How can I check service status using Ansible and compare that value with the expected value provided by client? - linux

Question

I have a code to check service status however it is not working as expected. Any advice on it would be of great help, also I need to know how can various service statuses be verified and compared using this code.
Tasks file for ypbind_tab3
- shell: "systemctl status ypbind.service "
register: _cat
- assert:
that:
- lookup('file', 'customer-expects.txt') == _cat.stdout
fail_msg: missed
success_msg: matched
The output is
[root#ansible-master /]# ansible-playbook tab3.role.yml -v
Using /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg as config file
PLAY [This output is for Tab-3 of Function Design document] *****************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ******************************************************************************************************************
ok: [ansible-client]
TASK [ypbind_tab3 : shell] **************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [ansible-client]: FAILED! => {"changed": true, "cmd": "systemctl status ypbind.service ", "delta": "0:00:00.013814", "end": "2022-01-08 15:30:27.082785", "msg": "non-zero return code", "rc": 4, "start": "2022-01-08 15:30:27.068971", "stderr": "Unit ypbind.service could not be found.", "stderr_lines": ["Unit ypbind.service could not be found."], "stdout": "", "stdout_lines": []}
PLAY RECAP ******************************************************************************************************************************
ansible-client : ok=1 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0

Answer 1

Instead of shell use the module service_facts. For example
- ansible.builtin.service_facts:
- ansible.builtin.debug:
var: ansible_facts.services['sshd.service']
gives
TASK [ansible.builtin.debug] **************************************
ok: [localhost] =>
ansible_facts.services['sshd.service']:
name: sshd.service
source: systemd
state: active
status: enabled
Then you can test the state of the service. For example, given the file
shell> cat customer-expects-sshd-state.txt
active
the task below
- ansible.builtin.assert:
that:
- lookup('file', 'customer-expects-sshd-state.txt') ==
ansible_facts.services['sshd.service']['state']
fail_msg: missed
success_msg: matched
gives
TASK [ansible.builtin.assert] ************************************
ok: [localhost] => changed=false
msg: matched