Ansible: setting user on dynamic ec2 - ssh

Question

I don't appear to be connecting to the remote host. Why not?
Command-line: ansible-playbook -i "127.0.0.1," -c local playbook.yml
This is the playbook. The role, create_ec2_instance, creates the variable ec2hosts used within the second portion of the playbook (ansible/playbook.yml):
# Create instance
- hosts: 127.0.0.1
connection: local
gather_facts: false
roles:
- create_ec2_instance
# Configure and install all we need
- hosts: ec2hosts
remote_user: admin
gather_facts: false
roles:
- show-hosts
- prepare-target-system
- install-project-dependencies
- install-project
This is just a simple ec2 module creation. This works as desired. (ansible/roles/create-ec2-instance/tasks/main.yml):
- name: Create instance
ec2:
region: "{{ instance_values['region'] }}"
zone: "{{ instance_values['zone'] }}"
keypair: "{{ instance_values['key_pair'] }}"
group: "{{ instance_values['security_groups'] }}"
instance_type: "{{ instance_values['instance_type'] }}"
image: "{{ instance_values['image_id'] }}"
count_tag: "{{ instance_values['name'] }}"
exact_count: 1
wait: yes
instance_tags:
Name: "{{ instance_values['name'] }}"
when: ec2_instances.instances[instance_values['name']]|default("") == ""
register: ec2_info
- name: Wait for instances to listen on port 22
wait_for:
state: started
host: "{{ ec2_info.instances[0].public_dns_name }}"
port: 22
when: ec2_info|changed
- name: Add new instance to ec2hosts group
add_host:
hostname: "{{ ec2_info.instances[0].public_ip }}"
groupname: ec2hosts
instance_id: "{{ ec2_info.instances[0].id }}"
when: ec2_info|changed
I've included extra methods for transparency, though these are really basic (ansible/roles/show-hosts/tasks/main.yml):
- name: List hosts
debug: msg="groups={{groups}}"
run_once: true
and we have (ansible/roles/prepare-target-system/tasks/main.yml):
- name: get the username running the deploy
local_action: command whoami
register: username_on_the_host
- debug: var=username_on_the_host
- name: Add necessary system packages
become: yes
become_method: sudo
package: "name={{item}} state=latest"
with_items:
- software-properties-common
- python-software-properties
- devscripts
- build-essential
- libffi-dev
- libssl-dev
- vim
Edit: I've updated to remote_user above and below is the error output:
TASK [prepare-target-system : debug] *******************************************
task path: <REDACTED>/ansible/roles/prepare-target-system/tasks/main.yml:5
ok: [35.166.52.247] => {
"username_on_the_host": {
"changed": true,
"cmd": [
"whoami"
],
"delta": "0:00:00.009067",
"end": "2017-01-07 08:23:42.033551",
"rc": 0,
"start": "2017-01-07 08:23:42.024484",
"stderr": "",
"stdout": "brianbruggeman",
"stdout_lines": [
"brianbruggeman"
],
"warnings": []
}
}
TASK [prepare-target-system : Ensure that we can update apt-repository] ********
task path: /<REDACTED>/ansible/roles/prepare-target-system/tasks/Debian.yml:2
Using module file <REDACTED>/.envs/dg2/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible/modules/core/packaging/os/apt.py
<35.166.52.247> ESTABLISH LOCAL CONNECTION FOR USER: brianbruggeman
<35.166.52.247> EXEC /bin/sh -c '( umask 77 && mkdir -p "` echo $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1483799022.33-268449475843769 `" && echo ansible-tmp-1483799022.33-268449475843769="` echo $HOME/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1483799022.33-268449475843769 `" ) && sleep 0'
<35.166.52.247> PUT /var/folders/r9/kv1j05355r34570x2f5wpxpr0000gn/T/tmpK2__II TO <REDACTED>/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1483799022.33-268449475843769/apt.py
<35.166.52.247> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'chmod u+x <REDACTED>/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1483799022.33-268449475843769/ <REDACTED>/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1483799022.33-268449475843769/apt.py && sleep 0'
<35.166.52.247> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'sudo -H -S -n -u root /bin/sh -c '"'"'echo BECOME-SUCCESS-owktjrfvqssjrqcetaxjkwowkzsqfitq; /usr/bin/python <REDACTED>/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1483799022.33-268449475843769/apt.py; rm -rf "<REDACTED>/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1483799022.33-268449475843769/" > /dev/null 2>&1'"'"' && sleep 0'
failed: [35.166.52.247] (item=[u'software-properties-common', u'python-software-properties', u'devscripts', u'build-essential', u'libffi-dev', u'libssl-dev', u'vim']) => {
"failed": true,
"invocation": {
"module_name": "apt"
},
"item": [
"software-properties-common",
"python-software-properties",
"devscripts",
"build-essential",
"libffi-dev",
"libssl-dev",
"vim"
],
"module_stderr": "sudo: a password is required\n",
"module_stdout": "",
"msg": "MODULE FAILURE"
}
to retry, use: --limit #<REDACTED>/ansible/<redacted playbook>.retry
PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
127.0.0.1 : ok=6 changed=2 unreachable=0 failed=0
35.166.52.247 : ok=3 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=1

Answer 1

Use become:
remote_user: ansible
become: true
become_user: root
Ansible docs: Become (Privilege Escalation)
For example: in my scripts i connect to remote host as user 'ansible' (because ssh is disabled for root), and then become 'root'. Rarely, i connect as 'ansible', then become 'apache' user. So, remote_user specify username to connect, become_user is username after connection.
PS Passwordless sudo for user ansible:
- name: nopasswd sudo for ansible user
lineinfile: "dest=/etc/sudoers state=present regexp='^{{ ansible_user }}' line='{{ ansible }} ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL'"
This is known workaround, see here: Specify sudo password for Ansible