Ansible: How can I set log file name dynamically?

Question

I'm currently developing an Ansible script to build and deploy a Java project.

So, I can set the log_path like below

log_path=/var/log/ansible.log

But, it is hard to look up build history.

Is it possible to append datetime to log file name?

For example,

ansible.20150326145515.log

Answer 1

I don't believe there is a built-in way to generate the date on the fly like that but one option you have is to use a lookup which can shell out to date. Example:

log_path="/var/log/ansible.{{ lookup('pipe', 'date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S') }}.log"

Answer 2

Here is an option using ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH environment variable thanks to Bash shell alias:

alias ansible="ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH=ansible-\`date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S\`.log ansible"

Feel free to use an absolute path if you prefer.

Answer 3

I found it.

just add task to copy(or mv command) log locally

- name: Copy ansible.log
  connection: local
  command: mv ./logs/ansible.log ./logs/ansible.{{ lookup('pipe', 'date %Y%M%d%H%M%S') }}.log
  run_once: true

thanks to @jarv

Answer 4

How about this:

- shell: date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S
  register: timestamp

- debug: msg="foo.{{timestamp.stdout}}.log"

Output:

TASK [command] *****************************************************************
changed: [blabla.example.com]

TASK [debug] *******************************************************************
ok: [blabla.example.com] => {
    "msg": "foo.20160922233847.log"
}

Answer 5

I have faced a similar problem while trying to set dynamic log paths for various playbooks.

A simple solution seems to be to pass the log filename dynamically to the ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH environment variable. Checkout -> https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/config.html

In this particular case just export the environment variable when running the intended playbook on your terminal:

export ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH=ansible.`date +%s`.log; ansible-playbook test.yml

Else if the intended filename cannot be generated by the terminal, you can always use a runner playbook which runs the intended playbook from the within:

    ---
- hosts:
    - localhost
  gather_facts: false
  ignore_errors: yes
  tasks:
    - name: set dynamic variables
      set_fact:
        task_name: dynamic_log_test
        log_dir: /path/to/log_directory/
    - name: Change the working directory and run the ansible-playbook as shell command
      shell: "export ANSIBLE_LOG_PATH={{ log_dir }}log_{{ task_name|lower }}.txt; ansible-playbook test.yml"
      register: shell_result

This should log the result of test.yml to /path/to/log_directory/log_dynamic_log_test.txt

Hope you find this helpful!

Answer 6

According to the nice folks at the #ansible freenode IRC, this can be accomplished with a custom callback plugin.

I haven't done it yet because I can't install the Ansible Python library on this machine. Specifically, Windows 7 can't have directory names > 260 chars in length, and pip tries to make lengthy temporary paths. But if someone gets around to it, please post it here.

Answer 7

Small improvement on @ickhyun-kwon answer:

- name: "common/_ansible_log_path.yml: rename ansible.log"
  connection: local
  shell: |
    mkdir -vp {{ inventory_dir }}/logs/{{ svn_deploy.release }}/ ;
    mv    -vf {{ inventory_dir }}/logs/ansible.log {{ inventory_dir }}/logs/{{ svn_deploy.release }}/ansible.{{ svn_deploy.release }}.{{ lookup('pipe', 'date +%Y-%m-%d-%H%M') }}.log      args:
    executable: /bin/bash
    chdir: "{{ inventory_dir }}"
  run_once: True
  ignore_errors: True

This has separate log directories per svn release, ensures the log directory actually exists before the mv command.

Ansible interprets ./ as the current playbook directory, which may or may not be the root of your ansible repository, whereas mine live in ./playbooks/$project/$role.yml. For me {{ inventory_dir }}/logs/ happens to correspond to the ~/ansible/log/ directory, though alternative layout configurations do not guarantee this.

I am unsure the correct way to formally extract the absolute ansible.cfg::log_path variable

Also the date command for month is +%m and not %M which is Minute