add_host – Add a host (and alternatively a group) to the ansible-playbook in-memory inventory

Synopsis

  • Use variables to create new hosts and groups in inventory for use in later plays of the same playbook.

  • Takes variables so you can define the new hosts more fully.

  • This module is also supported for Windows targets.

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
groups
list
The groups to add the hostname to.

aliases: group, groupname
name
string / required
The hostname/ip of the host to add to the inventory, can include a colon and a port number.

aliases: host, hostname

Notes

Note

  • This module bypasses the play host loop and only runs once for all the hosts in the play, if you need it to iterate use a with-loop construct.

  • The alias host of the parameter name is only available on Ansible 2.4 and newer.

  • Since Ansible 2.4, the inventory_dir variable is now set to None instead of the ‘global inventory source’, because you can now have multiple sources. An example was added that shows how to partially restore the previous behaviour.

  • Windows targets are supported by this module.

See Also

See also

group_by – Create Ansible groups based on facts

The official documentation on the group_by module.

Examples

- name: Add host to group 'just_created' with variable foo=42
  add_host:
    name: '{{ ip_from_ec2 }}'
    groups: just_created
    foo: 42

- name: Add host to multiple groups
  add_host:
    hostname: '{{ new_ip }}'
    groups:
    - group1
    - group2

- name: Add a host with a non-standard port local to your machines
  add_host:
    name: '{{ new_ip }}:{{ new_port }}'

- name: Add a host alias that we reach through a tunnel (Ansible 1.9 and older)
  add_host:
    hostname: '{{ new_ip }}'
    ansible_ssh_host: '{{ inventory_hostname }}'
    ansible_ssh_port: '{{ new_port }}'

- name: Add a host alias that we reach through a tunnel (Ansible 2.0 and newer)
  add_host:
    hostname: '{{ new_ip }}'
    ansible_host: '{{ inventory_hostname }}'
    ansible_port: '{{ new_port }}'

- name: Ensure inventory vars are set to the same value as the inventory_hostname has (close to pre Ansible 2.4 behaviour)
  add_host:
    hostname: charlie
    inventory_dir: '{{ inventory_dir }}'

Status

Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

Authors

  • Ansible Core Team

  • Seth Vidal (@skvidal)

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