Unable to Include files containing variables in Ansible Playbook

Question

My ansible playbook files is test.yml.

In the same location i have three files having variables i.e app_base_vars.yaml, web_base_vars.yaml & web_bran_vars.yml

Sample contents of one of the variable files:

more app_base_vars.yaml
10.8.45.192: /opt/logs/cell17
10.8.87.165: /opt/logs/cell23
....
....

When i run the playbook as:

ansible-playbook /app/Ansible/playbook/test.yml -e "USER=wasadm Dest_IP=10.0.21.111,10.9.17.113,10.8.19.114 Layer=web_base"

I get the following error output:

  [WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available.
 Note that the implicit localhost does not match 'all'
 
 
 PLAY [Find the details here 10.0.21.111,10.9.17.113,10.8.19.114 and
 wasadm]
 *************************************************************************************************
 
 TASK [add_host]
 ************************************************************************************************************************************************************* changed: [localhost] => (item=10.0.21.111) changed: [localhost] =>
 (item=10.9.17.113) changed: [localhost] => (item=10.8.19.114)
 
 TASK [Load a variable file based on the options the user has selected
 i.e. "web_base_*.yaml."]
 **************************************************************************** fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"ansible_facts": {},
 "ansible_included_var_files": [], "changed": false, "message": "Could
 not find or access 'web_base_*.yaml'\nSearched
 in:\n\t/app/Ansible/playbook/vars/web_base_*.yaml\n\t/app/Ansible/playbook/web_base_*.yaml\n\t/app/Ansible/playbook/vars/web_base_*.yaml\n\t/app/Ansible/playbook/web_base_*.yaml
 on the Ansible Controller.\nIf you are using a module and expect the
 file to exist on the remote, see the remote_src option"}
         to retry, use: --limit @/app/Ansible/playbook/test.retry
 
 PLAY RECAP
 ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************** localhost                  : ok=1    changed=1    unreachable=0   
 failed=1

My playbook test.yml is as below:

---

- name: "Find the details here {{ Dest_IP }} and {{ USER }}"

  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no

  tasks:
   - add_host: name={{ item }}
               groups=dest_nodes
               ansible_user={{ USER }}
     with_items: "{{ Dest_IP.split(',') }}"

   - name: Load a variable file based on the options the user has selected i.e. "{{ Layer }}_*.yaml."
     include_vars: "{{ Layer }}_*.yaml"
     register: include_vars_result

   - name: Display included Files
     debug:
       var: include_vars_result

I have two questions:

1. I know that there are other solutions to including files based on variables like importing files; however I wish to debug and resolve this error and get this to work.

2. In the output you can see

/app/Ansible/playbook/vars/web_base_*.yaml

Why is ansible also looking for the files under "vars" directory when i have not asked it to.

Note: I have made sure the three variable files are at the correct location and exists.

Answer 1

Use of wildcard I think is not actually supported here, it actually looks for a filename with a star in it. At least I have never seen any example like that. Would rather look into having several files under the same directory and then include all those. See the options you got in the doc:

https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/include_vars_module.html

Why ansible is looking in more directories than you expected is written in the doc above for the different parameters.

Cheers!

UPDATED 2019-07-30

Working example:

test.yml:

---
- hosts: localhost
  vars:
    layer: web_base
  tasks:
    - include_vars:
        dir: .
        files_matching: "{{ layer }}_.+[.]yml"

    - debug:
        var: myvar

web_base_var.yml

myvar: testing 1 2 3...

Output during run:

$ ansible-playbook test.yml

PLAY [localhost] *******************************************************************************************************

TASK [Gathering Facts] *************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [include_vars] ****************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost]

TASK [debug] ***********************************************************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "myvar": "testing 1 2 3..."
}

PLAY RECAP *************************************************************************************************************
localhost                  : ok=3    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=0    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

Answer 2

This is how I got it to work :)

 include_vars:
   file: "{{ item }}"
 with_fileglob:
       - "{{ Layer }}_*.yaml"

My wildcard format was fine. Thank you for the help !!