Workflows
Workflows allow you to configure a sequence of disparate job templates (or workflow templates) that may or may not share inventory, playbooks, or permissions.
Variables across workflow steps
Transferring information across workflow steps can't be done by the set_fact module, these facts are only available during a normal playbook run. Workflow job template run separate Jobs targeting separate playbooks.
Possible Use-case
Think of a first workflow step searching for an available IP address in an IPAM tool. The second workflow step can't know this IP before the workflow itself starts, therefore this information needs to be transferred from the first workflow step to the second one.
In addition to the workflow extra_vars, jobs ran as part of a workflow can inherit variables in the artifacts dictionary of a parent job in the workflow. These artifacts can be defined by the set_stats module.
Info
The point of set_stats in workflows is to have a vehicle to pass data via --extra-vars to the next job template.
Setting stats
The first playbook (Job Template) in the workflow run defines a variable in the data dictionary.
- name: Setting stat of free IP address for subsequent workflow step
ansible.builtin.set_stats:
data:
available_ip: "{{ ipam_returned_ip }}"
Bug
Do not use the per_host parameter, it breaks the artifacts gathering!
You can't provide distinct stats per host (without workarounds).
Retrieving stats
The second playbook (Job Template) in the workflow run references the variable of the data dictionary.
- name: Output available IP address from previous workflow step
ansible.builtin.debug:
msg: "{{ available_ip }}"
Display custom stats
Custom stats can be displayed at the playbook recap, you must set show_custom_stats in the [defaults] section of your Ansible configuration file:
Defining the environment variable ANSIBLE_SHOW_CUSTOM_STATS and setting to true achieves the same behavior.