ansible.builtin.file is using user from wrong host

Question

I have this playbook below to set user/group on the user's home directory.

jimbo and bobo here have different UID and GIDs on the different boxes.

Running this script will set the UID/GID ownership of the directories incorrectly.

For example, it will set /home/jimbo on operatorbox1 (1) to be owned by the UID of jimbo from operatorbox2 (2) - which is of course not the correct UID on operatorbox1 (1).

It does this seemingly randomly. If I run this playbook multiple times the ownership of the directories will flip back and forth.

Guessing I have something fundamental missing here. Why is this happening? Thanks!

ansible-playbook v2.9.23

./vars/operators.yml

---
  operators:
    jimbo: sshekeywhatever
    bobo: sshkeywhatever

playbook.yml

---
- name: Setup operators
  hosts:
    - bastionbox
    - operatorbox
  become: true
  vars_files:
    - "./vars/operators.yml"

  tasks:
    - name: Set home directory permissions
      file:
        path: "/home/{{ item.key }}"
        state: directory
        owner: "{{ item.key }}"
        group: "{{ item.key }}"
        recurse: true
      with_dict:
        - "{{ operators }}"

Vladimir Botka · Answer

I can't reproduce the problem. Below is a playbook for testing

^{- hosts: bastionbox,operatorbox
gather_facts: false
become: true

vars:

operators: [jimbo, bobo]

tasks:

- name: Create users
user:
name: "{{ item }}"
shell: /usr/sbin/nologin
uid: "{{ range(2500, 2600)|random }}"
loop: "{{ operators }}"
when: create_users|d(false)|bool

- name: List users uid
block:
- getent:
database: passwd
- debug:
msg: "{{ inventory_hostname }} {{ item }} uid: {{ getent_passwd[item].1 }}"
loop: "{{ operators }}"
when: list_users|d(false)|bool

- name: Set home directory owner and group
file:
state: directory
path: "/home/{{ item }}"
owner: "{{ item }}"
group: "{{ item }}"
recurse: true
loop: "{{ operators }}"
when: set_homes|d(false)|bool

- name: List homes
block:
- find:
paths: /home
file_type: directory
patterns: "{{ operators }}"
register: out
- debug:
msg: "{{ inventory_hostname }} {{ item.path }} uid: {{ item.uid }}"
loop: "{{ out.files }}"
loop_control:
label: "{{ inventory_hostname }}"
when: list_homes|d(false)|bool

- name: Delete users
user:
name: "{{ item }}"
state: absent
remove: true
loop: "{{ operators }}"
when: delete_users|d(false)|bool}

Create users

shell> ansible-playbook -e create_users=true pb.yml

List users

shell> ansible-playbook -e list_users=true pb.yml

  msg: 'bastionbox jimbo uid: 2572'
  msg: 'operatorbox jimbo uid: 2537'
  msg: 'bastionbox bobo uid: 2505'
  msg: 'operatorbox bobo uid: 2557'

List homes

shell> ansible-playbook -e list_homes=true pb.yml

  msg: 'bastionbox /home/bobo uid: 2505'
  msg: 'operatorbox /home/jimbo uid: 2537'
  msg: 'bastionbox /home/jimbo uid: 2572'
  msg: 'operatorbox /home/bobo uid: 2557'

Set homes (task is idempotent)

shell> ansible-playbook -e set_homes=true pb.yml

TASK [Set home directory owner and group] *************************
ok: [operatorbox] => (item=jimbo)
ok: [bastionbox] => (item=jimbo)
ok: [operatorbox] => (item=bobo)
ok: [bastionbox] => (item=bobo)

ansible.builtin.file is using user from wrong host

1 Answers