Ansible playbook doesn't pickup host variables

Question

I am trying to run a playbook which execute against variables stored in the host_vars. This is the solution layout:

/host_vars/f5-test
/inventory/hosts
/playbook.yml

The content of the files are as follows:

/inventory/host:

[f5-test]
localhost

/host_vars/hosts

f5_user:user
f5_password:password
f5_server:server

/playbook.yml

- name: Playbook
  hosts: f5-test
  gather_facts: no
  gather_subset: no

  tasks:
    - name: Taks_01
      tags: "bigip-node"
      bigip_node:
        server: "{{f5_server}}"
        user: "{{f5_user}}"
        password: "{{f5_password}}"
        state: "present"
        partition: "Common"
        host: "10.20.30.40"
        name: "F5_Node"
        session_state: "enabled"
        description: "description"
      delegate_to: localhost

However when we execute the following command:

sudo ansible-playbook playbook.yml -i inventory/hosts -vvvv

I get the following error:

task path: /home/dev/ansible/playbook.yml:9
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {
    "failed": true,
    "msg": "the field 'args' has an invalid value, which appears to include a variable that is undefined. The error was: 'f5_server' is undefined\n\nThe error appears to have been in '/home/dev/ansible/playbook.yml': line 9, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n  tasks:\n    - name: Task_01\n      ^ here\n"
}

Any idea why it is not being picked up? I set up my project in the same structure found in the F5 ansible example, which can be found here.

Thanks!

Please read your question and fix obvious inconsistencies. It's hard to tell which mistakes you did when writing the question and which when setting up the files. — techraf, Jul 18 '17 at 13:48

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 18 '17 at 14:02

6

In your example hosts file f5-test is a group, not a host.

So put your variables into a group_vars file: ./group_vars/f5-test.yml:

f5_user: user
f5_password: password
f5_server: server

answered Jul 18 '17 at 14:02

Konstantin Suvorov

65,183
9
162
193

Confirmed with F5's Ansible contributor Konstantin's answer is correct. – Chase Jul 19 '17 at 16:23

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 18 '17 at 13:14

0

The host_vars directory needs to be in the same folder as your inventory. So move /host_vars/f5-test to /inventory/host_vars/f5-test. Take a look at the best practices page for more info.

answered Jul 18 '17 at 13:14

kfreezy

1,499
12
16

I moved the folder as you suggested however the issue persists. Also by this logic the f5 example would not work, which it does. https://github.com/F5Networks/f5-ansible/tree/devel/examples/000-getting-started – jonatzin Jul 18 '17 at 13:23
1

You'll also need to change the filename from `f5-test` to `localhost` since "f5-test" is your group name. You could alternatively add a `group_vars` directory and move `f5-test` there if you want. – kfreezy Jul 18 '17 at 13:42

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 25 '18 at 07:07

0

#

In your example hosts file f5-test is a group

/inventory/host:

[f5-test] ---this is considered as a group

localhost --- this is considered as a host

so now create a host_vars/localhost

Then it will work

answered Jul 25 '18 at 07:07

Sarath Chowdary

1
1

Ansible playbook doesn't pickup host variables

3 Answers3