How to read and parse CSV files on a remote server instead of doing it on ansible machine/localhost?

Question

My original playbook and tasks that is meant to run on localhost:

- name: Fetch file
  fetch:
    src: \\10.14.2.130\shared\folder\Data\{{ filename }}
    dest: /var/lib/awx/projects/Windows/
    flat: yes
  delegate_to: 10.12.201.60
  become: yes
  become_method: runas
  become_user: SYSTEM

- name: Initialise data list
  set_fact:
    data_list: []
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Read input file
  read_csv:
    path: "{{ filename }}"
    key: FirstName  
    fieldnames: FirstName,LastName,EmailAddress
    delimiter: ','
  register: userdata
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Extract the list
  set_fact:
    data_list: "{{ data_list + [{ 'FirstName': item.FirstName, 'LastName': item.LastName, 'EmailAddress': item.EmailAddress }] }}"
  loop: "{{ userdata | community.general.json_query('dict.[*][0]') }}"

- name: Set fact for data_list
  set_fact: 
    data_list: "{{ data_list[1:] }}"

As the first task failed and I am unable to fetch the csv file "{{ filename }}" into ansible machine, I amended some of the playbook's details, namely the 'delegate_to' and path of the CSV file in C drive, then ran the playbook on a Windows host:

- name: copy file
  win_copy:
    src: \\10.14.2.130\shared\folder\Data\{{ filename }}
    dest: C:/
    remote_src: true
  delegate_to: 10.12.201.60
  become: yes
  become_method: runas
  become_user: SYSTEM

- name: Initialise data list
  set_fact:
    data_list: []

- name: Read input file
  read_csv:
    path: C:\{{ filename }}
    key: FirstName  
    fieldnames: FirstName,LastName,EmailAddress
    delimiter: ','
  register: userdata
  delegate_to: 10.12.201.60

- name: Extract the list
  set_fact:
    data_list: "{{ data_list + [{ 'FirstName': item.FirstName, 'LastName': item.LastName, 'EmailAddress': item.EmailAddress }] }}"
  loop: "{{ userdata | community.general.json_query('dict.[*][0]') }}"

- name: Set fact for data_list
  set_fact: 
    data_list: "{{ data_list[1:] }}"

This is the error I get after running the playbook:

fatal: [10.12.201.60]: FAILED! => {
    "msg": "The module read_csv was redirected to community.general.read_csv, which could not be loaded."

How can I run these set of tasks successfully on another remote server instead of localhost?

Answer 1

In a nutshell:

- hosts: 10.12.201.60
  gather_facts: false

  tasks:
    - name: Parse csv
      read_csv:
        path: "\\10.14.2.130\shared\folder\Data\{{ filename }}"
        key: FirstName  
        fieldnames: FirstName,LastName,EmailAddress
        delimiter: ','
      register: userdata

    - name: Extract the list
      set_fact:
        data_list: "{{ data_list | d([]) + [{ 'FirstName': item.FirstName, 'LastName': item.LastName, 'EmailAddress': item.EmailAddress }] }}"
      loop: "{{ userdata | community.general.json_query('dict.[*][0]') }}"

    - name: Set fact for data_list
      set_fact: 
        data_list: "{{ data_list[1:] }}"

Note: there are other optimization/good practice to be applied while processing this data but I can't really guess without a proper example data and expected result. The goal was to answer your direct question