I have read all the similar questions here and yet I don't see a solution that fixed my issue.
This is my code:
---
- name: install apache2, sqlite3, git
tasks:
- name: Install list of packages
apt:
name: "{{ item }}"
state: installed
with_items:
- apache2
- sqlite3
- git
Here is the error:
ERROR! unexpected parameter type in action: <class 'ansible.parsing.yaml.objects.AnsibleSequence'>
The error appears to be in '/projects/challenge/fresco_loops/tasks/main.yml': line 2, column 3, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.
The offending line appears to be:
---
- name: install apache2, sqlite3, git
^ here
I am not really an ansible expert and this is just one of the trainings we have to take. Thank you in advance.
firstly the best way to install multiple packages is shown below:
---
- name: install apache2, sqlite3, git
hosts: localhost # run locally
become: yes
tasks:
- name: Install list of packages
apt:
state: present
name:
- apache2
- sqlite3
- git
And a couple of final points:
"installed" is not a valid option for apt, try "present".
package installation requires sudo (become: yes).
To run the code above, which is locally on the node where the playbook sits, you need to use the command: ansible-playbook playbook.yml --ask-become-pass and enter the sudo password when prompted.
Secondly when I tried to run your code I got the following error
[DEPRECATION WARNING]: Invoking "apt" only once while using a loop via squash_actions is deprecated. Instead of using a loop to supply multiple items and specifying `name: "{{ item }}"`, please use `name: ['apache2', 'sqlite3',
'git']` and remove the loop. This feature will be removed in version 2.11. Deprecation warnings can be disabled by setting deprecation_warnings=False in ansible.cfg.
failed: [localhost] (item=['apache2', 'sqlite3', 'git']) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": ["apache2", "sqlite3", "git"], "msg": "value of state must be one of: absent, build-dep, fixed, latest, present, got: installed"}
When using Ansible 2.9.6, if you are using a different version that might explain it? Its always worth telling people what version you are using, in case the problem is version-specific.
Otherwise your code snippet is not representative of what is actually giving you the error.
Related
My first Ansible playbook looks like
---
- name: iluvnano
hosts: linux
tasks:
- name: ensure nano is there
apt:
name: nano
state: latest
I get the error
ERROR! conflicting action statements: apt, state
The error appears to be in '/root/test.yml': line 5, column 9, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.
The offending line appears to be:
tasks:
- name: ensure nano is there
^ here
According the documentation and examples of apt_module
- name: Install apache httpd (state=present is optional)
apt:
name: apache2
state: present
your indents are incorrect. So the error is just caused by a typo and you may use instead
- name: ensure nano is there
apt:
name: nano
state: latest
Ansible shows an error:
ERROR! no action detected in task. This often indicates a misspelled module name, or incorrect module path.
What is wrong?
The exact transcript is:
ERROR! no action detected in task. This often indicates a misspelled module name, or incorrect module path.
The error appears to have been in 'playbook.yml': line 10, column 3, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.
The offending line appears to be:
---
- name: My task name
^ here
Reason #1
You are using an older version of Ansible which did not have the module you try to run.
How to check it?
Open the list of modules module documentation and find the documentation page for your module.
Read the header at the top of the page - it usually shows the Ansible version in which the module was introduced. For example:
New in version 2.2.
Ensure you are running the specified version of Ansible or later. Run:
ansible-playbook --version
And check the output. It should show something like:
ansible-playbook 2.4.1.0
Reason #2
You tried to write a role and put a playbook in my_role/tasks/main.yml.
The tasks/main.yml file should contain only a list of tasks. If you specified:
---
- name: Configure servers
hosts: my_hosts
tasks:
- name: My first task
my_module:
parameter1: value1
Ansible tries to find an action module named hosts and an action module named tasks. It doesn't, so it throws an error.
Solution: specify only a list of tasks in the tasks/main.yml file:
---
- name: My first task
my_module:
parameter1: value1
Reason #3
The action module name is misspelled.
This is pretty obvious, but overlooked. If you use incorrect module name, for example users instead of user, Ansible will report "no action detected in task".
Ansible was designed as a highly extensible system. It does not have a limited set of modules which you can run and it cannot check "in advance" the spelling of each action module.
In fact you can write and then specify your own module named qLQn1BHxzirz and Ansible has to respect that. As it is an interpreted language, it "discovers" the error only when trying to execute the task.
Reason #4
You are trying to execute a module not distributed with Ansible.
The action module name is correct, but it is not a standard module distributed with Ansible.
If you are using a module provided by a third party - a vendor of software/hardware or another module shared publicly, you must first download the module and place it in appropriate directory.
You can place it either in modules subdirectory of the playbook or in a common path.
Ansible looks ANSIBLE_LIBRARY or the --module-path command line argument.
To check what paths are valid, run:
ansible-playbook --version
and check the value of:
configured module search path =
Ansible version 2.4 and later should provide a list of paths.
Reason #5
You really don't have any action inside the task.
The task must have some action module defined. The following example is not valid:
- name: My task
become: true
I can't really improve upon #techraf answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/47159200/619760.
I wanted to add reason #6 my special case
Reason #6
Incorrectly using roles: to import/include roles as a subtask.
This does not work, you can not include roles in this way as subtasks in a play.
---
- hosts: somehosts
tasks:
- name: include somerole
roles:
- somerole
Use include_role
According to the documentation
you can now use roles inline with any other tasks using import_role or include_role:
- hosts: webservers
tasks:
- debug:
msg: "before we run our role"
- import_role:
name: example
- include_role:
name: example
- debug:
msg: "after we ran our role"
Put the roles at the right place inline with hosts
Include the roles at the top
---
- hosts: somehosts
roles:
- somerole
tasks:
- name: some static task
import_role:
name: somerole
hosts: some host
- include_role:
name: example
You need to understand the difference between import/include static/dynamic
I got this error when I referenced the debug task as ansible.builtin.debug
Causes a syntax failure in CI (but worked locally):
- name: "Echo the jenkins job template"
ansible.builtin.debug:
var: template_xml
verbosity: 1
Works locally and in CI:
- name: "Echo the jenkins job template"
debug:
var: template_xml
verbosity: 1
I believe - but have not confirmed - that the differences in local vs CI was ansible versions.
Local : 2.10
CI : 2.7
Explanation of the error :
No tasks to execute means it can not do the action that was described in your playbook
Root cause:
the installed version of Ansible doesn't support it
How to check :
ansible --version
Solution:
upgrade Ansible to a version which supports the feature you are trying to use
How to upgrade Ansible:
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/installation_guide/intro_installation.html#selecting-an-ansible-version-to-install
Quick instruction for Ubuntu :
sudo apt update
sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo apt-add-repository --yes --update ppa:ansible/ansible
sudo apt install ansible
P.S: followed this path and upgraded from version 2.0.2 to 2.9
After upgrade, same playbook worked like a charm
For me the problem occurred with "systemd" module. Turned out that my ansible --version was 2.0.0.2 and module was first introduced in version 2.2. Updating my ansible to latest version fixed the problem.
playbook.yaml
- name: "Enable and start docker service and ensure it's not masked"
systemd:
name: docker
state: started
enabled: yes
masked: no
Error
ERROR! no action detected in task
etc..
etc..
etc..
- name: "Enable and start docker service and ensure it's not masked"
^ here
In my case this was fix:
ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.posix
I have a number of different Centos7 servers running. I like to use ansible to update them all at once.
As one of my servers has an additional repository enabled, which I do not want to update. I've added to the playbook the option to disable this repo. This works as expected.
However, on my other servers, I did not install and enable this repo. When using the disablerepo in my ansible playbook, I get an error: repository not found.
How do I solve this in the ansible-playbook? Is it possible to add an condition like, if repo installed; then disablerepo; else do nothing?
Is it possible to ignore these errors?
ansible-playbook:
---
- hosts: [all]
tasks:
- name: update all packages to lastest version
yum:
name: '*'
state: latest
disablerepo: sernet-samba-4.2
you can put ignore_errors: yes as in the link from the comment, or you can put when, only if certain package is installed, sure you have to register them to variables first, I'm thinking something like:
- name: check if installed
shell: rpm -qa sernet-samba-4.2
register: is_installed
- name: update all packages to lastest version
yum:
name: '*'
state: latest
disablerepo: sernet-samba-4.2
when: is_installed.rc == 1
Warning: Untested.
After a day of research in internet and experiments finally found a solution that worked. Try to use wildcard.. then it will not fail when repo is missing.
yum:
name: ''
state: latest
disablerepo: sernet-samba
I'm very new to Ansible.
I am trying to follow a tutorial on the concept of Roles in Ansible.
I have the following Master Playbook:
--- # Master Playbook for Webservers
- hosts: apacheweb
user: test
sudo: yes
connection: ssh
roles:
- webservers
Which refers to the webservers role that has the following task/main.yml:
- name: Install Apache Web Server
yum: pkg=httpd state=latest
notify: Restart HTTPD
And a handler/main.yml:
- name: Restart HTTPD
service: name=httpd state=started
When I execute the Master Playbook, mentioned above, I get the following error:
TASK [webservers : Install Apache Web Server] **********************************
fatal: [test.server.com]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failed": true, "msg": "The following packages have pending transactions: httpd-x86_64", "rc": 128, "results": ["The following packages have pending transactions: httpd-x86_64"]}
I cannot understand what this error corresponds to. There does not seem to be anything similar, based on my research, that could suggest the issue with the way I am using the Yum module.
NOTE: Ansible Version:
ansible 2.2.1.0
config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
It seems there are unfinished / pending transactions on the target host.
Try installing yum-utils package to run yum-complete-transaction to the target hosts giving the error.
# yum-complete-transaction --cleanup-only
Look at Fixing There are unfinished transactions remaining for more details.
yum-complete-transaction is a program which finds incomplete or
aborted yum transactions on a system and attempts to complete them. It
looks at the transaction-all* and transaction-done* files which can
normally be found in /var/lib/yum if a yum transaction aborted in the
middle of execution.
If it finds more than one unfinished transaction it will attempt to
complete the most recent one first. You can run it more than once to
clean up all unfinished transactions.
Unfinished transaction remaining
sudo yum install yum-utils
yum-complete-transaction --cleanup-only
I am using for ansible this type of config for the playbooks:
- name: Install Apache Web Server
yum: name=httpd state=latest
notify: Restart HTTPD
As far as i know there is no such option as yum: pkg=httpd in ansbile for the yum module (if I'm not wrong, that pkg=httpd is for apt-get on debian based distros)
If you need to install multiple packages you could use something like:
- name: "Install httpd packages"
yum: name={{ item }} state=present
with_items:
- httpd
- httpd-devel
- httpd-tools
Of course you can change the state=present to state=latest or whatever option might suits you best
http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/yum_module.html - ansible documentation for yum module
I am trying to get all the installed YUM packages on an RHEL machine. I can easily get it through using shell commands which is not idempotent and would like to use the YUM command instead.
The shell command works fine:
- name: yum list packages
shell: yum list installed > build_server_info.config
But when I try to use the YUM command, it just executes, but it does not give any results:
- name: yum_command
action: yum list=${pkg} list=available
I can easily get it through using shell commands which is not idempotent
You can't really talk about idempotence, when you are querying the current state of a machine.
"Idempontent" means that the task will ensure the machine is in the desired state no matter how many times you run a certain task.
When you query current state, you don't describe the desired state. No matter what you do, what method you use, the term "idempotent" is just not applicable.
Regarding your example, which does not give you results - you have repeated twice the same argument list and the task should fail (it doesn't, which looks like an Ansible quirk).
To get a list of installed packages, you should use:
- name: yum_command
yum:
list=installed
register: yum_packages
- debug:
var: yum_packages
It saves a list of dictionaries describing each package to a variable yum_packages.
You can then use a JSON Query Filter to get a single package (tar):
- debug: var=item
with_items: "{{yum_packages|json_query(jsonquery)}}"
vars:
jsonquery: "results[?name=='tar']"
to get a result like this:
"item": {
"arch": "x86_64",
"epoch": "2",
"name": "tar",
"nevra": "2:tar-1.26-31.el7.x86_64",
"release": "31.el7",
"repo": "installed",
"version": "1.26",
"yumstate": "installed"
}
Or only its version:
- debug: var=item
with_items: "{{yum_packages|json_query(jsonquery)}}"
vars:
jsonquery: "results[?name=='tar'].version"
"item": "1.26"
Since Ansible 2.5, you can also use the package_facts module: it will gather the list of installed packages as Ansible facts.
Example from the CPU:
- name: get the rpm package facts
package_facts:
manager: rpm
- name: show them
debug: var=ansible_facts.packages
Well, the official Ansible documentation for the yum module describes list as:
"Various (non-idempotent) commands for usage with /usr/bin/ansible and not playbooks."
so you're going to be out of luck with finding an idempotent list invocation.
If you just want to suppress the changed output, set the changed_when parameter to False.
(Also, having the duplicate list parameter is suspicious.)
If your requirement is to check for only one package, and based on that you want to execute another task, you can use package_facts module as
- name: install docker community edition in rhel8
hosts: localhost
connection: local
tasks:
- name: Gather the rpm package facts
package_facts:
manager: auto
- name: check if docker-ce is already installed
debug:
var: ansible_facts.packages['docker-ce']
- name: using command module to install docker-ce
command: yum install docker-ce --nobest -y
when: "'docker-ce' not in ansible_facts.packages"
register: install_res
- name: whether docker is installed now
debug:
var: install_res