Ansible - Repeat a list for N times-CodePudding

I have a main playbook that use include to call other playbooks in case conditions are met. That is working fine, but what I need is to execute these playbooks for n times, where n is a user input variable. So, if the user enters "5", the main playbook will call playbooks for 5 times.

This is the example:

---
- name: main playbook
  hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  gather_facts: False
  var_files: weqwewq

  tasks:
    - include: 1.yml
      when: x == "aaa"
    - include: 2.yml
      when: x == "bbb"
    - include: 3.yml
      when: x == "ccc"
    - include: 4.yml
      when: x == "ddd"

What I don't need is this:

  tasks:
    - include: 1.yml
      when: x == "aaa"
      with_sequence: count= "{{ user_input }}"
    - include: 2.yml
      when: x == "aaa bbb"
      with_sequence: count= "{{ user_input }}"
    - include: 3.yml
      when: x == "ccc"
      with_sequence: count= "{{ user_input }}"
    - include: 4.yml
      when: x == "ccc ddd"
      with_sequence: count= "{{ user_input }}"

but instead something like this

tasks:
  with_sequence: count= "{{ user_input }}"
    - include: 1.yml
      when: x == "aaa"
    - include: 2.yml
      when: x == "aaa bbb"
    - include: 3.yml
      when: x == "ccc"
    - include: 4.yml
      when: x == "ccc ddd"

but for this I'm getting an error:

"with_sequence is not a valid attribute for a play".

Any idea?

Thanks!

CodePudding user response：

Just add another include level, and add your sequence loop to that task.

First, note that the include module has been deprecated. You should be using include_tasks.

To loop over your tasks with a single loop construct, start with a top-level playbook like this:

- hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - include_tasks: tasks.yaml
      with_sequence: count=5

In tasks.yaml, place your include_tasks with conditions:

- name: show loop index
  debug:
    var: item

- include_tasks: tasks_1.yaml
  when: x = 'aaa'
- include_tasks: tasks_2.yaml
  when: x = 'bbb'
- include_tasks: tasks_3.yaml
  when: x = 'ccc'

And then create the individual task_N.yaml files as necessary

CodePudding user response：

Welcome to Stackoverflow. You can use Interactive Input to take N as input. Also, you might consider checking this for more information on the usage of variables in ansible.

Also, it is a good practice to use tasks to organize your code. Check the following code:

Update: I added stride parameter in with_sequence so now increment value can be set other than 1 (default).

Your main playbook file:

---
- name: main playbook
  hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  gather_facts: False
  vars_prompt:

    - name: counter
      prompt: Enter loop counter
      private: no


  tasks:
    - include_tasks: tasks.yml
      with_sequence: start=1 end="{{ counter }}" stride="{{ 1 }}"

The additional tasks.yml:

---

- include_tasks: 1.yml
  when: 
    - x is defined
    - x = "aaa"
- include_tasks: 2.yml
  when:
    - x is defined 
    - x = "bbb"
- include_tasks: 3.yml
  when:
    - x is defined
    - x = "ccc"
- include_tasks: 4.yml
  when:
    - x is defined
    - x = "ddd"

Here in tasks.yml I added conditionals to check whether x is defined.