I am trying to write ansible code first time to handle json.

I have a file in my /home/ which has following json data.

here is the input json

  "acl": [
    {
      "browse": true,
      "create": false
    },
    {
      "browse": false,
      "create": true
    }
  ],
  "groups": [
    {
      "name": "abc",
      "location": "texas"
    },
    {
      "name": "def",
      "location": "austin"
    }
  ],
  "users": [
    {
      "name": "admin",
      "description": "administrator",
      "password": "windows2011"
    },
    {
      "name": "testuser",
      "description": "guest",
      "password": "testpassword"
    }
  ]
}

I want to update password of the user in user's object where name is admin

so i that output file has updated password for user admin. the output file should be located in /home/location with _updated.json extension.

the output json should like this

{
  "acl": [
    {
      "browse": true,
      "create": false
    },
    {
      "browse": false,
      "create": true
    }
  ],
  "groups": [
    {
      "name": "abc",
      "location": "texas"
    },
    {
      "name": "def",
      "location": "austin"
    }
  ],
  "users": [
    {
      "name": "admin",
      "description": "administrator",
      "password": "updatedpassword"
    },
    {
      "name": "testuser",
      "description": "guest",
      "password": "testpassword"
    }
  ]
}

ansible code which i have written so far-

---
- name: Update admin user password in JSON file
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no
  tasks:
    - name: Read the JSON file
      ansible.builtinmand:
        cmd: cat /home/conf.json
      register: json_content

Thank you.

I am trying to write ansible code first time to handle json.

I have a file in my /home/ which has following json data.

here is the input json

  "acl": [
    {
      "browse": true,
      "create": false
    },
    {
      "browse": false,
      "create": true
    }
  ],
  "groups": [
    {
      "name": "abc",
      "location": "texas"
    },
    {
      "name": "def",
      "location": "austin"
    }
  ],
  "users": [
    {
      "name": "admin",
      "description": "administrator",
      "password": "windows2011"
    },
    {
      "name": "testuser",
      "description": "guest",
      "password": "testpassword"
    }
  ]
}

I want to update password of the user in user's object where name is admin

so i that output file has updated password for user admin. the output file should be located in /home/location with _updated.json extension.

the output json should like this

{
  "acl": [
    {
      "browse": true,
      "create": false
    },
    {
      "browse": false,
      "create": true
    }
  ],
  "groups": [
    {
      "name": "abc",
      "location": "texas"
    },
    {
      "name": "def",
      "location": "austin"
    }
  ],
  "users": [
    {
      "name": "admin",
      "description": "administrator",
      "password": "updatedpassword"
    },
    {
      "name": "testuser",
      "description": "guest",
      "password": "testpassword"
    }
  ]
}

ansible code which i have written so far-

---
- name: Update admin user password in JSON file
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no
  tasks:
    - name: Read the JSON file
      ansible.builtin.command:
        cmd: cat /home/conf.json
      register: json_content

Thank you.

• json
• ansible

• Are you wanting the Ansible script to do the actual updating of the password? Or are you wanting to change the password in the JSON file and then copy the updated file to updated_conf.json? The copy module is really nice for copying files, but the template module is amazing for substituting values in files. – Magnie Mozios Commented Dec 2, 2024 at 21:29
• I want to update the password using ansible script – exceed007 Commented Dec 2, 2024 at 21:30

2 Answers 2

• Declare the input file

  input_file: data.json

and read it into a dictionary

    - include_vars:
        file: "{{ input_file }}"
        name: data

gives

  data:
    acl:
    - browse: true
      create: false
    - browse: false
      create: true
    groups:
    - location: texas
      name: abc
    - location: austin
      name: def
    users:
    - description: administrator
      name: admin
      password: windows2011
    - description: guest
      name: testuser
      password: testpassword

• Declare the updated users

  users:
    - name: admin
      password: updatedpassword

and merge them

  update: "{{ [data.users, users] | community.general.lists_mergeby('name')
                                  | community.general.dict_kv('users') }}"

gives

  update:
    users:
    - description: administrator
      name: admin
      password: updatedpassword
    - description: guest
      name: testuser
      password: testpassword

• Update data

  data_update: "{{ [data, update] | combine }}"

gives

  data_update:
    acl:
    - browse: true
      create: false
    - browse: false
      create: true
    groups:
    - location: texas
      name: abc
    - location: austin
      name: def
    users:
    - description: administrator
      name: admin
      password: updatedpassword
    - description: guest
      name: testuser
      password: testpassword

• Declare the output file and write it

    - copy:
        dest: "{{ output_file }}"
        content: |
          {{ data_update | to_nice_json }}
      vars:
        arr: "{{ input_file | splitext | list }}"
        output_file: "{{ arr.0 }}_updated{{ arr.1 }}"

gives what you want

shell> diff data.json data_updated.json 
26c26
<             "password": "windows2011"
---
>             "password": "updatedpassword"

- hosts: localhost

  vars:

    input_file: data.json

    users:
      - name: admin
        password: updatedpassword

    update: "{{ [data.users, users] | community.general.lists_mergeby('name')
                                    | community.general.dict_kv('users') }}"
    data_update: "{{ [data, update] | combine }}"

  tasks:

    - include_vars:
        file: "{{ input_file }}"
        name: data

    - debug:
        var: data
    - debug:
        var: update
    - debug:
        var: data_update

    - copy:
        dest: "{{ output_file }}"
        content: |
          {{ data_update | to_nice_json }}
      vars:
        arr: "{{ input_file | splitext | list }}"
        output_file: "{{ arr.0 }}_updated{{ arr.1 }}"

What you can do is use the template module and use "variable interpolation" to put in the password you wish to use. First update your conf.json file:

{
  "acl": [
    {
      "browse": true,
      "create": false
    },
    {
      "browse": false,
      "create": true
    }
  ],
  "groups": [
    {
      "name": "abc",
      "location": "texas"
    },
    {
      "name": "def",
      "location": "austin"
    }
  ],
  "users": [
    {
      "name": "admin",
      "description": "administrator",
      "password": "{{ admin_password }}"
    },
    {
      "name": "testuser",
      "description": "guest",
      "password": "testpassword"
    }
  ]
}

Then update your Ansible script to replace the variable with the new password:

---
- name: Update admin user password in JSON file
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no
  vars:
    admin_password: 'updatedpassword'
  tasks:
    - name: Update the JSON configuration
      ansible.builtin.template:
        src: /home/conf.json
        dest: /home/updated_conf.json

https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/template_module.html

You could also do the same with the testuser account by replacing the password with {{ testuser_password }} and then adding the variable and value to the Ansible script.