# cloudformation – Create or delete an AWS CloudFormation stack

- Synopsis
- Requirements
- Parameters
- Notes
- Examples
- Return Values
- Status

## Synopsis

- Launches or updates an AWS CloudFormation stack and waits for it complete.

## Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

- boto
- boto3
- botocore>=1.5.45
- python >= 2.6

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---
aws_access_key string |  | AWS access key. If not set then the value of the AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_ACCESS_KEY or EC2_ACCESS_KEY environment variable is used. aliases: ec2_access_key, access_key
aws_secret_key string |  | AWS secret key. If not set then the value of the AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_SECRET_KEY, or EC2_SECRET_KEY environment variable is used. aliases: ec2_secret_key, secret_key
backoff_delay integer added in 2.8 | Default: 3 | Number of seconds to wait for the next retry.
backoff_max_delay integer added in 2.8 | Default: 30 | Maximum amount of time to wait between retries.
backoff_retries integer added in 2.8 | Default: 10 | Number of times to retry operation. AWS API throttling mechanism fails Cloudformation module so we have to retry a couple of times.
capabilities list added in 2.8 | Default: ["CAPABILITY_IAM", "CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM"] | Specify capabilities that stack template contains. Valid values are CAPABILITY_IAM, CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM and CAPABILITY_AUTO_EXPAND.
changeset_name - added in 2.4 |  | Name given to the changeset when creating a changeset, only used when create_changeset is true. By default a name prefixed with Ansible-STACKNAME is generated based on input parameters. See the AWS Change Sets docs https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/using-cfn-updating-stacks-changesets.html

create_changeset
boolean
added in 2.4

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

If stack already exists create a changeset instead of directly applying changes. See the AWS Change Sets docs https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/using-cfn-updating-stacks-changesets.html. WARNING: if the stack does not exist, it will be created without changeset. If the state is absent, the stack will be deleted immediately with no changeset.

create_timeout - added in 2.6 |  | The amount of time (in minutes) that can pass before the stack status becomes CREATE_FAILED

debug_botocore_endpoint_logs
boolean
added in 2.8

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Use a botocore.endpoint logger to parse the unique (rather than total) "resource:action" API calls made during a task, outputing the set to the resource_actions key in the task results. Use the aws_resource_action callback to output to total list made during a playbook. The ANSIBLE_DEBUG_BOTOCORE_LOGS environment variable may also be used.

disable_rollback
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

If a stacks fails to form, rollback will remove the stack

ec2_url string |  | Url to use to connect to EC2 or your Eucalyptus cloud (by default the module will use EC2 endpoints). Ignored for modules where region is required. Must be specified for all other modules if region is not used. If not set then the value of the EC2_URL environment variable, if any, is used.
events_limit - added in 2.7 | Default: 200 | Maximum number of CloudFormation events to fetch from a stack when creating or updating it.
notification_arns - |  | The Simple Notification Service (SNS) topic ARNs to publish stack related events.

on_create_failure
-
added in 2.8

Choices:
- DO_NOTHING
- ROLLBACK
- DELETE

Action to take upon failure of stack creation. Incompatible with the disable_rollback option.

profile string |  | Uses a boto profile. Only works with boto >= 2.24.0.
region string |  | The AWS region to use. If not specified then the value of the AWS_REGION or EC2_REGION environment variable, if any, is used. See http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html#ec2_region aliases: aws_region, ec2_region
role_arn - |  | The role that AWS CloudFormation assumes to create the stack. See the AWS CloudFormation Service Role docs https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/using-iam-servicerole.html
security_token string |  | AWS STS security token. If not set then the value of the AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN or EC2_SECURITY_TOKEN environment variable is used. aliases: access_token
stack_name - / required |  | name of the cloudformation stack
stack_policy - |  | the path of the cloudformation stack policy. A policy cannot be removed once placed, but it can be modified. for instance, allow all updates https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/protect-stack-resources.html#d0e9051

state
-

Choices:
- present ←
- absent

If state is "present", stack will be created. If state is "present" and if stack exists and template has changed, it will be updated. If state is "absent", stack will be removed.

tags - |  | Dictionary of tags to associate with stack and its resources during stack creation. Can be updated later, updating tags removes previous entries.

template
-

The local path of the cloudformation template.
This must be the full path to the file, relative to the working directory. If using roles this may look like "roles/cloudformation/files/cloudformation-example.json".
If 'state' is 'present' and the stack does not exist yet, either 'template', 'template_body' or 'template_url' must be specified (but only one of them). If 'state' is 'present', the stack does exist, and neither 'template', 'template_body' nor 'template_url' are specified, the previous template will be reused.

template_body
-
added in 2.5

Template body. Use this to pass in the actual body of the Cloudformation template.
If 'state' is 'present' and the stack does not exist yet, either 'template', 'template_body' or 'template_url' must be specified (but only one of them). If 'state' is present, the stack does exist, and neither 'template', 'template_body' nor 'template_url' are specified, the previous template will be reused.

template_format
-

Choices:
- json ←
- yaml

(deprecated) For local templates, allows specification of json or yaml format. Templates are now passed raw to CloudFormation regardless of format. This parameter is ignored since Ansible 2.3.

template_parameters - | Default: {} | A list of hashes of all the template variables for the stack. The value can be a string or a dict. Dict can be used to set additional template parameter attributes like UsePreviousValue (see example).

template_url
-

Location of file containing the template body. The URL must point to a template (max size 307,200 bytes) located in an S3 bucket in the same region as the stack.
If 'state' is 'present' and the stack does not exist yet, either 'template', 'template_body' or 'template_url' must be specified (but only one of them). If 'state' is present, the stack does exist, and neither 'template', 'template_body' nor 'template_url' are specified, the previous template will be reused.

termination_protection
boolean
added in 2.5

Choices:
- no
- yes

enable or disable termination protection on the stack. Only works with botocore >= 1.7.18.

validate_certs
boolean

Choices:
- no
- yes ←

When set to "no", SSL certificates will not be validated for boto versions >= 2.6.0.

## Notes

Note

- Cloudformation features change often, and this module tries to keep up. That means your botocore version should be fresh. The version listed in the requirements is the oldest version that works with the module as a whole. Some features may require recent versions, and we do not pinpoint a minimum version for each feature. Instead of relying on the minimum version, keep botocore up to date. AWS is always releasing features and fixing bugs.
- If parameters are not set within the module, the following environment variables can be used in decreasing order of precedence `AWS_URL` or `EC2_URL`, `AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID` or `AWS_ACCESS_KEY` or `EC2_ACCESS_KEY`, `AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY` or `AWS_SECRET_KEY` or `EC2_SECRET_KEY`, `AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN` or `EC2_SECURITY_TOKEN`, `AWS_REGION` or `EC2_REGION`
- Ansible uses the boto configuration file (typically ~/.boto) if no credentials are provided. See https://boto.readthedocs.io/en/latest/boto_config_tut.html
- `AWS_REGION` or `EC2_REGION` can be typically be used to specify the AWS region, when required, but this can also be configured in the boto config file

## Examples

    - name: create a cloudformation stack
      cloudformation:
        stack_name: "ansible-cloudformation"
        state: "present"
        region: "us-east-1"
        disable_rollback: true
        template: "files/cloudformation-example.json"
        template_parameters:
          KeyName: "jmartin"
          DiskType: "ephemeral"
          InstanceType: "m1.small"
          ClusterSize: 3
        tags:
          Stack: "ansible-cloudformation"

    # Basic role example
    - name: create a stack, specify role that cloudformation assumes
      cloudformation:
        stack_name: "ansible-cloudformation"
        state: "present"
        region: "us-east-1"
        disable_rollback: true
        template: "roles/cloudformation/files/cloudformation-example.json"
        role_arn: 'arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/cloudformation-iam-role'

    - name: delete a stack
      cloudformation:
        stack_name: "ansible-cloudformation-old"
        state: "absent"

    # Create a stack, pass in template from a URL, disable rollback if stack creation fails,
    # pass in some parameters to the template, provide tags for resources created
    - name: create a stack, pass in the template via an URL
      cloudformation:
        stack_name: "ansible-cloudformation"
        state: present
        region: us-east-1
        disable_rollback: true
        template_url: https://s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/cloudformation.template
        template_parameters:
          KeyName: jmartin
          DiskType: ephemeral
          InstanceType: m1.small
          ClusterSize: 3
        tags:
          Stack: ansible-cloudformation

    # Create a stack, passing in template body using lookup of Jinja2 template, disable rollback if stack creation fails,
    # pass in some parameters to the template, provide tags for resources created
    - name: create a stack, pass in the template body via lookup template
      cloudformation:
        stack_name: "ansible-cloudformation"
        state: present
        region: us-east-1
        disable_rollback: true
        template_body: "{{ lookup('template', 'cloudformation.j2') }}"
        template_parameters:
          KeyName: jmartin
          DiskType: ephemeral
          InstanceType: m1.small
          ClusterSize: 3
        tags:
          Stack: ansible-cloudformation

    # Pass a template parameter which uses Cloudformation's UsePreviousValue attribute
    # When use_previous_value is set to True, the given value will be ignored and
    # Cloudformation will use the value from a previously submitted template.
    # If use_previous_value is set to False (default) the given value is used.
    - cloudformation:
        stack_name: "ansible-cloudformation"
        state: "present"
        region: "us-east-1"
        template: "files/cloudformation-example.json"
        template_parameters:
          DBSnapshotIdentifier:
            use_previous_value: True
            value: arn:aws:rds:es-east-1:000000000000:snapshot:rds:my-db-snapshot
          DBName:
            use_previous_value: True
        tags:
          Stack: "ansible-cloudformation"

    # Enable termination protection on a stack.
    # If the stack already exists, this will update its termination protection
    - name: enable termination protection during stack creation
      cloudformation:
        stack_name: my_stack
        state: present
        template_url: https://s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/cloudformation.template
        termination_protection: yes

    # Configure TimeoutInMinutes before the stack status becomes CREATE_FAILED
    # In this case, if disable_rollback is not set or is set to false, the stack will be rolled back.
    - name: enable termination protection during stack creation
      cloudformation:
        stack_name: my_stack
        state: present
        template_url: https://s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/cloudformation.template
        create_timeout: 5

    # Configure rollback behaviour on the unsuccessful creation of a stack allowing
    # CloudFormation to clean up, or do nothing in the event of an unsuccessful
    # deployment
    # In this case, if on_create_failure is set to "DELETE", it will clean up the stack if
    # it fails to create
    - name: create stack which will delete on creation failure
      cloudformation:
        stack_name: my_stack
        state: present
        template_url: https://s3.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/cloudformation.template
        on_create_failure: DELETE

## Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key | Returned | Description
--- | --- | ---
events list | always | Most recent events in Cloudformation's event log. This may be from a previous run in some cases. Sample: ['StackEvent AWS::CloudFormation::Stack stackname UPDATE_COMPLETE', 'StackEvent AWS::CloudFormation::Stack stackname UPDATE_COMPLETE_CLEANUP_IN_PROGRESS']
log list | always | Debugging logs. Useful when modifying or finding an error. Sample: ['updating stack']
stack_outputs dictionary | state == present | A key:value dictionary of all the stack outputs currently defined. If there are no stack outputs, it is an empty dictionary. Sample: {'MySg': 'AnsibleModuleTestYAML-CFTestSg-C8UVS567B6NS'}
stack_resources list | state == present | AWS stack resources and their status. List of dictionaries, one dict per resource. Sample: [{'last_updated_time': '2016-10-11T19:40:14.979000+00:00', 'logical_resource_id': 'CFTestSg', 'physical_resource_id': 'cloudformation2-CFTestSg-16UQ4CYQ57O9F', 'resource_type': 'AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup', 'status': 'UPDATE_COMPLETE', 'status_reason': None}]

## Status

- This module is guaranteed to have backward compatible interface changes going forward. [stableinterface]
- This module is maintained by the Ansible Core Team. [core]

### Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

### Authors

- James S. Martin (@jsmartin)

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