Using information between Ansible playbooks

[pk s]

Hi,

How do i store/use information retrieved from running a playbook task later in another playbook task?

I tried dumping the information in json format from the first playbook/task to a file. But then how do i read/pass this information to the new playbook task as input?

thanks,

Raji

[Vladimir Botka]

Short answer: Use "vars_files" or "include_vars".

Details: It's possible to store the variables in a file. For example the play

- hosts: localhost
vars:
test_var1: VAR-1
test_var2: VAR-2
test_var3: VAR-3
tasks:
- copy:
content: |
test_var1: {{ test_var1 }}
test_var2: {{ test_var2 }}
test_var3: {{ test_var3 }}
dest: amnesiac-01.yml

creates the file with the variables

$ cat amnesiac-01.yml
test_var1: VAR-1
test_var2: VAR-2
test_var3: VAR-3

Use "vars_files" or "include_vars" to read the variables. For example the play

- hosts: localhost
tasks:
- include_vars: amnesiac-01.yml
- debug:
msg: "{{ msg.split('\n') }}"
vars:
msg: |
test_var1: {{ test_var1 }}
test_var2: {{ test_var2 }}
test_var3: {{ test_var3 }}

gives

ok: [localhost] => {
"msg": [
"test_var1: VAR-1",
"test_var2: VAR-2",
"test_var3: VAR-3",
""
]
}
...

Cheers,

-vlado

[pk s]

Thanks. It works for localhost.

But let's say i need to save information from a task on all remote hosts in a local file (or files), how do i do it? So that in the next yml file, i can load the local file for all remote hosts.

[Vladimir Botka]

On Thu, 29 Aug 2019 10:50:11 -0700 (PDT)
pk s <ansib...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks. It works for localhost.
>
> But let's say i need to save information from a task on all remote hosts in
> a local file (or files), how do i do it? So that in the next yml file, i
> can load the local file for all remote hosts.

It's possible to store all "hostvars". For example with this template

$ cat my_hostvars.json.j2
my_hostvars_all:
{% for my_host in ansible_play_hosts_all %}
{{ my_host }}:
{{ hostvars[my_host]|to_nice_json }}
{% endfor %}

the playbook below stores "hostvars" of all hosts in the dictionary
"my_hostvars_all" and put it into the file
"{{ inventory_dir }}/my_hostvars.json" at localhost

- hosts: test_jails
tasks:
- set_fact:
test_var: "test_var_in_{{ inventory_hostname }}"
- template:
src: my_hostvars.json.j2
dest: "{{ inventory_dir }}/my_hostvars.json"
delegate_to: localhost
run_once: true

The dictionary can be included in the next playbook. For example the playbook
below

- hosts: test_jails
tasks:
- include_vars: my_hostvars.json
- set_fact:
my_hostvars: "{{ my_hostvars_all[inventory_hostname] }}"
- debug:
var: my_hostvars.test_var

gives

ok: [test_01] => {
"my_hostvars.test_var": "test_var_in_test_01"
}
ok: [test_02] => {
"my_hostvars.test_var": "test_var_in_test_02"
}
ok: [test_03] => {
"my_hostvars.test_var": "test_var_in_test_03"
}

Cheers,

-vlado

[pk s]

Thanks Vladimir. Actually  'delegate_to: localhost' helped, and i'm using it with the copy module itself. 

Thanks,

Raji