Ansible reading nested json values and matching variable

Question

I am using this in an Ansible playbook:

- name: Gather info from Vcenter
  vmware_vm_info:
    hostname: "{{ result_item.vcenter }}"
    username: "{{ ansible_username }}"
    password: "{{ ansible_password }}"
    validate_certs: no
  register: vminfo
  loop: "{{ result.list }}"
  loop_control:
    loop_var: result_item

I loop through a csv which has a list of VMs and their Vcenters. The json output from the Ansible task is this:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "changed": false,
      "virtual_machines": [
        {
          "guest_name": "Server1",
          "guest_fullname": "SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 (64-bit)",
          "power_state": "poweredOn",
          },
        {
          "guest_name": "Server2",
          "guest_fullname": "FreeBSD Pre-11 versions (64-bit)",
          "power_state": "poweredOn",
        },

Now I need to query this output for the VMs in my csv (guest_name matches vmname) and use set_fact to indicate whether the VMs in the csv are poweredOff or poweredOn. Next I can use it as a conditional on whether to power off the VM or not based on its current status.

I can't seem to get the json_query to work when matching to the VM name in the csv to the json output and then getting the corresponding power status. Any ideas?

CSV file:

vmname    vcenter  
Server1   Vcenter1  
Server2   Vcenter1

Answer 1

Q: "set_fact to indicate whether the VMs in the CSV are powered off or powered on."

A: For example

    - read_csv:
        path: servers.csv
        dialect: excel-tab
      register: result
    - set_fact:
        servers: "{{ result.list|map(attribute='vmname')|list }}"
    - set_fact:
        virtual_machines: "{{ virtual_machines|default([]) +
                              [dict(_servers|zip(_values))] }}"
      loop: "{{ vminfo.results }}"
      vars:
        _servers: "{{ servers|intersect(_dict.keys()|list) }}"
        _values: "{{ _servers|map('extract',_dict)|list }}"
        _dict: "{{ item.virtual_machines|
                   items2dict(key_name='guest_name', value_name='power_state') }}"
    - debug:
        var: virtual_machines

gives

  virtual_machines:
  - Server1: poweredOn
    Server2: poweredOn

Servers missing in the vminfo.results will be silently ignored.

---

Q: "Use it as a conditional on whether to power off the VM or not."

A: For example Server1 in the first host

    - debug:
        msg: "Host={{ _host }} VM={{ _vm }} is poweredOn"
      when: virtual_machines[_host][_vm] == 'poweredOn'
      vars:
        _host: 0
        _vm: Server1

gives

  msg: Host=0 VM=Server1 is poweredOn