Ansible notify handler with_items

Question

I'm adding JAVA_OPTS as environment variables through ansible for multiple applications, and I want to restart an application if JAVA_OPTS changed.

What I have now is a task for each application to add the environment variable and a notify to restart the application like:

- name: Add variable1
  become: yes
  lineinfile: dest=/etc/environment regexp='^VARIABLE1=' line='VARIABLE1={{VARIABLE1}}'
  notify: restart application1

- name: restart application1
  become: yes
  command: restart application1

As I have many applications doing it this way means having a lot of tasks. What I would like is to have a task to loop over the applications using with_items. What I can't figure out is how to have one handler task for restart. Is it possible to pass to the handler which application needs a restart? Something like:

- name: add variables
  become: yes
  lineinfile: dest=/etc/environment regexp='^{{item.app_name}}='
  line='{{item.app_name}}={{ item.variable }}'
  notify: restart apps   #pass app_name to handler somehow
  with_items:
  - { variable: "FIRST", app_name: "APP1"}
  - { variable: "SECOND", app_name: "APP2"}
  - { variable: "THIRD", app_name: "APP3"}


- name: restart apps
  become: yes
  command: restart {{app_name}}

I don't see any handlers in your code. But you may want to see this similar question: https://stackoverflow.com/q/42769314/2795592 — Konstantin Suvorov, Sep 12 '17 at 10:56

techraf · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-12T12:02:45.367

6

You can emulate handler functionality yourself by registering the values and looping over them in a subsequent task (that second task may or may not be defined as a handler):

- name: add variables
  lineinfile:
    dest: ./testfile
    regexp: '^{{item.app_name}}='
    line: '{{item.app_name}}={{ item.variable }}'
  register: add_variables
  with_items:
    - { variable: "FIRST", app_name: "APP1"}
    - { variable: "SECOND", app_name: "APP2"}
    - { variable: "THIRD", app_name: "APP3"}

- name: restart apps
  become: yes
  command: restart {{item.item.app_name}}
  when: item.changed
  with_items: "{{ add_variables.results }}"

edited Sep 12 '17 at 12:02

answered Sep 12 '17 at 11:56

techraf

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ansible-lint warns *[ANSIBLE0016] Tasks that run when changed should likely be handlers* and Ansible Galaxy Syntax Score reports *E503: Tasks that run when changed should likely be handlers* – Vladimir Botka Nov 18 '18 at 06:54
The task shall be put into the handlers section. [Example](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25694249/ansible-using-with-items-with-notify-handler) – Vladimir Botka Nov 18 '18 at 08:07

Ansible notify handler with_items

1 Answers1