Make a timestamp variable persistent in ansible - ansible

Question

I use Ansible to create and delete AWS launch configurations. I add the timestamp in the name.
My problem is that, I can create the LC, but when it comes to deletion, the timestamp changes and then the playbook of deletion can't find the LC to delete it.
this is how I use the timestamp variable:
I put this in a file called timestamp_lc.yml:
- set_fact: now="{{ lookup('pipe', 'date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S') }}"
and in the playbooks I call it:
- include: timestamp_lc.yml
How to make the variable now persistent so that ansible does not execute the date command every time I call the variable now ?
this is the creation task:
- name: Create launch configuration
sudo: yes
command: >
aws autoscaling create-launch-configuration
--region {{ asg.region }}
--launch-configuration-name "{{ asg.launch_configuration.name }}_{{ now }}"
The deletion task:
- name: Delete launch configuration
sudo: yes
command: >
aws autoscaling delete-launch-configuration
--region {{ asg.region }}
--launch-configuration-name {{ asg.launch_configuration.name }}_{{ now }}

Answer 1

That will happen with every execution of the ansible as you are getting the value from the date command and setting a fact of that and that keeps on updating with every iteration.
One way I can think is to save the value in a file in an extension on the target server or the local server -- I feel this would be more reliable
---
- name: test play
hosts: localhost
tasks:
- name: checking the file stats
stat:
path: stack_delete_info
register: delete_file_stat
- name: tt
debug:
var: delete_file_stat
- name: test
shell: echo "{{ lookup('pipe', 'date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S') }}" > stack_delete_info
when: delete_file_stat.stat.exists == false