Ansible playbook to handle both Linux and Windows hosts - ansible

Question

Trying to write one playbook that checks whether a set of files exist on a set of servers (both Linux and Windows hosts), and if they do, then to replace the files.
Here is what i have so far:
---
- hosts: "{{hosts}}"
vars:
scripts:
- check_blackout.pl
- check_empty.pl
tasks:
- name: windows stat
with_items: "{{scripts}}"
win_stat: path=D:\scripts\{{item}}
register: windows_stat
when: "'windows' in group_names"
- name: other stat
with_items: "{{scripts}}"
stat: path=/usr/local/bin/{{item}}
register: other_stat
remote_user: "{{script_owner | default(ansible_user)}}"
when: "'windows' not in group_names"
- name: windows debug
with_items: "{{windows_stat.results}}"
debug: var={{item.item}}
when: "{{item.stat.exists}}"
- name: other debug
with_items: "{{other_stat.results}}"
debug: var={{item.item}}
when: "{{item.stat.exists}}"
...
When I run this against a Windows and Linux host for testing, I get the following:
[ansible#vmhklftpscdv1 ~]$ ansible-playbook test.yml -e "hosts=vmhkge1jasdev01,jdeesbkup" --ask-vault-pass
Vault password:
PLAY [vmhkge1jasdev01,jdeesbkup] ************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] **********************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [vmhkge1jasdev01]
ok: [jdeesbkup]
TASK [windows stat] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [jdeesbkup] => (item=check_blackout.pl)
skipping: [jdeesbkup] => (item=check_empty.pl)
ok: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item=check_blackout.pl)
ok: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item=check_empty.pl)
TASK [other stat] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item=check_empty.pl)
skipping: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item=check_blackout.pl)
ok: [jdeesbkup] => (item=check_blackout.pl)
ok: [jdeesbkup] => (item=check_empty.pl)
TASK [windows debug] ************************************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item={'_ansible_parsed': True, u'stat': {u'exists': False}, '_ansible_item_result': True, '_ansible_no_log': False, u'changed': False, 'item': u'check_empty.pl', 'invocation': {'module_name': u'win_stat'}})
skipping: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item={'_ansible_parsed': True, u'stat': {u'exists': False}, '_ansible_item_result': True, '_ansible_no_log': False, u'changed': False, 'item': u'check_blackout.pl', 'invocation': {'module_name': u'win_stat'}})
fatal: [jdeesbkup]: FAILED! => {"failed": true, "msg": "The conditional check '{{item.stat.exists}}' failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional ({{item.stat.exists}}): 'dict object' has no attribute 'stat'\n\nThe error appears to have been in '/home/ansible/test.yml': line 19, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n when: \"'windows' not in group_names\"\n - name: windows debug\n ^ here\n"}
TASK [other debug] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [vmhkge1jasdev01]: FAILED! => {"failed": true, "msg": "The conditional check '{{item.stat.exists}}' failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional ({{item.stat.exists}}): 'dict object' has no attribute 'stat'\n\nThe error appears to have been in '/home/ansible/test.yml': line 23, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n when: \"{{item.stat.exists}}\"\n - name: other debug\n ^ here\n"}
to retry, use: --limit #/home/ansible/test.retry
PLAY RECAP **********************************************************************************************************************************************************************
jdeesbkup : ok=2 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1
vmhkge1jasdev01 : ok=2 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1
[ansible#vmhklftpscdv1 ~]$
Any ideas how I can get this working?
I've tried various combinations including checking the group membership before checking the results:
when: "'windows' in group_names and {{item.stat.exists}}"
However Ansible still seems to check the item.stat field even when the first part of the condition is false.
Or is my fundamental approach wrong, should I be splitting these tasks up into different playbooks?

Answer 1

Yes, you are right. with_items is evaluated before when. You can add a default empty list to avoid the error:
- name: other debug
with_items: "{{other_stat.results | default([]) }}"
debug: var={{item}}
when: "{{item.stat.exists | default(false)}}"

Answer 2

Got it working, here is successful playbook and output:
---
- hosts: "{{hosts}}"
vars:
scripts:
- run.pl
tasks:
- name: win_stat
with_items: scripts
win_stat: path="D:\scripts\{{item}}"
register: "win_result"
when: "'windows' in group_names"
- name: other_stat
with_items: scripts
stat: path="/usr/local/bin/{{item}}"
register: "other_result"
when: "'windows' not in group_names"
- debug: var=win_result
- debug: var=other_result
- with_items: "{{ win_result.results }}"
debug: msg="{{item.item}}"
when: "not (item.skipped | default(false))"
- with_items: "{{ other_result.results}}"
debug: msg="{{item.item}}"
when: "not (item.skipped | default(false))"
...
[ansible#vmhklftpscdv1 ~]$ ansible-playbook debug.yml -e "hosts=jdeesbkup,vmhkge1jasdev01" --ask-vault-pass
Vault password:
PLAY [jdeesbkup,vmhkge1jasdev01] **************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [jdeesbkup]
ok: [vmhkge1jasdev01]
TASK [win_stat] *******************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [jdeesbkup] => (item=scripts)
ok: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item=scripts)
TASK [other_stat] *****************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item=scripts)
ok: [jdeesbkup] => (item=scripts)
TASK [debug] **********************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [jdeesbkup] => {
"win_result": {
"changed": false,
"msg": "All items completed",
"results": [
{
"_ansible_item_result": true,
"_ansible_no_log": false,
"changed": false,
"item": "scripts",
"skip_reason": "Conditional check failed",
"skipped": true
}
]
}
}
ok: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => {
"win_result": {
"changed": false,
"msg": "All items completed",
"results": [
{
"_ansible_item_result": true,
"_ansible_no_log": false,
"_ansible_parsed": true,
"changed": false,
"invocation": {
"module_name": "win_stat"
},
"item": "scripts",
"stat": {
"exists": false
}
}
]
}
}
TASK [debug] **********************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [jdeesbkup] => {
"other_result": {
"changed": false,
"msg": "All items completed",
"results": [
{
"_ansible_item_result": true,
"_ansible_no_log": false,
"_ansible_parsed": true,
"changed": false,
"invocation": {
"module_args": {
"checksum_algorithm": "sha1",
"follow": false,
"get_attributes": true,
"get_checksum": true,
"get_md5": true,
"get_mime": true,
"path": "/usr/local/bin/scripts"
},
"module_name": "stat"
},
"item": "scripts",
"stat": {
"exists": false
}
}
]
}
}
ok: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => {
"other_result": {
"changed": false,
"msg": "All items completed",
"results": [
{
"_ansible_item_result": true,
"_ansible_no_log": false,
"changed": false,
"item": "scripts",
"skip_reason": "Conditional check failed",
"skipped": true
}
]
}
}
TASK [debug] **********************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [jdeesbkup] => (item={'skipped': True, '_ansible_no_log': False, 'skip_reason': u'Conditional check failed', '_ansible_item_result': True, 'item': u'scripts', 'changed': False})
ok: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item={'_ansible_parsed': True, u'stat': {u'exists': False}, '_ansible_item_result': True, '_ansible_no_log': False, u'changed': False, 'item': u'scripts', 'invocation': {'module_name': u'win_stat'}}) => {
"item": {
"changed": false,
"invocation": {
"module_name": "win_stat"
},
"item": "scripts",
"stat": {
"exists": false
}
},
"msg": "scripts"
}
TASK [debug] **********************************************************************************************************************************************
---
- hosts: "{{hosts}}"
vars:
scripts:
- run.pl
tasks:
- name: win_stat
with_items: scripts
win_stat: path="D:\scripts\{{item}}"
register: "win_result"
when: "'windows' in group_names"
- name: other_stat
with_items: scripts
stat: path="/usr/local/bin/{{item}}"
register: "other_result"
when: "'windows' not in group_names"
- debug: var=win_result
- debug: var=other_result
- with_items: "{{ win_result.results }}"
debug: msg="{{item.item}}"
when: "not (item.skipped | default(false))"
- with_items: "{{ other_result.results}}"
debug: msg="{{item.item}}"
when: "not (item.skipped | default(false))"
# when: "'windows' in group_names and {{item.stat.exists}}"
# - name: win_test
# with_items: {{win_result.results}}
# debug: var="{{item}}"
# when: "'windows' in group_names and {{item.stat.exists}}"
~
~
~
skipping: [vmhkge1jasdev01] => (item={'skipped': True, '_ansible_no_log': False, 'skip_reason': u'Conditional check failed', '_ansible_item_result': True, 'item': u'scripts', 'changed': False})
ok: [jdeesbkup] => (item={'_ansible_parsed': True, u'stat': {u'exists': False}, '_ansible_item_result': True, '_ansible_no_log': False, u'changed': False, 'item': u'scripts', 'invocation': {'module_name': u'stat', u'module_args': {u'checksum_algorithm': u'sha1', u'get_checksum': True, u'follow': False, u'path': u'/usr/local/bin/scripts', u'get_md5': True, u'get_mime': True, u'get_attributes': True}}}) => {
"item": {
"changed": false,
"invocation": {
"module_args": {
"checksum_algorithm": "sha1",
"follow": false,
"get_attributes": true,
"get_checksum": true,
"get_md5": true,
"get_mime": true,
"path": "/usr/local/bin/scripts"
},
"module_name": "stat"
},
"item": "scripts",
"stat": {
"exists": false
}
},
"msg": "scripts"
}
PLAY RECAP ************************************************************************************************************************************************
jdeesbkup : ok=5 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0
vmhkge1jasdev01 : ok=5 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0