azure_rm_deployment can't send int type parameter to ARM template

[ilseokoh]

ISSUE TYPE

Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

lib/ansible/modules/cloud/azure/azure_rm_deployment.py

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible 2.4.2.0
  config file = None
  configured module search path = [u'/home/kevinoh/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ansible
  executable location = /usr/local/bin/ansible
  python version = 2.7.12 (default, Dec  4 2017, 14:50:18) [GCC 5.4.0 20160609]

CONFIGURATION

no result

OS / ENVIRONMENT

Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS

SUMMARY

I want to put the 'int' type parameter value from playbook to arm template parameter.
But there is an error

TASK [world : Create Azure Deploy] *********************************************************************
fatal: [127.0.0.1 -> 127.0.0.1]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failed_deployment_operations": [], "msg": "Deployment failed with status code: 400 and message: Deployment template validation failed: 'The provided value for the template parameter 'FieldVMCount' at line '1' and column '1982' is not valid.'."}

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

command line:

$ vmCount=3
ansible-playbook ansible/world.yml --tags create --extra-vars "worldnum=$worldnum intsubaddrprefix=$intsubaddrprefix extsubnameprefix=$extsubnameprefix baseimagename=$baseimagename fieldvmcount=$vmCount"

playbook task

- name: Create Azure Deploy
  azure_rm_deployment:
    state: present
    location: koreacentral
    resource_group_name: RG-krz-world{{ worldnum }}-VM
    parameters:
      FieldVMCount: 
        value: "{{ fieldvmcount }}"
      WorldNum: 
        value: "{{ worldnum }}"
      Created:
        value: "{{ ansible_date_time.date }}"
      IntGMAddPrefix:
        value: "{{ intsubaddrprefix }}"
      ExtGMAddPrefix: 
        value: "{{ extsubnameprefix }}"
      ImageName: 
        value: "{{ baseimagename }}"
      VMadminName:
        value: "admin"
      VMadminPassword: 
        value: "kdlsfoi3kdD23"
    template: "{{ lookup('file','../armtemplate/world-deployment.json') | from_json }}"
  tags:
    - create
  delegate_to: 127.0.0.1

ARM Template

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "parameters": {
    "FieldVMCount": {
      "type": "int",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "the number of field server in the World"
      }
    },
    "WorldNum": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "world num"
      }
    },
    "Created": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "date of creation"
      }
    },
    "IntGMAddPrefix": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "subnet name"
      }
    },
    "ExtGMAddPrefix": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "subnet name"
      }
    },
    "ImageName": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "base image name"
      }
    },
    "VMadminName": {
      "type": "string",
      "defaultValue": "admin username"
   },
    "VMadminPassword": {
      "type": "string",
      "metadata": {
        "description": "admin password"
      }
   }
  },
  "variables": {

...

EXPECTED RESULTS

I want to have VMs on azure without errors.

another failed try:
parameters:
FieldVMCount:
value: "{{ fieldvmcount | int }}"
--> failed

NO error with hard-coded int number in the playbook task,
parameters:
FieldVMCount:
value: 10

ACTUAL RESULTS

TASK [world : Create Azure Deploy] *********************************************************************
fatal: [127.0.0.1 -> 127.0.0.1]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failed_deployment_operations": [], "msg": "Deployment failed with status code: 400 and message: Deployment template validation failed: 'The provided value for the template parameter 'FieldVMCount' at line '1' and column '1982' is not valid.'."}

with -vvvv

The full traceback is:
  File "/tmp/ansible_MucHMw/ansible_module_azure_rm_deployment.py", line 509, in deploy_template
    deploy_parameter)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/azure_mgmt_resource-1.2.2-py2.7.egg/azure/mgmt/resource/resources/v2017_05_10/operations/deployments_operations.py", line 282, in create_or_update
    get_long_running_status, long_running_operation_timeout)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/msrestazure/azure_operation.py", line 350, in __init__
    raise CloudError(self._response)

fatal: [127.0.0.1 -> 127.0.0.1]: FAILED! => {
    "changed": false,
    "failed_deployment_operations": [],
    "invocation": {
        "module_args": {
            "ad_user": null,
            "append_tags": true,
            "cli_default_profile": null,
            "client_id": null,
            "cloud_environment": null,
            "deployment_mode": "incremental",
            "deployment_name": "ansible-arm",
            "location": "koreacentral",
            "parameters": {
                "Created": {
                    "value": "2018-01-31"
                },
                "ExtGMAddPrefix": {
                    "value": "10.192.64."
                },
                "FieldVMCount": {
                    "value": "3"
                },
                "ImageName": {
                    "value": "templatevmimage"
                },
                "IntGMAddPrefix": {
                    "value": "10.192.1."
                },
                "VMadminName": {
                    "value": "admin"
                },
                "VMadminPassword": {
                    "value": "sdfasdf"
                },
                "WorldNum": {
                    "value": "1"
                }
            },
            "parameters_link": null,
            "password": null,

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Files identified in the description:

• lib/ansible/modules/cloud/azure/azure_rm_deployment.py

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[ansibot]

cc @devigned @lmazuel @obsoleted
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[MarkRoddick]

seeing the same

[zikalino]

i will look into this today

[zikalino]

Seems like this more generic issue -- not just this module.

Please refer to this discussion here, as people are experiencing this problem in many other places.
#15249

The problem is that jinjia template will be always expanded to string. So if you do:
WorldNum:
value: "{{ worldnum }}"
value will always be string.
I have also tried:
WorldNum:
value: !!int "{{ worldnum }}"
but it doesn't work either (more explanation in the discussion i mentioned).
WorldNum:
value: 10
but that's not ideal.

Also there's a proposal to solve this problem, so "!!int" or "!!float" could be used to ensure proper data type is passed:
ansible/proposals#72

At this point i am considering following solution (in the module):

• add additional parameter (force_numeric)
• module will convert all the parameters containing "force_numeric: yes" to numeric.
  Sample:
  WorldNum:
  value: !!int "{{ worldnum }}"
  force_numeric: yes

If somebody votes for this solution I will make a fix!

[MarkRoddick]

Looks like you could just do the string to int conversion in the ARM template.

{
"$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
"contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
"parameters": {
"stringToConvert": {
"type": "string",
"defaultValue": "4"
}
},
"varibles": {
"integerConvertedfromString": "[int(parameters('stringToConvert'))]"
},
"resources": [
]
}

See - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/resource-group-template-functions-numeric#example-4

[zikalino]

@MarkRoddick but this would require changes in existing ARM template. If existing ARM template expects number as a parameter, there's no way to pass it right now.

[MarkRoddick]

yeah agreed, but least its a workaround if you are using custom ARM templates

[ilseokoh]

I also modified my ARM template converting from string to int.

[zikalino]

I was thinking about this issue during Chinese New Year holidays, and I think I figured out the only proper solution (before there's any generic fix).
I think it should work as follows:

• if user specifies template we will check and adjust all non-string paramaters if necessary
• this won't work with template_url parameter. instead user should use template parameter with {{ lookup('url', ....)}}

@ilseokoh @MarkRoddick do you think that would be good approach?

[zikalino]

implemented the solution as mentioned above.

[jborean93]

While that PR should help I would have thought you could still get this working right now. I've done some digging myself with a test module and found that the int type was still preserved in jinja, e.g.

- hosts: localhost
  vars:
    int_variable: 1234
  tasks:
  - module:
      int_option: "{{ int_variable }}"

Still resulted in an integer. If int_variable was declared like int_variable: '1234' then it would be a string which makes me wonder how fieldvmcount is being defined in your code. Are you able to share some info on that?

needs_info

[zikalino]

yes, it's preserved, and you can convert sth to integer too, but eventually you have to put in in "" as you can't start field with naked {{ }} in ansible and it's get converted back to string.

[jborean93]

@zikalino I tested that, it still stayed the same as the original variable declaration. The quotation is just a yaml rule but the parsing is technically done in jinja

[zikalino]

@jborean93 you mean putting "{{ something integer in }}" resulted in integer? i have to retest that. perhaps something was fixed somewhere else in the meantime.

[jborean93]

in the latest devel branch, that example I gave you meant 1234 was sent as an integer to the module. This was the same in dictionary variables as well. The outlier to this was when you use the | int filter, it seems like the variable returned by jinja is a string and not an int which you alluded to in your previous comments.

I didn't test it out with the azure_rm_deployment module but with just a custom one and it worked fine for me.

[zikalino]

yes {{ var | int }} is converted to int, bit if you do "{{ var | int }}" it's converted back to string, so there's no workaround for this.

[jborean93]

@zikalino I'm not fully sure on the rules but if you omit the | int and the variable is an int then the value being passed to a module is still an int. Was just a suggestion to get over this issue for now until we wait for the PR to be merged and included in a release.

[zikalino]

yes, i will retest it again.

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