How to copy files between two nodes using ansible

Question

I need to copy file form machine A to machine B whereas my control machine from where i run all my ansible tasks is machine C(local machine)

I have tried the following:

Use scp command in shell module of ansible

hosts: machine2 user: user2 tasks:   - name: Copy file from machine1 to machine2      shell: scp user1@machine1:/path-of-file/file1 /home/user2/file1 

This approach just goes on and on never ends.

use fetch & copy modules

hosts: machine1 user: user1 tasks:   - name: copy file from machine1 to local     fetch: src=/path-of-file/file1 dest=/path-of-file/file1  hosts: machine2 user: user2 tasks:   - name: copy file from local to machine2     copy: src=/path-of-file/file1 dest=/path-of-file/file1 

This approach throws me an error as follows:

error while accessing the file /Users/<myusername>/.ansible/cp/ansible-ssh-machine2-22-<myusername>, error was: [Errno 102] Operation not supported on socket: u'/Users/<myusername>/.ansible/cp/ansible-ssh-machine2-22-<myusername>' 

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Answer 1

As ant31 already pointed out you can use the synchronize module to this. By default, the module transfers files between the control machine and the current remote host (inventory_host), however that can be changed using the task's delegate_to parameter (it's important to note that this is a parameter of the task, not of the module).

You can place the task on either ServerA or ServerB, but you have to adjust the direction of the transfer accordingly (using the mode parameter of synchronize).

Placing the task on ServerB

- hosts: ServerB   tasks:     - name: Transfer file from ServerA to ServerB       synchronize:         src: /path/on/server_a         dest: /path/on/server_b       delegate_to: ServerA 

This uses the default mode: push, so the file gets transferred from the delegate (ServerA) to the current remote (ServerB).

This might sound like strange, since the task has been placed on ServerB (via hosts: ServerB). However, one has to keep in mind that the task is actually executed on the delegated host, which in this case is ServerA. So pushing (from ServerA to ServerB) is indeed the correct direction. Also remember that we cannot simply choose not to delegate at all, since that would mean that the transfer happens between the control machine and ServerB.

Placing the task on ServerA

- hosts: ServerA   tasks:     - name: Transfer file from ServerA to ServerB       synchronize:         src: /path/on/server_a         dest: /path/on/server_b         mode: pull       delegate_to: ServerB 

This uses mode: pull to invert the transfer direction. Again, keep in mind that the task is actually executed on ServerB, so pulling is the right choice.