ansible -B does not return ansible_job_id (page 37)

[tliss]

This appears to be a long-standing issue with Ansible, as seen here:

ansible/ansible#15988

I commented on that thread with what I found, but I will copy+paste it here as well:

Attempting to do the ad-hoc command of:

ansible multi -b -B 3600 -a "yum -y update"

only returns:

192.168.60.4 | SUCCESS | rc=0 >>
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirror.den1.denvercolo.net
 * extras: mirrors.cat.pdx.edu
 * updates: mirrors.centos.webair.com
No packages marked for update

192.168.60.5 | SUCCESS | rc=0 >>
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirror.nodesdirect.com
 * extras: repos.mia.quadranet.com
 * updates: mirror.atlantic.net
No packages marked for update

192.168.60.6 | SUCCESS | rc=0 >>
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirror.den1.denvercolo.net
 * extras: mirror.jax.hugeserver.com
 * updates: mirrors.centos.webair.com
No packages marked for update

when it should be returning something like:

background launch...
192.168.60.6 | success >> {
    "ansible_job_id": "763350539037",
    "results_file": "/root/.ansible_async/763350539037",
    "started": 1
}
... [other hosts] ...

[geerlingguy]

Thanks for reporting this; I'll do a little digging.

[soulawaker]

Same here.

[wtnebel]

I'm seeing this as well.
Both with yum module and with the command supplied in the book.
Also, I'm not having luck testing this on other remote servers.
Do all Ad-Hoc commands support running in the background?

[geerlingguy]

@wtnebel - They should... but they don't always.

I would recommend adding feedback to the upstream issue ansible/ansible#15988

[wtnebel]

Still waiting on a response for that one. Thanks Jeff!

Does anyone have an example set-up of it working correctly? I'm wondering if there's some issue with my specific versions/distributions of Ansible/Python/Host OS/Target OS.

[tliss]

Looks like there is a change in the pipeline that will address this issue soon:

ansible/ansible#59935

[geerlingguy]

Well... that was merged, and is in devel. I might get a chance to test it out soon...

[geerlingguy]

Using Ansible 2.8.3:

$ ansible -i inventory multi -b -B 3600 -a "yum -y update"
 [WARNING]: Consider using the yum module rather than running 'yum'.  If you need to use command because yum is insufficient you can add 'warn:
false' to this command task or set 'command_warnings=False' in ansible.cfg to get rid of this message.

192.168.60.4 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Determining fastest mirrors
 * base: mirror.mobap.edu
 * extras: mirror.genesisadaptive.com
 * updates: mirror.mobap.edu
No packages marked for update

192.168.60.5 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Determining fastest mirrors
 * base: mirror.fileplanet.com
 * extras: mirror.pit.teraswitch.com
 * updates: mirror.mobap.edu
No packages marked for update

192.168.60.6 | CHANGED | rc=0 >>
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Determining fastest mirrors
 * base: mirror.mobap.edu
 * extras: mirror.mobap.edu
 * updates: mirror.mobap.edu
No packages marked for update

Using latest devel:

$ ansible -i inventory multi -b -B 3600 -a "yum -y update"
 [WARNING]: Consider using the yum module rather than running 'yum'.  If you need to use command because yum is insufficient you can add 'warn:
false' to this command task or set 'command_warnings=False' in ansible.cfg to get rid of this message.

192.168.60.5 | CHANGED => {
    "ansible_job_id": "169825235950.3572", 
    "changed": true, 
    "cmd": [
        "yum", 
        "-y", 
        "update"
    ], 
    "delta": "0:00:01.768099", 
    "end": "2019-08-20 21:43:14.836283", 
    "finished": 1, 
    "rc": 0, 
    "start": "2019-08-20 21:43:13.068184", 
    "stderr": "", 
    "stderr_lines": [], 
    "stdout": "Loaded plugins: fastestmirror\nLoading mirror speeds from cached hostfile\n * base: mirror.fileplanet.com\n * extras: mirror.pit.teraswitch.com\n * updates: mirror.mobap.edu\nNo packages marked for update", 
    "stdout_lines": [
        "Loaded plugins: fastestmirror", 
        "Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile", 
        " * base: mirror.fileplanet.com", 
        " * extras: mirror.pit.teraswitch.com", 
        " * updates: mirror.mobap.edu", 
        "No packages marked for update"
    ]
}
192.168.60.6 | CHANGED => {
    "ansible_job_id": "10147166642.3560", 
    "changed": true, 
    "cmd": [
        "yum", 
        "-y", 
        "update"
    ], 
    "delta": "0:00:01.690709", 
    "end": "2019-08-20 21:43:14.788515", 
    "finished": 1, 
    "rc": 0, 
    "start": "2019-08-20 21:43:13.097806", 
    "stderr": "", 
    "stderr_lines": [], 
    "stdout": "Loaded plugins: fastestmirror\nLoading mirror speeds from cached hostfile\n * base: mirror.mobap.edu\n * extras: mirror.mobap.edu\n * updates: mirror.mobap.edu\nNo packages marked for update", 
    "stdout_lines": [
        "Loaded plugins: fastestmirror", 
        "Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile", 
        " * base: mirror.mobap.edu", 
        " * extras: mirror.mobap.edu", 
        " * updates: mirror.mobap.edu", 
        "No packages marked for update"
    ]
}
192.168.60.4 | CHANGED => {
    "ansible_job_id": "379379275450.3575", 
    "changed": true, 
    "cmd": [
        "yum", 
        "-y", 
        "update"
    ], 
    "delta": "0:00:01.799457", 
    "end": "2019-08-20 21:43:14.877410", 
    "finished": 1, 
    "rc": 0, 
    "start": "2019-08-20 21:43:13.077953", 
    "stderr": "", 
    "stderr_lines": [], 
    "stdout": "Loaded plugins: fastestmirror\nLoading mirror speeds from cached hostfile\n * base: mirror.mobap.edu\n * extras: mirror.genesisadaptive.com\n * updates: mirror.mobap.edu\nNo packages marked for update", 
    "stdout_lines": [
        "Loaded plugins: fastestmirror", 
        "Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile", 
        " * base: mirror.mobap.edu", 
        " * extras: mirror.genesisadaptive.com", 
        " * updates: mirror.mobap.edu", 
        "No packages marked for update"
    ]
}

[geerlingguy]

Hmm... it seems polling doesn't work though—it waits until the very end and then gives all the job statuses. If I add -P 0 explicitly, it immediately dumps the ansible_job_id and everything. Strange behavior, maybe another bug?

At least the job IDs can be dumped if using -P 0 now.

[geerlingguy]

To give more clarity:

ansible -i inventory multi -b -P 0 -B 3600 -m shell -a "while true; do echo test; sleep 5; done"

Ends up dumping:

192.168.60.4 | CHANGED => {
    "ansible_facts": {
        "discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/bin/python"
    }, 
    "ansible_job_id": "789829881512.4267", 
    "changed": true, 
    "finished": 0, 
    "results_file": "/root/.ansible_async/789829881512.4267", 
    "started": 1
}
...

But the following:

ansible -i inventory multi -b -B 3600 -m shell -a "while true; do echo test; sleep 5; done"

Sits forever. I would think it should poll every 10 seconds? If I add in -P 10, and wait over a minute, I still see no output.

The docs do indicate that polling should work like I'd expect... https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/intro_adhoc.html#time-limited-background-operations

[geerlingguy]

Tried with:

• Ansible 2.9.0-devel (as of today): failed
• Ansible 2.8.3: failed
• Ansible 2.7.0: failed
• Ansible 2.6.0: failed
• Ansible 2.5.0: failed
• Ansible 2.4.0: failed
• Ansible 2.3.0: failed
• Ansible 2.2.0: failed
• Ansible 2.1.0: failed
• Ansible 2.0.0: failed
• Ansible 1.9.1: shows status immediately, then updates every 10 seconds

(Failed == there seemed to be no live polling)

[geerlingguy]

Ansible 1.9.1 help:

  -P POLL_INTERVAL, --poll=POLL_INTERVAL
                        set the poll interval if using -B (default=15)

Ansible 2.8.4 help:

  -P POLL_INTERVAL, --poll=POLL_INTERVAL
                        set the poll interval if using -B (default=15)

[geerlingguy]

I opened an upstream issue: ansible/ansible#61015