Question:
I need to copy file form machine A to machine B whereas my control machine from where i run all my ansible tasks is machine C(local machine)
I have tried the following:
Use scp command in shell module of ansible
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hosts: machine2 user: user2 tasks: - name: Copy file from machine1 to machine2 shell: scp user1@machine1:/path-of-file/file1 /home/user2/file1 |
This approach just goes on and on never ends.
use fetch & copy modules
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hosts: machine1 user: user1 tasks: - name: copy file from machine1 to local fetch: src=/path-of-file/file1 dest=/path-of-file/file1 hosts: machine2 user: user2 tasks: - name: copy file from local to machine2 copy: src=/path-of-file/file1 dest=/path-of-file/file1 |
This approach throws me an error as follows:
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error while accessing the file /Users/ |
Any suggestions would be helpful.
Answer:
As ant31 already pointed out you can use the synchronize module to this. By default, the module transfers files between the control machine and the current remote host (inventory_host), however that can be changed using the task’s delegate_to parameter (it’s important to note that this is a parameter of the task, not of the module).
You can place the task on either ServerA or ServerB, but you have to adjust the direction of the transfer accordingly (using the mode parameter of synchronize).
Placing the task on ServerB
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- hosts: ServerB tasks: - name: Transfer file from ServerA to ServerB synchronize: src: /path/on/server_a dest: /path/on/server_b delegate_to: ServerA |
This uses the default mode: push, so the file gets transferred from the delegate (ServerA) to the current remote (ServerB).
This might sound like strange, since the task has been placed on ServerB (via hosts: ServerB). However, one has to keep in mind that the task is actually executed on the delegated host, which in this case is ServerA. So pushing (from ServerA to ServerB) is indeed the correct direction. Also remember that we cannot simply choose not to delegate at all, since that would mean that the transfer happens between the control machine and ServerB.
Placing the task on ServerA
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- hosts: ServerA tasks: - name: Transfer file from ServerA to ServerB synchronize: src: /path/on/server_a dest: /path/on/server_b mode: pull delegate_to: ServerB |
This uses mode: pull to invert the transfer direction. Again, keep in mind that the task is actually executed on ServerB, so pulling is the right choice.