Ansible access same variables from multiple Json files - ansible

Question

I have multiple .json files on local host where I place my playbook:
json-file-path/{{ testName }}.json
{{ testName }}.json are: testA.json, testB.json, testC.json ... etc.
All .json files have same keys with different values like this:
json-file-path/testA.json:
{
“a_key”: “a_value1”
“b_key”: “b_value1”
}
json-file-path/testB.json:
{
“a_key”: “a_value2”
“b_key”: “b_value2”
}
json-file-path/testC.json:
{
“a_key”: “a_value3”
“b_key”: “b_value3”
}
.....
I need to access the key-value variables from all .json files and if the values meet some condition, I will perform some task in target host. For example, I have:
a_value1=3
a_value2=4
a_value3=1
I go through my .json file one by one, if a_key[value]>3, I will copy this .json file to target host, otherwise skip the task. In this case, I will only copy testC.json to target host.
How would I achieve this? I was thinking of re-constructing my .json files using {{ testName }} as dynamic key of dict like this:
{
“testName”: “testA”
{
“a_key”: “a_value1”
“b_key”: “b_value1”
}
So I can access my variable as {{ testName}}.a_key. So far I haven’t been able to achieve this.
I have tried the following in my playbook:
—-
- host: localhost
tasks:
- name: construct json files
vars:
my_vars:
a_key: “{{ a_value }}”
b_key: “{{ b_value }}”
with_dict: “{{ testName }}”
copy:
content: “{{ my_vars | to_nice_json }}”
dest: /json-file-path/{{ testName }}.json
My updated playbook are:
/mypath/tmp/include.yaml:
—-
- hosts: remote_hostName
tasks:
- name: load json files
set_fact:
json_data: “{{ lookup(‘file’, item) | from_json }}”
- name: copy json file if condition meets
copy:
src: “{{ item }}”
dest: “{{ /remote_host_path/tmp}}/{{item | basename }}”
delegate_to: “{{ remote_hostName }}”
when: json_data.a_key|int>5
/mypath/test.yml:
—-
- hosts: localhost
vars:
local_src_ dir: /mypath/tmp
remote_host: remote_hostName
remote_dest_dir: /remote_host_path/tmp
tasks:
- name: looping
include: include.yaml
with_fileglob:
- “{{ local_src_dir }}/*json”
All json files on localhost under /mypath/tmp/.
Latest version of playbook. It is working now:
/mypath/tmp/include.yaml:
—-
- name: loafing json flies
include_vars:
file: “{{ item }}”
name: json_data
- name: copy json file to remote if condition meets
copy:
src: “{{ item }}”
dest: ‘/remote_host_path/tmp/{{item | basename}}’
delegate_to: “{{ remote_host }}”
when: json_data.a_key > 5
/mypath/test.yml:
—-
- hosts: localhost
vars:
local_src_dir: /mypath/tmp
remote_host: remote_hostName
remote_dest_dir: /remote_host_path/tmp
tasks:
- name: looping json files
include: include.yaml
with_fileglob:
- “{{ local_src_dir }}”/*json”

Answer 1

I am hoping that I have understood your requirements correctly, and that this helps move you forward.
Fundamentally, you can load each of the JSON files so you can query the values as native Ansible variables. Therefore you can loop through all the files, read each one, compare the value you are interested in and then conditionally copy to your remote host via a delegated task. Therefore, give this a try:
Create an include file include.yaml:
---
# 'item' contains a path to a local JSON file on each pass of the loop
- name: Load the json file
set_fact:
json_data: "{{ lookup('file', item) | from_json }}"
- name: Delegate a copy task to the remote host conditionally
copy:
src: "{{ item }}"
dest: "{{ remote_dest_dir }}/{{ item | basename }}"
delegate_to: "{{ remote_host }}"
when: json_data.a_key > value_threshold
then in your playbook:
---
- hosts: localhost
connection: local
# Set some example vars, tho these could be placed in a variety of places
vars:
local_src_dir: /some/local/path
remote_host: <some_inventory_hostname>
remote_dest_dir: /some/remote/path
value_threshold: 3
tasks:
- name: Loop through all *json files, passing matches to include.yaml
include: include.yaml
loop: "{{ lookup('fileglob', local_src_dir + '/*json').split(',') }}"
Note: As you are running an old version of Ansible, you may need older alternate syntax for all of this to work:
In your include file:
- name: Load the json file
set_fact:
include_vars: "{{ item }}"
- name: Delegate a copy task to the remote host conditionally
copy:
src: "{{ item }}"
dest: "{{ remote_dest_dir }}/{{ item | basename }}"
delegate_to: "{{ remote_host }}"
when: a_key > value_threshold
and in your playbook:
- name: Loop through all *json files, passing matches to include.yaml
include: include.yaml
with_fileglob:
- "{{ local_src_dir }}/*json"