Capability to NOT group by all defined tags

[Sneedes]

Using the oracle.oci.oci inventory plugin.
Perhaps it's my usage/implementation, but the default Group by defined tags in the code is undesired.

For example...if I comment out lines 959-971 in oci/plugins/inventory/oci.py, I get my desired functionality. I have OCI compute instances that have many namespace tags that I don't necessarily want to see nor group on within my Ansible inventory.

Is there any way functionality can be added so that my inventory will NOT group on EVERY defined tags?
Such as a default/boolean switch to skip this Group by defined tags code block?

            # Group by defined tags
            if hasattr(instance, "defined_tags") and instance.defined_tags:
                for namespace in instance.defined_tags:
                    for key in instance.defined_tags[namespace]:
                        defined_tag_group_name = self.sanitize(
                            namespace
                            + "#"
                            + key
                            + "="
                            + instance.defined_tags[namespace][key]
                        )
                        common_groups.add(defined_tag_group_name)

For example...the default Oracle tags such as CreatedOn have no value for me in an Ansible inventory.

|--@Oracle_Tags#CreatedOn=2021-07-20T23_19_25.865Z:

Additionally, my team has some inventory/processes/workflow items that dislike seeing the "#" character in the group name. Don't know the exact details, but stating the "#" character in the group name is breaking some stuff. Removing the automatic groups of each and every key pair from every tag namespace should remediate this for us.

Please advise what additional information I can provide to assist.

[Sneedes]

all.oci.yml

plugin: oracle.oci.oci

# Oracle Cloud Infrastructure US Government Cloud with FedRAMP Authorization Regions
regions:
  - us-langley-1
  - us-luke-1

# Set the display name to FQDN, based upon short name + domainName tag
hostname_format_preferences:
  - display_name|lower+'.'+defined_tags.Operations.domainName|lower
  - display_name|lower+'.'+'this.host.needs.a.domainName.tag'

# Create additional groups
keyed_groups:
  - key: defined_tags.Operations.applicationName
    prefix: applicationName
    separator: '_'
  - key: defined_tags.Operations.env
    prefix: env
    separator: '_'

compose:
  ansible_host: display_name+'.'+defined_tags.Operations.domainName
  ansible_ssh_host: private_ip
  cloud: '"oci" if id'

# Only include compute instances tagged with osManagedBy for Ansible
include_host_filters:
  - defined_tags.Operations.osManagedBy=='ansible'

[kristjankullerkann]

I am also hitting this issue. Those unnecessary groups are creating distortion.

[sagar2938]

@Sneedes , thanks for all the details. By default, we are creating groups based on the defined tags in inventory plugin. You are also creating your own custom groups using keyed_groups. Your pain point here is that you are seeing a lot more other groups along with the groups which you want. You want a way to disable creation of the default groups so that it generates only the groups which you created ?

Can you provide the error or what kind of issue you are facing with # in the group name? Currently you cannot disable the creation of groups but you can use other options like keyed_groups(which you are already doing)to create your custom group . we will look in to this issue with # in the group name.

[sagar2938]

@Sneedes @litewhatever , I understand your pain point is you are seeing a lot of unnecessary groups. You want a way to disable any of the default groups creation?

[kristjankullerkann]

@Sneedes @litewhatever , I understand your pain point is you are seeing a lot of unnecessary groups. You want a way to disable any of the default groups creation?

Yes.

[Sneedes]

@Sneedes @litewhatever , I understand your pain point is you are seeing a lot of unnecessary groups. You want a way to disable any of the default groups creation?

Yes!

[kristjankullerkann]

@sagar2938 it also seems that these group names are invalid from ansible perspective:

% ansible-playbook -i inventory/poc.oci.yml site.yml -vvvv
ansible-playbook 2.10.12
  config file = /some/path/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/home/john/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /home/john/.pyenv/versions/3.9.4/lib/python3.9/site-packages/ansible
  executable location = /home/john/.pyenv/versions/3.9.4/bin/ansible-playbook
  python version = 3.9.4 (default, Apr  8 2021, 13:23:50) [Clang 12.0.0 (clang-1200.0.32.29)]
Using /some/path/ansible/ansible.cfg as config file
setting up inventory plugins
Loading collection oracle.oci from /some/path/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/oracle/oci
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'='}" in group name (tag_environment=poc)
[WARNING]: Invalid characters were found in group names but not replaced, use -vvvv to see details
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'-', '.', '=', '#'}" in group name (Oracle-Tags#CreatedOn=2021-08-04T06_14_47.900Z)
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'='}" in group name (tag_role=bastion)
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'='}" in group name (tag_service=oke)
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'-', '.', '=', '#'}" in group name (Oracle-Tags#CreatedBy=oracleidentitycloudservice_john_gmail.com)
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'-'}" in group name (BTew_ME-JEDDAH-1-AD-1)
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'-'}" in group name (region_me-jeddah-1)
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'-', '=', '#'}" in group name (Oracle-Tags#CreatedBy=oke)
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'-', '.', '=', '#'}" in group name (Oracle-Tags#CreatedOn=2021-08-04T06_26_06.841Z)
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'-', '.', '=', '#'}" in group name (Oracle-Tags#CreatedOn=2021-08-04T06_26_08.254Z)
Not replacing invalid character(s) "{'-', '.', '=', '#'}" in group name (Oracle-Tags#CreatedOn=2021-08-04T06_26_09.517Z)

From curiosity, why do you need them?

[sagar2938]

@litewhatever , thanks for the logs. we will review it internally about using these special characters in the group names

[Sneedes]

bump...any updates on this?

[slmjy]

I have create a MR for this. Plz take a look.

[Sneedes]

Could use a little hand-holding on how to use/test your MR (merge request?)?

If I'm interpreting your code correctly...
tags_to_group_by is the new variable I would use. I would populate this list with the complete list of tags I would want to group by? I'd still use this in conjunction with keyed_groups?

[slmjy]

@Sneedes You can use it in conjunction with keyed_groups. tags_to_group_by effectively means - out of all tags found for this instance, group only by these, ignore rest of the tags. If you think another name will be better, or description is not sufficient - please let me know