Registering variables from a looped task and conditionals for skipped tasks - ansible

Question

I'm trying to figure out a port test task in a playbook. I have two different sets of ports that need to be checked, but only checked if the server hostname has dev/test/stg/eng in it. Then everything else will be considered a production host and the production ports will be checked.
Here is my playbook:
- name: Filebeat Firewall port check | Dev
wait_for:
host: "{{ item.name }}"
port: "{{ item.port }}"
state: started
delay: 0
timeout: 5
loop: "{{ dev_ports }}"
register: devresults
when: ansible_facts['hostname'] | regex_search('dev|tst|test|eng')
- name: Filebeat Firewall port check | Prod
wait_for:
host: "{{ item.name }}"
port: "{{ item.port }}"
state: started
delay: 0
timeout: 5
loop: "{{ prod_ports }}"
when: devresults is skipped
The first task runs as expected when ran against a production server (is skipped) and a development server (ports are checked). However, the second task is skipped when ran against a production server, as well as a development server (this should happen).
Basically, if the first task is skipped the second task should run, and if the first ran the second task should be skipped, this isn't happening. I'm not sure what I'm missing, I'm thinking its the when statement in the second task, or if the loop is causing my issue, any help would be welcomed.

Answer 1

Regarding your question
Basically, if the first task is skipped the second task should run, and if the first ran the second task should be skipped, this isn't happening.
I've setup a short first example
---
- hosts: localhost
become: false
gather_facts: false
tasks:
- name: Create result set
shell:
cmd: echo 'I am not skipped.'
register: result
when: not ansible_check_mode
- name: Show result when not skipped
debug:
var: result
when: not result.skipped | default('false') | bool
- name: Show result when skipped
debug:
var: result
when: result.skipped | default('false') | bool
and found it working when running with ansible-playbook skip.yml and ansible-playbook skip.yml --check.
Depending on the task and used modules, the reason seems to be when a task becomes skipped the result set is
TASK [Show result when skipped] **************************
ok: [localhost] =>
result:
changed: false
skip_reason: Conditional result was False
skipped: true
whereby when not skipped the result set is
TASK [Show result when not skipped] *********************
ok: [localhost] =>
result:
changed: true
cmd: echo 'I am not skipped.'
delta: '0:00:00.123456'
end: '2022-02-16 20:00:00.123456'
failed: false
rc: 0
start: '2022-02-16 20:00:00.000000'
stderr: ''
stderr_lines: []
stdout: I am not skipped.
stdout_lines:
- I am not skipped.
and don't has the skipped flag. Therefore you may introduce filter to Provide default values and to Force the data type.
Regarding your objection
"the example doesn't really applies as it isn't doing any loops"
you may have a look into the result set of the following second example with loop and Extended loop variables.
---
- hosts: localhost
become: false
gather_facts: false
tasks:
- name: Create result set
shell:
cmd: echo 'I am not skipped.'
register: result
when: item is even
loop: "{{ [1,2] }}"
loop_control:
extended: true
label: "{{ item }}"
- name: Show result
debug:
var: result
which produce an output of
TASK [Create result set] *******
changed: [localhost] => (item=2)
TASK [Show result] ******************************
ok: [localhost] =>
result:
changed: true
msg: All items completed
results:
- ansible_loop:
allitems:
- 1
- 2
first: true
index: 1
index0: 0
last: false
length: 2
nextitem: 2
revindex: 2
revindex0: 1
ansible_loop_var: item
changed: false
item: 1
skip_reason: Conditional result was False
skipped: true
- ansible_loop:
allitems:
- 1
- 2
first: false
index: 2
index0: 1
last: true
length: 2
previtem: 1
revindex: 1
revindex0: 0
ansible_loop_var: item
changed: true
cmd: echo 'I am not skipped.'
delta: '0:00:00.123456'
end: '2022-02-16 22:15:00.123456'
failed: false
invocation:
module_args:
_raw_params: echo 'I am not skipped.'
_uses_shell: true
argv: null
chdir: null
creates: null
executable: null
removes: null
stdin: null
stdin_add_newline: true
strip_empty_ends: true
warn: true
item: 2
rc: 0
start: '2022-02-16 22:15:00.000000'
stderr: ''
stderr_lines: []
stdout: I am not skipped.
stdout_lines:
- I am not skipped.
As you can see it is a data structure containing a list of items and it does contain the information about the first skipped item. To access it you may enhance the second example with
- name: Show result when skipped
debug:
msg: "{{ item.item }}"
when: item.skipped | default('false') | bool
loop: "{{ result.results }}"
loop_control:
extended: true
label: "{{ item }}"
and have a look into the output. It also works according the examples of Conditions based on registered variables.
- name: Show result when skipped
debug:
msg: "{{ item.item }}"
when: item is skipped
loop: "{{ result.results }}"
Further Reading
Troubleshoot Ansible Playbooks
Ansible - Check variable type
Discovering the data type