Ansible Playbook with Variables? - bash

Question

Environment:
Ubuntu 16.04 in Azure vm
ansible 2.4.3.0
python version = 2.7.12 (default, Nov 20 2017, 18:23:56) [GCC 5.4.0 20160609]
azure-cli (2.0.27)
I have successfully created my first vm in azure using an Ansible Playbook.
Now, my question is this: Can I use variables in the playbook for things like admin-password, vmname etc, so that I could, for instance, put a list of 10 machines I want to create in a file with the different names and their passwords, and then loop through and feed that info through the playbook command to the playbook.yml file?
I'm open to any way of doing this, and I'm aware that Ansible may already have an easier/normal way of doing it, I just don't know enough to google what I need.
EDIT:
Evidently my question is too broad. I'll try and be more specific. I looked at the link that Konstantin Suvorov left. As I understand it, the method described does the inverse of what I'm after, by letting you assign variables to groups. And in the examples, to existing machines.
What I need is to be able to create vms, in the normal YAML style, but be able to have the process loop in some way so that it will create machines 1 thru 10 with all the same info, save for the machine name and the password. The examples above seem to use the variables to assign the same info to multiple machines.
How Can I do this? I'm mostly a bash scripter, so what I'd do is put name:password for each machine on multiple lines of a file, loop thru it and run the ansible-playbook command once per loop to create each machine, feeding in the variables somehow. However, I have a feeling that there's a more efficient way, such that I run the command once and the command will create each machine with the variables/info that are coded (somehow) into the yaml file. Is this specific enough?
FURTHER EDIT:
Thanks for putting me on the right track. I have adapted the script i used to create one vm to try to make it create two. I am getting assorted errors, none of which seem to actually point to offending code. Here follows what I'm trying:
- name: Create Azure VM
hosts: localhost
connection: local
with_items:
- { vmname: 'testvmfordb', userpassword: 'my password' }
- { vmname: 'testvmforfe', userpassword: 'my other password' }
tasks:
- name: Create virtual network inteface card
azure_rm_networkinterface:
resource_group: my_rg
name: "{{ item.vmname }}NIC"
virtual_network: my_rg
subnet: default
public_ip_name: "{{ item.vmname }}IP"
security_group: my_firewall_rules
- name: Create VM
azure_rm_virtualmachine:
resource_group: my_rg
name: "{{ item.vmname }}"
vm_size: Standard_DS1_v2
location: EastUS
admin_username: myusername
admin_password: "{{ item.userpassword }}"
ssh_password_enabled: true
storage_container: vhds
storage_blob: "{{ item.vmname }}osdisk.vhd"
network_interfaces: "{{ item.vmname }}NIC"
image:
offer: UbuntuServer
publisher: Canonical
sku: '16.04-LTS'
version: latest
os_type: Linux
Thanks in advance!
I followed #KonstantinSuvorov suggestion and separated the creation tasks in a separate file. I got this message:
TASK [include_tasks] *******************************************************************************************************************************
task path: /home/user/ansible_playbooks/azure_create_many_vms.yml:5
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {
"reason": "included task files must contain a list of tasks"
}
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {
"reason": "included task files must contain a list of tasks"
}
Here's the files/code:
azure_create_many_vms.yml
- name: Create Azure VM
hosts: localhost
connection: local
tasks:
- include_tasks: azure_create_many_vms_tasks.yml
with_items:
- { vmname: 'testvmforelastic', userpassword: 'my user password' }
- { vmname: 'testvmforfe', userpassword: 'my user password' }
azure_create_many_vms_tasks.yml
tasks:
- name: Create virtual network inteface card
azure_rm_networkinterface:
resource_group: my_core_rg
name: "{{ item.vmname }}NIC"
virtual_network: my_core_rg
subnet: default
public_ip_name: "{{ item.vmname }}IP"
security_group: my_core_firewall_rules
- name: Create VM
azure_rm_virtualmachine:
resource_group: my_core_rg
name: "{{ item.vmname }}"
vm_size: Standard_DS1_v2
location: EastUS
admin_username: adminuser
admin_password: "{{ item.userpassword }}"
ssh_password_enabled: true
storage_container: vhds
storage_blob: "{{ item.vmname }}osdisk.vhd"
network_interfaces: "{{ item.vmname }}NIC"
image:
offer: UbuntuServer
publisher: Canonical
sku: '16.04-LTS'
version: latest
os_type: Linux

Answer 1

You should remove tasks keyword from included file, leave just a plain list of tasks like this:
- name: Create virtual network inteface card
azure_rm_networkinterface:
...
- name: Create VM
azure_rm_virtualmachine:
...