Introduction Welcome to another episode of Ansible Pilot! I'm Luca Berton, and today we'll delve into Ansible troubleshooting, focusing on the "Destination does not exist" error with return code 257. This error typically occurs when attempting to edit a file that doesn't exist on the target file system. We'll explore the root causes and Playbooknstrate how to resolve this issue using the Ansible `lineinfile` module. Understanding the Error The fatal error message "Destination does not exist" with return code 257 arises when Ansible attempts to modify a file that is either misspelled or entirely absent on the target system. This error is commonly encountered while configuring SSH settings, particularly when enabling `PasswordAuthentication`. I'm Luca Berton, and let's dive into today's Ansible troubleshooting session. Demo To illustrate the troubleshooting process, we'll jump into a live Playbook. In this scenario, we'll attempt to edit a configuration file, `/etc/ssh/sshd_config2`, which is misspelled on our target system. Error Code Let's examine the Ansible playbook (`destinationdoesnotexist_257_error.yml`) triggering the error: ```yaml --- - name: PasswordAuthentication enabled hosts: all become: true gather_facts: false tasks: - name: ssh PasswordAuthentication ansible.builtin.lineinfile: dest: /etc/ssh/sshd_config2 regexp: '^PasswordAuthentication' line: "PasswordAuthentication yes" state: present notify: ssh restart handlers: - name: ssh restart ansible.builtin.service: name: sshd state: restarted ``` Upon execution, the playbook results in a fatal error with return code 257: ```bash $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory troubleshooting/destinationdoesnotexist_257_error.yml PLAY [PasswordAuthentication enabled] ************************************************************* TASK [ssh PasswordAuthentication] ***************************************************************** fatal: [demo.example.com]: FAILED! => {"ansible_facts": {"discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/libexec/platform-python"}, "changed": false, "msg": "Destination /etc/ssh/sshad_config2 does not exist !", "rc": 257} PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************************** demo.example.com : ok=0 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 ``` Fix Code Let's correct the playbook to reference the correct file (`/etc/ssh/sshd_config`) in the fixed version (`destinationdoesnotexist_257_fix.yml`): ```yaml --- - name: PasswordAuthentication enabled hosts: all become: true gather_facts: false tasks: - name: ssh PasswordAuthentication ansible.builtin.lineinfile: dest: /etc/ssh/sshd_config regexp: '^PasswordAuthentication' line: "PasswordAuthentication yes" state: present notify: ssh restart handlers: - name: ssh restart