Ansible playbook undefined variable

[Hernan Sal]

Hi,

I'm running an ansible playbook called create_admin_user.yml and I'm getting

this error

fatal: [172.31.3.117]: FAILED! => {"msg": "The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: 'herlit_semaphore' is undefined. 'herlit_semaphore' is undefined\n\nThe error appears to be in '/etc/ansible/roles/create_admin_user/tasks/main.yml': line 13, column 3, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n\n- name:  semaphore\n  ^ here\n"}

This is my create_admin_user.yaml file in  the playbooks/users directory

- hosts: all
  gather_facts: yes
  become: yes
  become_user: root
  tasks:
    - ansible.builtin.import_role:
        name: create_admin_user

This is my main.yml in the vars directory

admin:
  - name: 'herlit_semaphore'
    comment: 'Ultimate User'
    uid: '1000'

  - name: 'semaphore'
    comment: 'Semaphore App User'
    uid: '1001'

This is my main.yml in the tasks directory

---
# tasks file for create_admin_user

- name: Add the user with a specific uid and a primary group of "admin"
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: "{{ herlit_semaphore.name }}"
    comment: "{{ herlit_semaphore.comment }}"
    uid: "{{ herlit_semaphore.uid }}"
    state: present
    group: admin
    append: yes

- name: Add the user "semaphore" with a specific uid and a primary group of "admin"
  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: "{{ semaphore.name }}"
    comment: "{{ semaphore.comment }}"
    uid: "{{ semaphore.uid }}"
    state: present
    group: admin
    append: yes

Sorry for the long email. Any ideas about this error?

THanks

Hernan

[Rilindo Foster]

Hi Hernan,

Your variable is actually a data structure of a list of dictionary:

admin:
  - name: 'herlit_semaphore'
    comment: 'Ultimate User'
    uid: '1000'

  - name: 'semaphore'
    comment: 'Semaphore App User'
    uid: '1001'

If you don’t intend to do loop, you simply reference the item directly. For example, for “herlit_semaphore” user, you do:

- name: Add the user with a specific uid and a primary group of "admin"
  ansible.builtin.user:

    name: "{{ admin[0].name }}"
    comment: "{{ admin[0].comment }}"
    uid: "{{ admin[0].uid }}"

    state: present
    group: admin
    append: yes

Where [0] is the first element in the list that contains that user. For the second user, it is going to be:

- name: Add the user "semaphore" with a specific uid and a primary group of "admin"

  ansible.builtin.user:
    name: "{{ admin[1].name }}"
    comment: "{{ admin[1].comment }}"
    uid: "{{ admin[1].uid }}"

    state: present
    group: admin
    append: yes

Where [1] is the second element in the list and th one that contains the “semaphore” user.

You can confirm the placement by pasting:

admin:
  - name: 'herlit_semaphore'
    comment: 'Ultimate User'
    uid: '1000'

  - name: 'semaphore'
    comment: 'Semaphore App User'
    uid: ‘1001'

Into:

And click on “YAML Viewer” to browse around the list.

Note that unless there is a good reason, it would be better to loop around that data structure, as it mean much less code.

- Rilindo

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[Rowe, Walter P. (Fed)]

Are you setting herlit_semaphore? If not, how is it being declared?

Walter
--
Walter Rowe, Division Chief
Infrastructure Services, OISM
Mobile: 202.355.4123

[Hernan Sal]

Thanks a lot Rilindo. It worked like a charm.I keep forgetting that is all python.

Thank you Walter for your input as well.

Best

Hernan