.8/library/fnmatch.html

HTH,

-vlado

[Vladimir Botka]

On Thu, 2 Jan 2020 12:45:01 +0100
Vladimir Botka <vbo...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 2 Jan 2020 02:57:22 -0800 (PST)
> Vikrant Agarwal <vikranta...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I want to extract only specific information of the systems using Ansible
> > setup module , like ansible_memtotal_mb , ansible_machine
> > and ansible_distribution_version . How to do that in single ansible
> > command ?

> It's possible to 'loop' the 'filter' in the module 'setup'
> https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/setup_module.html
>

> - hosts: test_01
> gather_facts: false
> tasks:
> - setup:
> filter: "{{ item }}"
> loop:
> - 'ansible_memtotal_mb'
> - 'ansible_machine'
> - 'ansible_distribution_version'
> - debug:
> var: hostvars.test_01.ansible_facts

FWIW. Smarter approach to avoid the burden of collecting the facts on each
play is 'Caching facts'
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_variables.html#caching-facts

HTH,

-vlado

[Brian Coca]

FYI, filter does not prevent gathering of other facts, it just filters
the result, running in loop gathers facts multiple times, it is much
more efficient to gather 1 time and then extract the subset you
desire.


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Brian Coca