Ansible extra-vars: Pass Variables via Command Line (--extra-vars Guide) — Video Tutorial

Passing Variables to Ansible Playbook: A Quick Guide In today's episode of Ansible Pilot, we'll delve into the practical aspect of passing variables to Ansible Playbooks via the command line. This can be a powerful and flexible way to customize your playbook execution based on dynamic inputs. I'm Luca Berton, and let's jump right into the world of Ansible extra variables. Understanding Ansible Extra Variables Ansible extra variables provide a means to pass values to your playbook from the command line. This flexibility is particularly valuable when you need to integrate Ansible into existing automation scripts or workflows. Extra variables can be specified in various formats, and today, we'll explore a few options. Command Line Syntax The command line parameter for passing extra variables is `--extra-vars`, followed by the variable-value pair. Here are some examples: - `--extra-vars "fruit=apple"` - `--extra-vars '{"fruit":"apple"}'` - `--extra-vars "@file.json"` - `--extra-vars "@file.yml"` Real-Life Example Let's illustrate this concept with a real-life example. Consider the following Ansible Playbook: - example.yml ```yaml --- - name: Extra variable Playbook hosts: all vars: fruit: "banana" task: - name: Print message ansible.builtin.debug: msg: "fruit is {{ fruit }}" ``` In this playbook, we have a variable named `fruit` with a default value of "banana." The playbook then prints a message using the value of this variable. Executing Without Extra Variables If we run the playbook without any extra variables, it uses the default value: ```bash $ ansible-playbook -i inventory/Playbook --extra-vars="fruit=apple" example.yml PLAY [Extra variable Playbook] ************************************************************************ TASK [Gathering Facts] **************************************************************************** ok: [demo.example.com] TASK [Print message] ***************************************************************************** ok: [demo.example.com] => { "msg": "fruit is apple" } PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************************** demo.example.com : ok=2 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0 ``` Executing With a Plain Extra Variable Now, let's provide a plain extra variable: ```bash $ ansible-playbook -i inventory/Playbook --extra-vars="fruit=apple" example.yml PLAY [Extra variable Playbook] ************************************************************************ TASK [Gathering Facts] **************************************************************************** ok: [demo.example.com] TASK [Print message] ***************************************************************************** ok: [demo.example.com] => { "msg": "fruit is apple" } PLAY RECAP **************************************************************************************** demo.example.com : ok=2 changed=