Handlers not getting invoked after a task - ansible

Question

I am trying to automate some tasks using Ansible. In my playbooks, I have a copy task and then i change the permissions of the file. I need the service to restart after this task. I am including notify and have also declared my handler, but strangely this handler is never getting invoked.
Excerpt from my playbook
- name: Configure Audit Log Purge Scheduler
copy:
src: "Scheduler-Log-Purge.config"
dest: "{{ crx_dir }}install/com.adobe.cq.audit.purge.Scheduler-LogPurge.config"
become: true
tags: aem
- name: Change Permissions of the Log Purge Scheduler config File
file:
path: "{{ crx_dir }}install/com.adobe.cq.audit.purge.Scheduler-LogPurge.config"
owner: crx
group: crx
become: true
notify: restart aem
tags: aem
- name: Pause the execution for cq5 to come up
pause:
minutes: 5
tags: aem
And here is my handler file contents.
---
- name: restart aem
service: name=cq5 state=restarted
become: yes
The o/p after running the playbook
gparasha-macOS:TLTD gparasha$ ansible-playbook -i hosts tltd.yml --tags aem -v
No config file found; using defaults
PLAY [Run tasks on Author] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [35.169.196.183]
PLAY [Run AEM Specific Steps on Author] *************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [35.169.196.183]
TASK [publish : Configure Audit Log Purge Scheduler] ************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [35.169.196.183] => {"changed": false, "checksum": "3a9d00ea8357fd217a9442b1c408065abf077dfc", "failed": false, "gid": 1005, "group": "crx", "mode": "0644", "owner": "crx", "path": "/mnt/crx/author/crx-quickstart/install/com.adobe.cq.audit.purge.Scheduler-LogPurge.config", "secontext": "user_u:object_r:usr_t:s0", "size": 277, "state": "file", "uid": 1005}
TASK [publish : Change Permissions of the Log Purge Scheduler config File] **************************************************************************************************************
ok: [35.169.196.183] => {"changed": false, "failed": false, "gid": 1005, "group": "crx", "mode": "0644", "owner": "crx", "path": "/mnt/crx/author/crx-quickstart/install/com.adobe.cq.audit.purge.Scheduler-LogPurge.config", "secontext": "user_u:object_r:usr_t:s0", "size": 277, "state": "file", "uid": 1005}
TASK [publish : Pause the execution for cq5 to come up] *********************************************************************************************************************************
Pausing for 300 seconds
(ctrl+C then 'C' = continue early, ctrl+C then 'A' = abort)
Press 'C' to continue the play or 'A' to abort
fatal: [35.169.196.183]: FAILED! => {"failed": true, "msg": "user requested abort!"}
But when i run this playbook, the restart of this service is not invoked.
Why is this so?
Can we not use notify in file modules?
Any help will be deeply appreciated.

Answer 1

You can attach notify to any module.
But Ansible will notify handler only when task is in changed state – this is on purpose to prevent unnecessary handlers execution (e.g. service restarts) on subsequent playbook runs.
Your log excerpts show "changed": false for the task in question, so handler execution is not triggered.
Also keep in mind that handlers are executed at the very end of the role/playbook unless they are explicitly flushed with meta, so in your scenario handler will be executed after Pause the execution for cq5 to come up task.