Ansible cloudformation module - ansible

Question

I don't understand properly how to use correctly template_parameters parameter (http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/cloudformation_module.html)
So, looks like I could use this param to override some param in template. Very simple configuration is
sandbox_cloudformation.yml
---
- name: Sandbox CloudFormation
hosts: localhost
connection: local
gather_facts: false
tasks:
- name: Launch Ansible CloudFormation Stack
cloudformation:
aws_access_key: "{{ aws_access_key }}"
aws_secret_key: "{{ aws_secret_key }}"
stack_name: "{{ aws_default_cloudformation_stack_name }}"
state: "present"
region: "{{ aws_default_region }}"
disable_rollback: true
template: "files/cloudformation.yml"
args:
template_parameters:
GroupDescription: "Sandbox Security Group"
cloudformation.yml
---
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
Description: Sandbox Stack
Resources:
SandboxSecurityGroup:
Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
Properties:
GroupDescription: "DEMO"
SecurityGroupIngress:
- IpProtocol: tcp
FromPort: '80'
ToPort: '80'
CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0
- IpProtocol: tcp
FromPort: '22'
ToPort: '22'
CidrIp: 0.0.0.0/0
But I got next error:
fatal: [127.0.0.1]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failed": true, "msg": "Parameter values specified for a template which does not require them."}
In addition, I got this error, if try to use, for example
template_parameters:
KeyName: "{{ aws_default_keypair }}"
InstanceType: "{{ aws_default_instance_type }}"
Also, please advice with best approach to use cloudformation module for Ansible. Maybe best way is generate cloud formation template and in the next step use it? Like ..
- name: Render Cloud Formation Template
template: src=cloudformation.yml.j2 dest=rendered_templates/cloudformation.yml
- name: Launch Ansible CloudFormation Stack
cloudformation:
template: "rendered_templates/cloudformation.yml"
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You can use template_parameters to pass parameters to a CloudFormation template. In the template you'll refer to the parameters using Ref. In your case:
playbook:
...
args:
template_parameters:
GroupDescriptionParam: "Sandbox Security Group"
...
template:
...
Resources:
SandboxSecurityGroup:
Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
Properties:
GroupDescription:
Ref: GroupDescriptionParam
...
See
http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/aws-properties-ec2-security-group.html#w1ab2c19c12d282c19
for examples of AWS SecurityGroup CloudFormation templates.
Instead of using template_parameters arguments in Ansible cloudformation module, I have found it handy to create a Jinja2 template, convert it to a CloudFormation template using Ansible template module, just like you suggested in the end of your question. Using this approach you can then omit args and template_parameters in cloudformation module call.
For example:
- name: Generate CloudFormation template
become: no
run_once: yes
local_action:
module: template
src: "mycloudformation.yml.j2"
dest: "{{ cf_templ_dir }}/mycloudformation.yml"
tags:
- cloudformation
- cf_template
- name: Deploy the CloudFormation stack
become: no
run_once: yes
local_action:
module: cloudformation
stack_name: "{{ cf_stack_name }}"
state: present
region: "{{ ec2_default_region }}"
template: "{{ cf_templ_dir }}/mycloudformation.yml"
register: cf_result
tags:
- cloudformation
- name: Show CloudFormation output
run_once: yes
become: no
debug: var=cf_result
tags:
- cloudformation
And mycloudformation.yml.j2:
---
AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
Description: Sandbox Stack
Resources:
SandboxSecurityGroup:
Type: AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup
Properties:
GroupDescription: {{ group_desc_param_defined_somewhere_in_ansible }}
...