EDIT-UPDATE:
I found a way to achieve what was trying to do, using the index_of plugin. The following code outputs what I need.
---
- hosts: CASPOSR1BDAT003
connection: local
gather_facts: no
become: false
tasks:
- ansible.builtin.set_fact:
mac_address: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'][int_idx|int]['mac_address'] }}"
vars:
int_name: 'PCI1.1'
int_idx: "{{ lookup('ansible.utils.index_of', hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'], 'eq', int_name, 'name') }}"
- debug:
var: mac_address
Output:
PLAY [CASPOSR1BDAT003] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [ansible.builtin.set_fact] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [CASPOSR1BDAT003]
TASK [debug] *********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] =>
mac_address: 20:67:7C:00:36:A0
What I am trying to do:
What I have tried:
debug module, but still not just returning the valueWhat works:
I have tried the following, which outputs the mac_address variable as expected. The length of the list is found, and then the conditional matches the name. I do get an warning about using jinja2 templating delimiters but that's not the target of this question.
---
- hosts: CASPOSR1BDAT003
connection: local
gather_facts: no
become: false
tasks:
- debug:
var: hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'][{{ item }}]['mac_address']
with_sequence: start=0 end="{{ end_at }}"
vars:
- end_at: "{{ (hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'] | length) - 1 }}"
when: hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'][{{ item }}]['name'] == "PCI1.1"
The result is:
TASK [debug] *************************************************************************************************************************************
[WARNING]: conditional statements should not include jinja2 templating delimiters such as {{ }} or {% %}. Found:
hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'][{{ item }}]['name'] == "PCI1.1"
skipping: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=0)
skipping: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=1)
skipping: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=2)
skipping: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=3)
skipping: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=4)
ok: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=5) =>
ansible_loop_var: item
hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'][5]['mac_address']: 20:67:7C:00:36:A0
item: '5'
skipping: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=6)
skipping: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=7)
skipping: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=8)
skipping: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] => (item=9)
I'm trying to use set_fact to store this mac_address variable as I need to use it in a couple of different ways. However, I am unable to use set_fact on this (or any other hostvars data, it seems). For example, the following:
---
- hosts: CASPOSR1BDAT003
connection: local
gather_facts: no
become: false
tasks:
- ansible.builtin.set_fact:
interfaces: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'][item]['mac_address'] }}"
with_sequence: start=0 end="{{ end_at }}"
vars:
- end_at: "{{ (hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'] | length) - 1 }}"
when: hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'][{{ item }}]['name'] == "PCI1.1"
- debug:
var: interfaces
results in:
fatal: [CASPOSR1BDAT003]: FAILED! =>
msg: |-
The task includes an option with an undefined variable. The error was: 'list object' has no attribute '5'
The error appears to be in '/Users/kivlint/Documents/GitHub/vmware-automation/ansible/prepare-pxe.yml': line 19, column 7, but may
be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.
The offending line appears to be:
# when: hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'][{{ item }}]['name'] == "PCI1.1"
- ansible.builtin.set_fact:
^ here
If I hard-code the number 5 in, it works fine:
TASK [ansible.builtin.set_fact] ******************************************************************************************************************
ok: [CASPOSR1BDAT003]
TASK [debug] *************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [CASPOSR1BDAT003] =>
interfaces: 20:67:7C:00:36:A0
If I use '5' as a var for the task, it also works.
---
- hosts: CASPOSR1BDAT003
connection: local
gather_facts: no
become: false
tasks:
- ansible.builtin.set_fact:
interfaces: "{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname]['interfaces'][int_index]['mac_address'] }}"
vars:
- int_index: 5
So I'm wondering, is this a "bug/feature" in how set_fact does or doesn't work with loops (meaning, the same loop worked fine with debug? Or do I need to re-think the approach and consider trying to use set_fact to set a variable with the index of the list (e.g. 5 in the above example)? Or something else?
There's a lot going on in your code, and achieving the result you want is simpler than you've made it.
Firstly, don't use hostvars[inventory_hostname]; plain variables are the ones belonging to the current host, and going through hostvars introduces some exciting opportunities for things to go wrong. hostvars is for accessing variables belonging to other hosts.
Secondly, using Jinja's built-in filtering capabilities avoids the need to worry about the index of the item that you want.
- hosts: CASPOSR1BDAT003
connection: local
gather_facts: no
become: false
vars:
int_name: PCI1.1
mac_address: "{{ interfaces | selectattr('name', 'eq', int_name) | map(attribute='mac_address') | first }}"
tasks:
- debug:
var: mac_address