Ansible errors - (sh*t happens)

• my VM boots fine, but whatever networks settings I try, the network interface is disconnected
• no action within the vSphere webUI allows to connect this network interface manually
• no option within the vSphere webUI (template / VM / virtual networking / ) allows connecting this network interface after executing the playbook again

• adding Requires=dbus.service to /lib/systemd/system/vmtoolsd.service
• https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/24506#issuecomment-456847999-permalink
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66109369/ansible-vmware-guest-network-does-not-connect-nic-after-addition

The answer is subtle and can be read here, here, and confirmed here : Customization of Linux guest operating systems requires that Perl is installed in the Linux guest operating system.

An error message in the vm-tools logs may also have caught your attention (detail) :

• has no internet access ?
• is not registered to Red Hat and can not get packages from online repositories ?

TASK [common : set timezone to Etc/UTC] ******************************************************************************************************************
 [WARNING]: timedatectl command was found but not usable: Failed to create bus connection: No such file or directory . using other method.

fatal: [myHost]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "Error message:\ngiven timezone \"Etc/UTC\" is not available"}

1. timedatectl command was found but not usable
2. given timezone "Etc/UTC" is not available
   • I got this error both with Ansible versions 2.7.9 and 2.8.6
   • The source code shows :

     250     def _verify_timezone(self):
     251         tz = self.value['name']['planned']
     252         tzfile = '/usr/share/zoneinfo/%s' % tz
     253         if not os.path.isfile(tzfile):
     254             self.abort('given timezone "%s" is not available' % tz)
     255         return tzfile

   • which was confirmed within the container by :
     ll /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/UTC

for timedatectl command was found but not usable (sources : 1, 2) :

for given timezone "Etc/UTC" is not available :

  s_myHost:
    hostname: myHost
    build: .
    container_name: c_myHost
    tty: true
    volumes:
     - /run/dbus/system_bus_socket:/run/dbus/system_bus_socket:ro
     - /usr/share/zoneinfo:/usr/share/zoneinfo:ro

failed: [myHost] (item=someItem) => {"item": "someItem", "msg": "Failed to connect to the host via ssh: ", "unreachable": true}

ERROR! 'delegate_to' is not a valid attribute for a TaskInclude

  - name: Create MySQL manager user
    include_tasks: mysql-users.yml
    when: create_mysql_manager | bool
    delegate_to: "{{ groups['mysql'][0] }}"
    run_once: true
    vars:
      mysql_user_name: "{{ mysql_manager_username }}"
      mysql_user_password: "{{ mysql_manager_password }}"
      mysql_user_state: 'present'
      mysql_user_priv: '*.*:ALL,GRANT'
      mysql_user_checkadmin: false
      mysql_user_updatepw: 'on_create'

ansible 2.8.4

  python version = 3.7.3 (default, Apr  3 2019, 05:39:12) [GCC 8.3.0]

[defaults]

invalid_task_attribute_failed=False

fatal: [myHost]: UNREACHABLE! => {
    "changed": false,
    "msg": "Data could not be sent to remote host \"12.34.56.78\". Make sure this host can be reached over ssh: ",
    "unreachable": true
}

1. 12.34.56.78 is really the host you'd like to manage with Ansible : is your inventory file up-to-date ?
2. you can ssh -i privateKey remoteUser@12.34.56.78 :
   • does remoteUser exist on 12.34.56.78 ?
   • have you copied remoteUser's public key to 12.34.56.78, with proper permissions ?
3. you are specifying the right user in the Ansible command line :
   ansible-playbook [other options] -u username
4. Ansible is actually using the username you specified :
   Triple v's are necessary for the verbosity level shown here.
   ansible-playbook [other options] -u stuart -vvv

   <12.34.56.78> ESTABLISH SSH CONNECTION FOR USER: stuart		the username it's actually trying to connect as
   <12.34.56.78> SSH: EXEC ssh -C \					line broken for readability
   	-o ForwardAgent=yes \
   	-o ControlMaster=auto \
   	-o ControlPersist=60s \
   	-o StrictHostKeyChecking=no \
   	-o KbdInteractiveAuthentication=no \
   	-o PreferredAuthentications=gssapi-with-mic,gssapi-keyex,hostbased,publickey \
   	-o PasswordAuthentication=no \
   	-o 'User="stuart"' \
   	-o ConnectTimeout=20 \
   	-o ControlPath=$HOME/.ansible/cp/5aa7fea824 172.18.0.2 '/bin/sh -c '"'"'sudo -H -S -n  -u root /bin/sh -c '"'"'"	cp stands for ControlPath
   '"'"'"'"'"'echo BECOME-SUCCESS-newtperqpfiryppbejvbytibvfvwafjg ; /usr/bin/python'"'"'"'"'"'"'"'"' && sleep 0'"'"''		the full ssh command with all options

failed: [slave_n] (item=etc/iptables/rules.v4) => {"changed": false, "item": "etc/iptables/rules.v4", "msg": "AnsibleFilterError: The ipaddr filter requires python-netaddr be installed on the ansible controller"}

• The playbook execution fails with the error message : fatal: [server]: FAILED! => {"msg": "Incorrect sudo password"}
• running the same playbook again makes it fail randomly (?) on different steps of the playbook
• I have checked : the sudo password I provide when launching the playbook execution works fine manually

Steps to reproduce

Technical environment

Welcome to The Twilight Zone

failed: [slave_n] (item=someItem) => {"failed": true, "item": "someItem", "msg": "AnsibleError: Can't LOOKUP(dig): module dns.resolver is not installed"}

1. As root :
   apt --no-install-recommends install python-pip
2. As a standard user :
   pip install --upgrade dnspython

   Collecting dnspython
   	Downloading dnspython-1.15.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl (177kB)
   		100% |................................| 184kB 4.1MB/s
   Installing collected packages: dnspython
   Successfully installed dnspython-1.15.0