How to use template module with different set of variables?

My use case is the following :

I have a template file, and I would like to create 2 different files from that template, with the variables being filled by a different set of variables for each file.

For example, lets say I want to template the file containing the line:

mkdir -p {{myTemplateVariable}}

I would like to find a proper way to get this variable filled by "File1" and "File2". Something like :

- name: template test 1
  template: 
        src=myTemplateFile
        dest=result1


- name: template test 2
  template: 
        src=myTemplateFile
        dest=result2

where I could specify for the first templating that the variable to use is a = "File1" and for the second, b = "File2".

With Ansible 2.x you can use vars: with tasks.

Template test.j2:

mkdir -p {{myTemplateVariable}}

Playbook:

- template: src=test.j2 dest=/tmp/File1
  vars:
    myTemplateVariable: myDirName

- template: src=test.j2 dest=/tmp/File2
  vars:
    myTemplateVariable: myOtherDir

This will pass different myTemplateVariable values into test.j2.

For Ansible 2.x:

- name: template test
  template: 
    src: myTemplateFile
    dest: result1
  vars:
    myTemplateVariable: File1

- name: template test
  template: 
    src: myTemplateFile
    dest: result2
  vars:
    myTemplateVariable: File2

---

For Ansible 1.x:

Unfortunately the template module does not support passing variables to it, which can be used inside the template. There was a feature request but it was rejected.

I can think of two workarounds:

1. Include

The include statement supports passing variables. So you could have your template task inside an extra file and include it twice with appropriate parameters:

my_include.yml:

- name: template test
  template: 
        src=myTemplateFile
        dest=destination

main.yml:

- include: my_include.yml destination=result1 myTemplateVariable=File1

- include: my_include.yml destination=result2 myTemplateVariable=File2

2. Re-define myTemplateVariable

Another way would be to simply re-define myTemplateVariable right before every template task.

- set_fact:
     myTemplateVariable: File1

- name: template test 1
  template: 
        src=myTemplateFile
        dest=result1

- set_fact:
     myTemplateVariable: File2

- name: template test 2
  template: 
        src=myTemplateFile
        dest=result2

You can do this very easy, look my Supervisor recipe:

- name: Setup Supervisor jobs files
  template:
    src: job.conf.j2
    dest: "/etc/supervisor/conf.d/{{ item.job }}.conf"
    owner: root
    group: root
    force: yes
    mode: 0644
  with_items:
    - { job: bender, arguments: "-m 64", instances: 3 }
    - { job: mailer, arguments: "-m 1024", instances: 2 }
  notify: Ensure Supervisor is restarted

job.conf.j2:

[program:{{ item.job }}]
user=vagrant
command=/usr/share/nginx/vhosts/parclick.com/app/console rabbitmq:consumer {{ item.arguments }} {{ item.job }} -e prod
process_name=%(program_name)s_%(process_num)02d
numprocs={{ item.instances }}
autostart=true
autorestart=true
stderr_logfile=/var/log/supervisor/{{ item.job }}.stderr.log
stdout_logfile=/var/log/supervisor/{{ item.job }}.stdout.log

Output:

TASK [Supervisor : Setup Supervisor jobs files] ********************************
changed: [loc.parclick.com] => (item={u'instances': 3, u'job': u'bender', u'arguments': u'-m 64'})
changed: [loc.parclick.com] => (item={u'instances': 2, u'job': u'mailer', u'arguments': u'-m 1024'})

Enjoy!

This is a solution/hack I'm using:

tasks/main.yml:

- name: parametrized template - a
  template:
    src: test.j2
    dest: /tmp/templateA
  with_items: var_a

- name: parametrized template - b
  template:
    src: test.j2
    dest: /tmp/templateB
  with_items: var_b

vars/main.yml

var_a:
  - 'this is var_a'
var_b:
  - 'this is var_b'

templates/test.j2:

{{ item }}

After running this, you get this is var_a in /tmp/templateA and this is var_b in /tmp/templateB.

Basically you abuse with_items to render the template with each item in the one-item list. This works because you can control what the list is when using with_items.

The downside of this is that you have to use item as the variable name in you template.

If you want to pass more than one variable this way, you can dicts as your list items like this:

var_a:
  -
    var_1: 'this is var_a1'
    var_2: 'this is var_a2'
var_b:
  -
    var_1: 'this is var_b1'
    var_2: 'this is var_b2'

and then refer to them in your template like this:

{{ item.var_1 }}
{{ item.var_2 }}

I did it in this way.

In tasks/main.yml

- name: template test
  template: 
        src=myTemplateFile.j2
        dest={{item}}
   with_dict: some_dict

and in vars/main.yml

some_dict:
  /path/to/dest1:
    var1: 1
    var2: 2
  /path/to/dest2:
    var1: 3
    var2: 4

and in templates/myTemplateFile.j2

some_var = {{ item.value.var1 }}
some_other_var = {{ item.value.var2 }}

Hope this solves your problem.

I had a similar problem to solve, here is a simple solution of how to pass variables to template files, the trick is to write the template file taking advantage of the variable. You need to create a dictionary (list is also possible), which holds the set of variables corresponding to each of the file. Then within the template file access them.

see below:

the template file: test_file.j2
# {{ ansible_managed }} created by xbalaji@gmail.com

{% set dkey  = (item | splitext)[0]  %}
{% set fname = test_vars[dkey].name  %}
{% set fip   = test_vars[dkey].ip    %}
{% set fport = test_vars[dkey].port  %}
filename: {{ fname }}
ip address: {{ fip }}
port: {{ fport }}

the playbook

---
#
# file: template_test.yml
# author: [email protected]
#
# description: playbook to demonstrate passing variables to template files
#
# this playbook will create 3 files from a single template, with different
# variables passed for each of the invocation
#
# usage:
# ansible-playbook -i "localhost," template_test.yml

- name: template variables testing
  hosts: all
  gather_facts: false

  vars:
    ansible_connection: local
    dest_dir: "/tmp/ansible_template_test/"
    test_files:
      - file_01.txt
      - file_02.txt
      - file_03.txt
    test_vars:
      file_01:
        name: file_01.txt
        ip: 10.0.0.1
        port: 8001
      file_02:
        name: file_02.txt
        ip: 10.0.0.2
        port: 8002
      file_03:
        name: file_03.txt
        ip: 10.0.0.3
        port: 8003

  tasks:
    - name: copy the files
      template:
        src: test_file.j2
        dest: "{{ dest_dir }}/{{ item }}"
      with_items:
        - "{{ test_files }}"

- name: copy vhosts
  template: src=site-vhost.conf dest=/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/{{ item }}.conf
  with_items:
    - somehost.local
    - otherhost.local
  notify: restart apache

IMPORTANT: Note that an item does not have to be just a string, it can be an object with as many properties as you like, so that way you can pass any number of variables.

In the template I have:

<VirtualHost *:80>
	ServerAdmin [email protected]
	ServerName {{ item }}
	DocumentRoot /vagrant/public


	ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error-{{ item }}.log
	CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

Another real world example using a list

an extract for a template for php.ini

{% if 'cli/php.ini' in item.d %}
max_execution_time = 0
memory_limit = 1024M
{% else %}
max_execution_time = 300
memory_limit = 512M
{% endif %}

This is the var

php_templates:
  - { s: 'php.ini.j2', d: "/etc/php/{{php_version}}/apache2/php.ini" }
  - { s: 'php.ini.j2', d: "/etc/php/{{php_version}}/cli/php.ini" }

Then i deploy with this

- name: push templated files
  template:
    src: "{{item.s}}"
    dest: "{{item.d}}"
    mode: "{{item.m | default(0644) }}"
    owner: "{{item.o | default('root') }}"
    group: "{{item.g | default('root') }}"
    backup: yes
  with_items: "{{php_templates}}"