Hello new to ansible and a little stuck on copying with loops - ansible

Question

I have this
- name: cp images
copy:
src: "{{ item.src }} "
dest: "{{ item.dest }}"
owner: root
group: root
mode: u=rw, g=rw, o=r
loop:
- { src: images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtioa.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP/virtioa.qcow2}
- { src: images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtiob.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP/virtiob.qcow2}
- { src: images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtioc.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP/virtioc.qcow2}
- { src: images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/vFPC-20180605.img, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvfp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VFP/virtioa.qcow2}
- { src: images/Juniper/VSRX/junos-vsrx3-x86-64-20.4R1.12.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vsrxng-20.4R1.12/virtioa.qcow2}
- { src: images/Juniper/QFX/vqfx-20.2R1-2019010209-pfe-qemu.qcow, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vqfxpfe-10K-F-20.2R1.10/hda.qcow}
- { src: images/Juniper/QFX/vqfx-20.2R1.10-re-qemu.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vqfxre-10K-F-20.2R1.10/hda.qcow2}
- { src: images/Cisco/L2/vios_l2-adventerprisek9-m.SSA.high_iron_20180619.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/viosl2-adventerprisek9-m.03.2017/virtioa.qcow2}
- { src: images/Cisco/L3/vios-adventerprisek9-m.vmdk.SPA.157-3.M3, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vios-adventerprisek9-m.SPA.156-1.T/vios-adventerprisek9-m.SPA.156-1.T.vmdk}
I'm trying to use Ansible to auto set up EVE-NG
I'm getting this error below
\n\t/home/ablake/Documents/Documents/personal-git/ansible/main/images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtiob.qcow2
on the Ansible Controller.\nIf you are using a module and expect the file to exist on the remote, see the remote_src option"}
Now I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing wrong, I see in the error log its got \n\t in front of the dir I have no idea where this is coming from, is this the problem? I don't know if it is or its just ansible debug
now without the loop below
- name: copy PFE to EVE-NG
tags: QFX
copy:
src: images/Juniper/QFX/vqfx-20.2R1-2019010209-pfe-qemu.qcow
dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vqfxpfe-10K-F-20.2R1.10/hda.qcow
that works I maybe missing something super basic with loops but I don't understand the difference and I'm a little stuck sorry
Also tried with quotes below
- name: cp images
copy:
src: "{{ item.src }} "
dest: "{{ item.dest }}"
loop:
- { src: 'images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtioa.qcow2', dest: '/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP/virtioa.qcow2'}
- { src: 'images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtiob.qcow2', dest: '/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP/virtiob.qcow2'}
- { src: 'images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtioc.qcow2', dest: '/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP/virtioc.qcow2'}
- { src: 'images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/vFPC-20180605.img', dest: '/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvfp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VFP/virtioa.qcow2'}
- { src: 'images/Juniper/VSRX/junos-vsrx3-x86-64-20.4R1.12.qcow2', dest: '/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vsrxng-20.4R1.12/virtioa.qcow2'}
- { src: 'images/Juniper/QFX/vqfx-20.2R1-2019010209-pfe-qemu.qcow', dest: '/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vqfxpfe-10K-F-20.2R1.10/hda.qcow'}
- { src: 'images/Juniper/QFX/vqfx-20.2R1.10-re-qemu.qcow2', dest: '/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vqfxre-10K-F-20.2R1.10/hda.qcow2'}
- { src: 'images/Cisco/L2/vios_l2-adventerprisek9-m.SSA.high_iron_20180619.qcow2', dest: '/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/viosl2-adventerprisek9-m.03.2017/virtioa.qcow2'}
- { src: 'images/Cisco/L3/vios-adventerprisek9-m.vmdk.SPA.157-3.M3', dest: '/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vios-adventerprisek9-m.SPA.156-1.T/vios-adventerprisek9-m.SPA.156-1.T.vmdk'}
same error below
"Could not find or access 'images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/vFPC-20180605.img '\nSearched in:\n\t/home/ablake/Documents/Documents/personal-git/ansible/main/files/images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/vFPC-20180605.img \n\t/home/ablake/Documents/Documents/personal-git/ansible/main/images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/vFPC-20180605.img \n\t/home/ablake/Documents/Documents/personal-git/ansible/main/files/images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/vFPC-20180605.img \n\t/home/ablake/Documents/Documents/personal-git/ansible/main/images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/vFPC-20180605.img on the Ansible Controller.\nIf you are using a module and expect the file to exist on the remote, see the remote_src option"}

Answer 1

The error says:
"Could not find or access 'images/... Searched in: ... main/files/images/ ... main/images/ ...".
The attribute src of the module copy says:
Local path to a file to copy to the remote server. This can be absolute or relative.
See Search paths in Ansible and the section Resolving local relative paths in particular. In your case:
When you specify a relative path for a local file, Ansible will try to find that file ... relative to the file in which the task is defined ... Specifically, Ansible tries to find the file ... in its appropriate subdirectory—“files”, ...
This explains why Ansible searched for the files in the directories
main/images/
main/files/images/
It's up to you to provide the correct path. For example, given the tree at the controller
shell> tree images/
images/
├── Cisco
│   ├── L2
│   │   └── vios_l2-adventerprisek9-m.SSA.high_iron_20180619.qcow2
│   └── L3
│   └── vios-adventerprisek9-m.vmdk.SPA.157-3.M3
└── Juniper
├── QFX
│   ├── vqfx-20.2R1.10-re-qemu.qcow2
│   └── vqfx-20.2R1-2019010209-pfe-qemu.qcow
├── VMX
│   └── vmx.18.2
│   └── images
│   ├── vFPC-20180605.img
│   ├── virtioa.qcow2
│   ├── virtiob.qcow2
│   └── virtioc.qcow2
└── VSRX
└── junos-vsrx3-x86-64-20.4R1.12.qcow2
and the tree at the remote host
shell> ssh admin#test_11 find /opt
/opt
/opt/unetlab
/opt/unetlab/addons
/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu
/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP
/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/viosl2-adventerprisek9-m.03.2017
/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vqfxpfe-10K-F-20.2R1.10
/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vsrxng-20.4R1.12
/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vios-adventerprisek9-m.SPA.156-1.T
/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvfp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VFP
/opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vqfxre-10K-F-20.2R1.10
The playbook
- name: Copy files to remote
hosts: test_11
tasks:
- name: cp images
copy:
src: "{{ item.src }}"
dest: "{{ item.dest }}"
loop: "{{ my_files }}"
loop_control:
label: "{{ item.src }}"
works as expected
shell> ansible-playbook pb.yml
PLAY [Copy files to remote] ******************************************************************
TASK [cp images] *****************************************************************************
changed: [test_11] => (item=images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtioa.qcow2)
changed: [test_11] => (item=images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtiob.qcow2)
changed: [test_11] => (item=images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtioc.qcow2)
changed: [test_11] => (item=images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/vFPC-20180605.img)
changed: [test_11] => (item=images/Juniper/VSRX/junos-vsrx3-x86-64-20.4R1.12.qcow2)
changed: [test_11] => (item=images/Juniper/QFX/vqfx-20.2R1-2019010209-pfe-qemu.qcow)
changed: [test_11] => (item=images/Juniper/QFX/vqfx-20.2R1.10-re-qemu.qcow2)
changed: [test_11] => (item=images/Cisco/L2/vios_l2-adventerprisek9-m.SSA.high_iron_20180619.qcow2)
changed: [test_11] => (item=images/Cisco/L3/vios-adventerprisek9-m.vmdk.SPA.157-3.M3)
PLAY RECAP ***********************************************************************************
test_11: ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
How to debug
Find files at the controller
- name: Stat and assert files at the controller
hosts: localhost
vars:
my_src: "{{ dict(st.results|json_query('[].[item.src, stat.exists]')) }}"
tasks:
- stat:
path: "{{ playbook_dir }}/{{ item.src }}"
register: st
loop: "{{ my_files }}"
- debug:
var: my_src
when: debug|d(false)|bool
- assert:
that: my_src_missing|length == 0
fail_msg: "Error: Missing files: {{ my_src_missing }}"
vars:
my_src_missing: "{{ my_src|dict2items|
rejectattr('value')|
map(attribute='key')|
list }}"
Create or delete directories and files for testing
- name: Create or delete directories and files
hosts: test_11
tasks:
- name: Create local
block:
- name: Create local directories
file:
state: directory
path: "{{ playbook_dir }}/{{ item }}"
loop: "{{ my_files|map(attribute='src')|map('dirname')|unique }}"
- name: Create local files
file:
state: touch
path: "{{ playbook_dir }}/{{ item.src }}"
loop: "{{ my_files }}"
delegate_to: localhost
when: create_local|d(false)|bool
- name: Create directories at remote host
file:
state: directory
path: "{{ item }}"
loop: "{{ my_files|map(attribute='dest')|map('dirname')|unique }}"
when: create_remote|d(false)|bool
- name: Delete local tree
file:
state: absent
path: "{{ playbook_dir }}/{{ item }}"
loop: "{{ my_files|map(attribute='src')|map('dirname')|unique }}"
delegate_to: localhost
when: delete_local|d(false)|bool
- name: Delete remote tree
file:
state: absent
path: "{{ item }}"
loop: "{{ my_files|map(attribute='dest')|map('dirname')|unique }}"
when: delete_remote|d(false)|bool
List of files
shell> cat group_vars/all/my_files.yml
my_files:
- {src: images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtioa.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP/virtioa.qcow2}
- {src: images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtiob.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP/virtiob.qcow2}
- {src: images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/virtioc.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvcp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VCP/virtioc.qcow2}
- {src: images/Juniper/VMX/vmx.18.2/images/vFPC-20180605.img, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vmxvfp-18.2R1.8-domestic-VFP/virtioa.qcow2}
- {src: images/Juniper/VSRX/junos-vsrx3-x86-64-20.4R1.12.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vsrxng-20.4R1.12/virtioa.qcow2}
- {src: images/Juniper/QFX/vqfx-20.2R1-2019010209-pfe-qemu.qcow, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vqfxpfe-10K-F-20.2R1.10/hda.qcow}
- {src: images/Juniper/QFX/vqfx-20.2R1.10-re-qemu.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vqfxre-10K-F-20.2R1.10/hda.qcow2}
- {src: images/Cisco/L2/vios_l2-adventerprisek9-m.SSA.high_iron_20180619.qcow2, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/viosl2-adventerprisek9-m.03.2017/virtioa.qcow2}
- {src: images/Cisco/L3/vios-adventerprisek9-m.vmdk.SPA.157-3.M3, dest: /opt/unetlab/addons/qemu/vios-adventerprisek9-m.SPA.156-1.T/vios-adventerprisek9-m.SPA.156-1.T.vmdk}