Ansible - Append local date_time to a file name - ios

Question

Ansible Experts,
I am trying to create a play-book, that retrieves current configuration of Cisco routers and switches, then to save it to a file. I also need the file name to append with local datetime. Like ansible_date_time field in facts, i did not see any in routers/switches gather_facts data. So i tried to get this information from local host where i run ansible. As it is not included in the host inventory file, i had to add a localhost.
The problem i face is, i am successfully getting date_time from ansible_facts, however this registered value seems to be not working with filename. I am guessing it is due to the "when" statement in my tasks. Not sure.
TASK [Display Ansible date_time fact and register] *******************************************************************************************
skipping: [LAB_TKYAT07EXTRT03]
skipping: [LAB_TKYAT07EXTRT04]
ok: [localhost] => {
"msg": "2021-06-18"
}
skipping: [LAB_TKYAT07SPN01]
skipping: [LAB_TKYAT07SPN02]
skipping: [LAB_TKYAT07LF01]
skipping: [LAB_TKYAT07LF02]
skipping: [LAB_TKYAT07LF03]
skipping: [LAB_TKYAT07LF04]
My output filename looks "LAB_TKYAT07LF01{'skip_reason': u'Conditional result was False', 'skipped': True, 'changed': False}_showrunn.txt"
---
-
connection: network_cli
gather_facts: false
hosts: LAB_ALL
tasks:
-
name: gather facts from apps
setup:
gather_subset:
- hardware
when: ansible_connection == 'local'
tags: linux
-
name: "Display Ansible date_time fact and register"
debug:
msg: "{{ ansible_date_time.date }}"
when: ansible_connection == 'local'
register: currenttime
tags: linux
-
name: "retrieve show runn all from Nexus "
nxos_command:
commands:
- command: show runn all
register: nexus_output
when: ansible_network_os == 'nxos'
-
name: "Save Nexus output to outputs folder"
copy:
content: "{{ nexus_output.stdout[0] }}"
dest: "./outputs/{{ inventory_hostname }}{{ currenttime }}_showrunn.txt"
when: ansible_network_os == 'nxos'
-
name: "retrieve show runn all from Routers "
ios_command:
commands:
- command: show runn all
register: ios_output
when: ansible_network_os == 'ios'
-
name: "Save IOS output to outputs folder"
copy:
content: "{{ ios_output.stdout[0] }}"
dest: "./outputs/{{ inventory_hostname }}{{ currenttime }}_showrunn.txt"
when: ansible_network_os == 'ios'

Answer 1

Change your second task to:
-
name: "Display Ansible date_time fact and register"
delegate_to: localhost
run_once: yes
set_fact:
currenttime: "{{ ansible_date_time.date }}"
tags: linux
Although you are right: this would not explain why the following task are being skipped.
You can try to figure out which value is returned for a given hosts, using the setup plugin:
ansible -m setup my-nxos-target
Note that the docs would mention some cisco.nxos.nxos or cisco.ios.ios instead.
See:
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/network/user_guide/platform_nxos.html#enabling-nx-api ,
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/network/user_guide/platform_ios.html#example-cli-task