Using Lookups ============= Lookup plugins allow access of data in Ansible from outside sources. This can include the filesystem but also external datastores. These values are then made available using the standard templating system in Ansible. .. note:: This is considered an advanced feature, and many users will probably not rely on these features. Intro to Lookups: Getting File Contents ``````````````````````````````````````` The file lookup is the most basic lookup type. Contents can be read off the filesystem as follows:: - hosts: all vars: contents: "{{ lookup('file', '/etc/foo.txt') }}" tasks: - debug: msg="the value of foo.txt is {{ contents }}" The Password Lookup ``````````````````` ``password`` generates a random plaintext password and store it in a file at a given filepath. Support for crypted save modes (as with vars_prompt) is pending. If the file exists previously, it will retrieve its contents, behaving just like with_file. Usage of variables like "{{ inventory_hostname }}" in the filepath can be used to set up random passwords per host (what simplifies password management in 'host_vars' variables). Generated passwords contain a random mix of upper and lowercase ASCII letters, the numbers 0-9 and punctuation (". , : - _"). The default length of a generated password is 30 characters. This length can be changed by passing an extra parameter:: --- - hosts: all tasks: # create a mysql user with a random password: - mysql_user: name={{ client }} password="{{ lookup('password', 'credentials/' + client + '/' + tier + '/' + role + '/mysqlpassword length=15') }}" priv={{ client }}_{{ tier }}_{{ role }}.*:ALL (...) More Lookups ```````````` .. note:: This feature is very infrequently used in Ansible. You may wish to skip this section. .. versionadded:: 0.8 Various *lookup plugins* allow additional ways to iterate over data. In `playbooks_loops` you will learn how to use them to walk over collections of numerous types. However, they can also be used to pull in data from remote sources, such as shell commands or even key value stores. This section will cover lookup plugins in this capacity. Here are some examples:: --- - hosts: all tasks: - debug: msg="{{ lookup('env','HOME') }} is an environment variable" - debug: msg="{{ item }} is a line from the result of this command" with_lines: - cat /etc/motd - debug: msg="{{ lookup('pipe','date') }} is the raw result of running this command" - debug: msg="{{ lookup('redis_kv', 'redis://localhost:6379,somekey') }} is value in Redis for somekey" - debug: msg="{{ lookup('dnstxt', 'example.com') }} is a DNS TXT record for example.com" - debug: msg="{{ lookup('template', './some_template.j2') }} is a value from evaluation of this template" As an alternative you can also assign lookup plugins to variables or use them elsewhere. This macros are evaluated each time they are used in a task (or template):: vars: motd_value: "{{ lookup('file', '/etc/motd') }}" tasks: - debug: msg="motd value is {{ motd_value }}"