How to reference multiple sub elements using ansible? - loops

Question

I've got an ansible playbook with the following vars structure:
TESTS:
- name: test1
hosts: ['host_one', 'host_two', 'host_three']
services: ['service1, 'service2, 'service3']
- name: test2
hosts: ['host_four', 'host_five', 'host_six']
services: ['service4, 'service5, 'service6']
This is the kind of task I want to do, but of course with_subelements only allows one subkey. I've been trying to use with_nested but struggling quite a lot.
- name: check services on each host
systemd:
name: "{{item.1}}"
state: started
delegate_to: "{{item.2}}"
with_subelements:
- "{{TESTS}}"
- services
- hosts
I want each service to be checked on each of the corresponding hosts.
eg.
test1:
service1 on host_one,host_two,host_three
service2 on host_one,host_two,host_three
service3 on host_one,host_two,host_three
test2:
service4 on host_four,host_five,host_six
service5 on host_four,host_five,host_six
service6 on host_four,host_five,host_six

Answer 1

when to tranform data is complex i prefer to use a custom plugin:
create a file my_filter.py in the folder filter_plugins (same level than your playbook) and give customfilter as name:
my_filter.py:
#!/usr/bin/python
class FilterModule(object):
def filters(self):
return {
'customfilter': self.customfilter
}
def customfilter(self, obj):
result = []
for rec in obj:
for ser in rec["services"]:
for host in rec["hosts"]:
result.append({ "name":rec["name"], "service":ser, "host":host })
#print(result)
return result
playbook to use the custom filter:
- name: "make this working"
hosts: localhost
vars:
TESTS:
- name: test1
hosts: ['host_one', 'host_two', 'host_three']
services: ['service1', 'service2', 'service3']
- name: test2
hosts: ['host_four', 'host_five', 'host_six']
services: ['service4', 'service5', 'service6']
tasks:
- name: Debug
debug:
msg: "{{ item }}"
loop: "{{ TESTS | customfilter }}"
for your playbook:
- name: check services on each host: {{ item.name }}
systemd:
name: "{{item.service}}"
state: started
delegate_to: "{{item.host}}"
loop: "{{ TESTS | customfilter }}"