Executing task after being logged as root in ansible

Question

I am trying to subsequently run a task after I am connected using ssh. I am connecting using this in my playbook

- name: connect using password # task 1; this task set/connect me as root
  expect:
    command: ssh -o "StrictHostKeyChecking=no" myuser@********
    responses:
      "password:": 
         -my password
         -my password
  delegate_to: localhost

That task is fine and I am able to see that I am connected. The problem now is that when I try to run subsequent tasks for example:

- name: copy folder # task 2 in the same playbook
  copy:
    src: "files/mylocalfile.txt"
    dest: "etc/temp"
    mode: "0777"

I have the following message:

 "msg: etc/temp not writable"

How do I do to continue executing the remaining task as root that got connected in task1?

Sorry, but that is very unclear. Why not use ansible as it is supposed to be used and let ansible connect via ssh from localhost to that user? — KamilCuk, Apr 08 '21 at 22:48
What I mean is that there is another team that need to add that user in tower, so that I will be able to use it directly when my playbook on tower — user3841581, Apr 08 '21 at 23:12

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 09 '21 at 01:19

I believe this might not be an ansible question, but a linux one. Is your user in /etc/wheel?

Ansible has the direective become, which will let you execute a task as root, if the user you are connecting with is allowed to escalate privileges. The task you want to run with privileges would be something like:

- name: copy folder # task 2 in the same playbook
  become: yes
  copy:
    src: "files/mylocalfile.txt"
    dest: "etc/temp"
mode: "0777"

you can use become_user if you need to specify the user you want to run the task as, and if you have a password for the privileged user, you can ask ansible to prompt for the password when running ansible-playbook, using --ask-become-password.

The following link offers documentation about privilege escalation in ansible:

https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/become.html

Executing task after being logged as root in ansible

1 Answers1