This is a supplemental document for the dynamic inventories lecture meant to detail

the output Ansible requires for the dynamic inventory argument.

There are two arguments a dynamic inventory must respond to: --list and --host
[hostname]

The --list argument must return a JSON-encoded hash or dictionary containing all
groups that are part of the inventory. The groups must include all host and child
group information.

{
"httpd": {
"hosts": ["httpd1","httpd2"],
"vars": {
"httpd_port": 80
},
"children": ["cdn"]
},
"cdn": {
"hosts": ["cdn1","cdn2"],
"vars": {
"content_dir": "/var/www/content"
},
"children":[]
}

The --host [hostname] argument must return either an empty JSON hash or dictionary
or a hash or dictionary of variables to make available to templates and playbooks.

{
"VAR001": "VALUE",
"VAR002": "VALUE",
}