When I use ansible module expect, I get this msg: The pexpect python module is required

Question

Some code from yml file:

- name: --- run /opt/installer/bin/install.sh ---
  expect:
      command: /opt/installer/bin/install.sh
      responses:
        'Are you installing the application at the central data center? [yes/no default: yes]? [yes]': "\n"
        'What is the code of central data center [default: 01]? [01]': "\n"
        'What is ip or hostname of your server [default: localhost]? [localhost]': 'portal'

and I installed pexpect 3.3 modules on both servers (ansible and target machines).

[root@portal pexpect-3.3]# python setup.py install
running install
running build
running build_py
running install_lib
running install_egg_info
Removing /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pexpect-3.3-py2.7.egg-info
Writing /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/pexpect-3.3-py2.7.egg-info

when I run playbook I get this error :

TASK [ansible-portal : --- run /opt/installer/bin/install.sh ---] *************************************************************************
fatal: [portal]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "msg": "The pexpect python module is required"}

More information :

[root@ansible ansible]# ansible --version
ansible 2.4.2.0
  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = [u'/root/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible
  python version = 2.7.5 (default, Aug  4 2017, 00:39:18) [GCC 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-16)]

Solution

As is typical with some of the modules in ansible you have to install certain Python modules on the remote server's side.

• https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/21416

You can use the pip module to facilitate this through your ansible playbook like so:

- name: install pexpect
  pip:
    name: pexpect
  become: yes

Your distro may have these available as DEB or RPM files as well. If so you might want to install this Python module using the distro's package manager instead.

In your case it's likely that the Python you installed the pexpect module into is not the same one that ansible is using. In this case I'd use the system's package manager to install pexpect.

via package managers

on Debian/Ubuntu systems using apt-get:

$ sudo apt-get install python-pexpect

On Redhat distros (Fedora/CentOS):

$ sudo yum install -y pexpect

References

• https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/pip_module.html
• The pexpect python module is required error even-though it is installed on host machine #21416