how to get custom environment variable in ansible? - linux

Question

Hi I am trying to find out how to get custom environment variable in Ansible.
something that a simple shell command like this:
I created a custom Environment Variable and assigned a value
EXPORT SSH_STATUS=TRUE
who can I access the result from ansible
How can I assign an Ubuntu Environment Variable Value to Ansible Variable
Any clue ?

Answer 1

You can define it as variables or you can pass the variables as extra-vars while running the playbook.
vars:
SSH_STATUS=TRUE
or
--extra-vars "SSH_STATUS=TRUE"
To access the variable use "{{SSH_STATUS}}"
For environment variable use as below
- name: Install cobbler
command: < some command >
environment: "{{SSH_STATUS}}"

Answer 2

#Anish Varghese, From what I have understood, I have written the below code which can extract the value of a custom environment variable in ansible playbook, without even updating the ansible.
- name: show env value
debug:
msg: "{{ lookup('env', 'XV') }}"
Below is the verification of the above task,
Setting the custom environment variable named "XV",
export XV="TRUE"
Running the Ansible script,
TASK [show env value] ***********************************************************************************************************************
ok: [192.168.10.10] => {
"msg": "TRUE"
}
Now, updating the value of the env variable and running the ansible again,
export XV="FALSE"
TASK [show env value] ***********************************************************************************************************************
ok: [192.168.10.10] => {
"msg": "FALSE"
}
Here is the associated documentation.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/plugins/lookup/env.html

Answer 3

Ansible has a built in facility for this called environment https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_environment.html

Answer 4

You probably want set_fact.
- set_fact:
SSH_STATUS: TRUE
If what you need is the value of $somevar, if it gets set by .bashrc then register is your friend.
- name: Expose `$somevar`
shell: echo "$somevar" # must exist
register: tmpvar
- set_fact:
SSH_STATUS: "{{ tmpvar.stdout }}"
The issue is that you have to make sure the variable is set before you access it.