When managing multiple servers with Ansible, you often need to distribute configuration files that share the same filename but contain different content based on the target machine's role or hostname. A classic example would be deploying /etc/nginx/nginx.conf with role-specific configurations across web servers.

Ansible provides several elegant ways to handle this:

# Method 1: Using host_vars and group_vars
# In your inventory file:
[webservers]
web1 ansible_host=192.168.1.10 role=frontend
web2 ansible_host=192.168.1.11 role=backend

# Then in group_vars/webservers/file.yml or host_vars/web1/file.yml
file_content: |
  This is specific content for {{ role }}

For more complex scenarios, Jinja2 templates work best:

- name: Deploy role-specific configuration
  template:
    src: "templates/file.conf.j2"
    dest: "/etc/service/file.conf"
    owner: root
    group: root
    mode: '0644'

When you need completely different source files (not just variable substitution):

- name: Copy role-specific file
  copy:
    src: "files/{{ inventory_hostname }}.file"
          or
    src: "files/{{ ansible_hostname }}.file"
          or  
    src: "files/{{ role }}.file"
    dest: "/path/to/destination/file"

For more complex decision trees:

- name: Deploy appropriate file
  copy:
    src: "files/{% if 'db' in group_names %}db.file{% elif 'web' in group_names %}web.file{% else %}default.file{% endif %}"
    dest: "/etc/application/config.file"

• Store role-specific files in roles/rolename/files/ directory structure
• Use Ansible facts (ansible_hostname, inventory_hostname) for maximum flexibility
• Consider using the first_found lookup for fallback scenarios

Here's a full playbook example:

- hosts: all
  tasks:
    - name: Determine correct source file
      set_fact:
        config_file: "{{ 'file.' + role | default('default') }}"
      
    - name: Deploy configuration
      copy:
        src: "files/{{ config_file }}"
        dest: "/etc/app/config"
        owner: appuser
        group: appgroup
        mode: '0640'

When managing infrastructure with Ansible, we often need to distribute configuration files that share the same filename but contain different content based on either:

• The target host's hostname
• The role assigned to the host

Here are three effective methods to implement this in Ansible:

1. Using Role-Based File Selection

- name: Copy role-specific file
  ansible.builtin.copy:
    src: "files/file.{{ ansible_role }}"
    dest: "/path/to/destination/file"

2. Hostname-Based Conditional Copy

- name: Copy file based on hostname
  ansible.builtin.copy:
    src: "files/file.{{ inventory_hostname }}"
    dest: "/path/to/destination/file"
  when: inventory_hostname in ['host1', 'host2', 'host3']

3. Combined Hostname and Role Logic

- name: Copy file with complex conditions
  ansible.builtin.copy:
    src: "files/file.{{ ansible_role }}"
    dest: "/path/to/destination/file"
  when: 
    - ansible_role == 'webserver'
    - inventory_hostname.startswith('prod-')

For more complex scenarios, consider using Ansible's vars_files directive:

- name: Include host-specific variables
  include_vars: "host_vars/{{ inventory_hostname }}.yml"

- name: Copy dynamically determined file
  ansible.builtin.copy:
    src: "files/file.{{ file_variant }}"
    dest: "/path/to/destination/file"

• Store all variant files in a dedicated directory structure
• Use consistent naming conventions (e.g., role-based suffixes)
• Document the file distribution logic in your playbook comments
• Consider using Ansible Vault for sensitive configuration files

Here's a complete playbook example for Nginx configuration distribution:

- hosts: webservers
  tasks:
    - name: Determine config variant
      set_fact:
        config_variant: "{% if 'production' in inventory_hostname %}prod{% else %}dev{% endif %}"

    - name: Copy Nginx config
      ansible.builtin.copy:
        src: "templates/nginx.conf.{{ config_variant }}"
        dest: "/etc/nginx/nginx.conf"
        owner: root
        group: root
        mode: '0644'