Inventory plugin not working (AWS EC2)

[johnlane]

I am trying use Semaphore to run playbooks against EC2 instances. I am using the Semaphore Docker image and I have augmented it with the AWS CLI, Boto3 and the AWS session manager plugin. I can run playbooks with dynamic inventory from a shell in the container but the same play does not work if launched from the UI.

Here is an example output from the UI

Task 49 added to queue
Started: 49
Run TaskRunner with template: Raw Test
Preparing: 49
Updating Repository https://gitxxxxxxx/ansible-ssm-experimenting.git
From https://gitxxxxxxxx/ansible-ssm-experimenting
* branch main -> FETCH_HEAD
Already up to date.
collections/requirements.yml has no changes. Skip galaxy install process.
No roles/requirements.yml file found. Skip galaxy install process.
ansible-playbook [core 2.14.5]
config file = /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1/ansible.cfg
configured module search path = ['/tmp/semaphore/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ansible
ansible collection location = /tmp/semaphore/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
executable location = /usr/bin/ansible-playbook
python version = 3.11.6 (main, Oct 4 2023, 06:22:18) [GCC 12.2.1 20220924] (/usr/bin/python3)
jinja version = 3.1.2
libyaml = True
Using /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1/ansible.cfg as config file
setting up inventory plugins
Loading collection amazon.aws from /tmp/semaphore/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/amazon/aws
[WARNING]: Unable to parse /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1/i2.aws_ec2.yml as an
nventory source
Skipping due to inventory source not existing or not being readable by the current user
ini declined parsing /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1/i2.aws_ec2.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available
Skipping due to inventory source not existing or not being readable by the current user
yaml declined parsing /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1/i2.aws_ec2.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
Skipping due to inventory source not existing or not being readable by the current user
ansible_collections.amazon.aws.plugins.inventory.aws_ec2 declined parsing /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1/i2.aws_ec2.yml as it did not pass its verify_file() method
[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that
the implicit localhost does not match 'all'

Here is an example of a shell session

$ docker exec -it semaphore-semaphore-1 sh
cd /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1
ANSIBLE_HOME=/tmp/semaphore/.ansible ansible-playbook -i i2.aws_ec2.yml rawtest.yml -vvvv
ansible-playbook [core 2.14.5]
  config file = /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/tmp/semaphore/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3.11/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /tmp/semaphore/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible-playbook
  python version = 3.11.6 (main, Oct  4 2023, 06:22:18) [GCC 12.2.1 20220924] (/usr/bin/python3)
  jinja version = 3.1.2
  libyaml = True
Using /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1/ansible.cfg as config file
setting up inventory plugins
Loading collection amazon.aws from /tmp/semaphore/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/amazon/aws
Parsed /tmp/semaphore/repository_1_1/i2.aws_ec2.yml inventory source with ansible_collections.amazon.aws.plugins.inventory.aws_ec2 plugin

I've spent quite a lot of time looking at this today, I feel I am quite close to having it work but I can't find what the problem is. I suspect a difference between the environments in which ansible-playbookis run and the UI environment somehow preventing the EC2 inventory plugin from being loaded properly.

I have also tried a play with static inventory and that works fine, the same from UI and shell. Everything is identical excpet the inventory file, which is yaml. So I am pretty sure that the only issue is the EC2 dynamic inventory plugin not invoking correctly or with the correct environment.

Any ideas would be appreciated, ways to troubleshoot further, etc. I wanted to increase the Logger output of Semaphore but could not work out how to do it, despite having my nose in the code all afternoon. Go isn't my thing, aparently ;)

It'd be great to hear thoughts / get some pointers. I'd love to get this working.

[davidak09]

Hello, try to run the task with -vvvv option, you're probably missing permissions ec2:DescribeInstances, I've just run into this problem.

[johnlane]

I jumped ship to https://webui.ansibleguy.net which met my needs.

[tboerger]

Have fun with a real one-man show.