Ansible Reboot Error Messages #64
Description
During post-installation Ansible playbook operations, remote installation results in the following errors:
PLAY [RITA Post: Reboot checks.] *************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
TASK [Gathering Facts] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [143.198.144.80]
TASK [RITA Post: Check if reboot required on rpm-based systems.] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [143.198.144.80]: FAILED! => {"changed": true, "cmd": ["needs-restarting", "-r"], "delta": "0:00:00.360450", "end": "2025-07-08 23:02:28.475915", "msg": "non-zero return code", "rc": 1, "start": "2025-07-08 23:02:28.115465", "stder
r": "", "stderr_lines": [], "stdout": "Core libraries or services have been updated since boot-up:\n * dbus\n * glibc\n * kernel\n * microcode_ctl\n * systemd\n\nReboot is required to fully utilize these updates.\nMore information: h
ttps://access.redhat.com/solutions/27943", "stdout_lines": ["Core libraries or services have been updated since boot-up:", " * dbus", " * glibc", " * kernel", " * microcode_ctl", " * systemd", "", "Reboot is required to fully utilize
these updates.", "More information: https://access.redhat.com/solutions/27943"]}
...ignoring
TASK [RITA Post: Check if reboot required on Debian/Ubuntu-based systems.] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
skipping: [143.198.144.80]
TASK [RITA Post: Rebooting system if needed.] ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
An exception occurred during task execution. To see the full traceback, use -vvv. The error was: NoneType: None
fatal: [143.198.144.80]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "This action (reboot) does not support async."}
...ignoring
PLAY RECAP ***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
143.198.144.80 : ok=35 changed=5 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=24 rescued=0 ignored=2
Note that the first error above is only relevant for RHEL targets (my understanding is that the output of needs-restarting -r is considered error output when the return code is 1. Mostly cosmetic, but would be cleaner to properly handle that output). The second error, however, prevents systems from being rebooted altogether, which may make this worth addressing sooner rather than later.
Solution for the first error seems to be removing ignore_errors: true and instead adding failed_when: reboot_result.rc is not defined. Solution for the second error seems to be simply removing async: 1, as Ansible documentation states that async is not supported at all for the reboot module.
There is another error that occurs during local installation on a RHEL system:
TASK [RITA Post: Rebooting system if needed.] **********************************
fatal: [127.0.0.1]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "elapsed": 0, "msg": "Running reboot with local connection would reboot the control node.", "rebooted": false}
...ignoring
PLAY RECAP *********************************************************************
127.0.0.1 : ok=27 changed=3 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=31 rescued=0 ignored=2
We may want to catch that in a rescue block and display to users that a reboot may be appropriate.