Ansible with VMware – host variables and handler – Part 19

Host variables can be used to manage host at a another level by defining the variable or a name to define what you want it to do. Here I will create a new host_vars folder, create a new yml file with the servers ip address, in this case the variable i will use are for the webserver. The handler will allow another yml file to run using the notify option when there is a change.

let get started and create the host_vars folder and my webserver ip address yaml file. You can see the variable here in bold

cd /etc/ansible
sudo mkdir host_vars
cd host_vars

sudo nano 192.168.1.128.yml

apache_package_name: apache2
apache_service: apache2
php_package_name: libapache2-mod-php
#apache_package_name: httpd
#apache_service: httpd
#php_package_name: php

now I will modify the webserver main.yml file

sudo nano /etc/ansible/roles/webservers/tasks/main.yml

here you will see the where the variable is being used and the notify option which restarts the service if there is a change. I have put it in bold

 - name: install httpd package (CentOS)
   tags: apache,centos,httpd
   dnf:
     name:
       - httpd
       - php
     state: latest
   when: ansible_distribution == "CentOS"

 - name: start and enable httpd (CentOS)
   tags: apache,centos,httpd
   service:
     name: httpd
     state: started
     enabled: yes
   when: ansible_distribution == "CentOS"

 - name: install apache2 package (Ubuntu)
   tags: apache,apache2,ubuntu
   apt:
     name:
       - '{{ apache_package_name }}'
       - '{{ php_package_name }}'
     state: latest
   when: ansible_distribution == "Ubuntu"

 - name: start apache server
   service:
     name: '{{ apache_service }}'
     state: started
     enabled: yes
   when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

 - name: change line in file
   lineinfile:
     path: /etc/ansible/playbooks/testfile.txt
     regexp: '^4.random5'
     line: changethisline ok please
   when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'
   notify: restart_apache

Now lets create the handlers folder and main.yml in it this will reference the notify: restart_apache

cd /etc/ansible/roles/webservers/
mkdir handlers
cd handlers
sudo nano main.yml

You can see the names are matching in the two yml files, notify: restart_apache and – name: restart_apache

 - name: restart_apache
   tags: apache,centos,httpd
   service:
     name: '{{ apache_service }}'
     state: restarted

When a change in the line occurs the apache service will be restart

ansible-playbook /etc/ansible/playbooks/everything.yml --ask-become-pass