Bootstrap FreeKB - Ansible - Getting Started with the block parameter
Ansible - Getting Started with the block parameter

Updated:   |  Ansible articles

The block parameter can be used to group tasks together. As a sort of arbitrary example, let's say you have a playbook that contains three tasks. In this example, the first two tasks contain the when parameter so that the tasks is only run on managed hosts in the "web" group.

---
- hosts: all
  tasks:
  - name: create the /usr/local/foo directory
    file:
      path: /usr/local/foo
      state: directory
    when: inventory_hostname in ( groups['web'] )

  - name: upload foo.txt to /usr/local/foo/foo.txt
    copy:
      src: /usr/local/ansible/files/foo.txt
      dest: /usr/local/foo/foo.txt
    when: inventory_hostname in ( groups['web'] )

  - name: update foo.txt owner group mode
    file:
      path: /usr/local/foo/foo.txt
      owner: john.doe
      group: admins
      mode: "0770"
...

 

The block parameter can be used to group the first two tasks together, so that the when parameter only needs to be declared once, which results in a much less repetitive playbook.

---
- hosts: all
  tasks:
  - block:
    - name: create the /usr/local/foo directory
      file:
        path: /usr/local/foo
        state: directory

    - name: upload foo.txt to /usr/local/foo/foo.txt
      copy:
        src: /usr/local/ansible/files/foo.txt
        dest: /usr/local/foo/foo.txt
  
    when: inventory_hostname in ( groups['web'] )

  - name: update foo.txt owner group mode
    file:
      path: /usr/local/foo/foo.txt
      owner: john.doe
      group: admins
      mode: "0770"
...

 




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