Ansible: How to call a playbook from another?

Question

I have written a simple playbook to print java process ID and other information of that PID

[root@server thebigone]# cat check_java_pid.yaml --- - hosts: all   gather_facts: no    tasks:     - name: Check PID of existing Java process       shell: "ps -ef | grep [j]ava"       register: java_status      - debug: var=java_status.stdout 

And when I am calling this with ansible-playbook check_java_pid.yamlit's working fine.

Now I am trying to call the above playbook from another one but only for a specific host. So I have written the 2nd playbook as below

    [root@server thebigone]# cat instance_restart.yaml     ---     - hosts: instance_1       gather_facts: no        tasks:         - include: check_java_pid.yaml 

But while doing ansible-playbook instance_restart.yaml, I am getting below errors

    ERROR! no action detected in task. This often indicates a misspelled      module name, or incorrect module path.      The error appears to have been in      '/home/root/ansible/thebigone/check_java_pid.yaml': line 2, column 3, but      may be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.      The offending line appears to be:       ---      - hosts: all        ^ here         The error appears to have been in        '/home/root/ansible/thebigone/check_java_pid.yaml': line 2, column 3,        but may be elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.       The offending line appears to be:        ---       - hosts: all         ^ here 

Its saying syntax error but there isn't one really AFAIK as I have executed Playbook check_java_pid.yaml without any issues.

Requesting your help on understanding this issue.

Answer 1

With include on the task level Ansible expects a file with tasks only, not a full playbook. Yet you provide a full playbook as an argument.

You could do it (include) on a play level, but it won't let you achieve what you want.

The play with hosts: all defined will always run against all targets (unless you limit it in the command call or the inventory).

Moreover, you will have troubles accessing the java_status value from the other playbook (if this was your goal).

---

You need to rethink your structure, for example you can for example extract the task(s) and include them from both plays:

my_tasks.yml

- name: Check PID of existing Java process   shell: "ps -ef | grep [j]ava"   register: java_status    - debug: var=java_status.stdout 

check_java_pid.yml

--- - hosts: all   gather_facts: no    tasks:     - include my_tasks.yml 

instance_restart.yml

--- - hosts: instance_1   gather_facts: no    tasks:     - include: my_tasks.yml