Let’s explore some of the troubleshooting methods for the “ansible unable to parse as an inventory source” issue in this article. At Bobcares, with our Server Management Services, we can handle your pgAdmin Auto Increment issues.

Overview

1. “Ansible Unable To Parse As An Inventory Source” Error
2. Causes of the Error
3. Troubleshooting the “Ansible Unable To Parse As An Inventory Source” issue
4. Conclusion

“Ansible Unable To Parse As An Inventory Source” Error

The hosts and groups of hosts that a playbook’s commands, modules, and tasks run on are listed in the Ansible inventory file. The Ansible environment and plugins will determine which of many file formats the file will be in. INI and YAML are common formats.

The inventory file is stored by default in /etc/ansible/hosts. Additionally, we can create project-specific inventory files in different places. While trying to run an Ansible Playbook, we may sometimes encounter the below error:

In this article, we will look into some of the troubleshooting tips for the issue.

Causes of the Error

1. Incorrect Inventory Format:

• Syntax errors: The inventory file might have mistakes, like missing brackets, quotes, or commas.

• Unsupported format: Ansible only supports specific inventory formats (static, dynamic, custom), so unrecognized formats won’t work.

• Wrong file extension: Ensure the file extension matches the format (.ini, .yaml, .json).

2. Missing Required Elements:

• Host groups: The file should define at least one group.

• Hosts: Each group should include at least one host.

• Variables: Not mandatory, but they can add extra details about hosts or groups.

3. Dynamic Inventory Issues:

• Script errors: If using dynamic inventory, check that the script is executable and error-free.

• Output format: The script’s output must be in JSON or YAML format for Ansible to read.

4. Custom Inventory Plugin Issues:

• Plugin configuration: Make sure the plugin is correctly configured with all necessary parameters.

• Plugin errors: The plugin itself might have issues that prevent it from working properly.

Troubleshooting the “Ansible Unable To Parse As An Inventory Source” issue

Some of the methods are:

Method 1

Simply execute the following command before starting the playbook. If the error still occurs, edit the inventory path in /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg so that it points to the correct host file.

ansible all --list-hosts

Method 2

If the issue occurs when we run ansible-playbook -i path/to/inventory/file playbook.yml, then simply create an empty ansible.cfg file in the directory where we have our playbook.

Method 3

• Go to the root directory
• cd etc or mkdir etc and cd etc
• mkdir ansible then cd ansible
• vi hosts (then add the hosts)
• chmod 777 hosts.
• Check ansible all -m ping

Method 4

Sometimes host files with no read permissions cause the following error message.

[WARNING]: Unable to parse /etc/ansible/hosts as an inventory source
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that
the implicit localhost does not match 'all'

Here, we need to change permissions.

sudo chmod 744 /etc/ansible/hosts 

Method 5

Incorrect formatting of the host’s file may also result in the error below:

[WARNING]:  * Failed to parse /etc/ansible/hosts with yaml plugin: YAML
inventory has invalid structure, it should be a dictionary, got: <class
'ansible.parsing.yaml.objects.AnsibleUnicode'>
[WARNING]:  * Failed to parse /etc/ansible/hosts with ini plugin:
/etc/ansible/hosts:3: Expected key=value host variable assignment, got: ;
[WARNING]: Unable to parse /etc/ansible/hosts as an inventory source
[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available

Here, we need to correct the format.

Method 6

Verify if hosts are available with ansible all --list-hosts

Method 7

Test Dynamic Inventory: If using dynamic inventory, run the script directly to verify its output. Then, we must make sure the script’s output is in the correct format (JSON or YAML).

Method 8

Inspect Custom Inventory Plugin: Check the plugin’s configuration for errors. If possible, test the plugin’s functionality independently.

Method 9

Review Ansible Logs: Ansible often provides detailed error messages in its logs. Check the logs for specific clues about the parsing issue.

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Conclusion

In this article, we have provided some of the troubleshooting tips from our Support team for the issue “ansible unable to parse as an inventory source.”