diff --git a/tasks/elasticsearch-plugins.yml b/tasks/elasticsearch-plugins.yml
index 7da2d8c..f3307b5 100644
--- a/tasks/elasticsearch-plugins.yml
+++ b/tasks/elasticsearch-plugins.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 - name: Remove elasticsearch plugins
   command: "{{es_home}}/bin/plugin remove {{item}} --silent"
   ignore_errors: yes
-  with_items: "{{ installed_plugins.stdout_lines }}"
+  with_items: "{{ installed_plugins.stdout_lines | default([]) }}"
   when: es_plugins_reinstall and installed_plugins.stdout_lines | length > 0 and not 'No plugin detected' in installed_plugins.stdout_lines[0]
   notify: restart elasticsearch
   environment:
@@ -41,8 +41,8 @@
   register: plugin_installed
   failed_when: "'ERROR' in plugin_installed.stdout"
   changed_when: plugin_installed.rc == 0
-  with_items: "{{ es_plugins }}"
-  when: es_plugins is defined and not es_plugins is none and es_plugins_reinstall
+  with_items: "{{ es_plugins | default([]) }}"
+  when: not es_plugins is none and es_plugins_reinstall
   notify: restart elasticsearch
   environment:
     CONF_DIR: "{{ conf_dir }}"
@@ -50,4 +50,4 @@
 
 #Set permissions on plugins directory
 - name: Set Plugin Directory Permissions
-  file: state=directory path={{ plugin_dir }} owner={{ es_user }} group={{ es_group }} recurse=yes
\ No newline at end of file
+  file: state=directory path={{ plugin_dir }} owner={{ es_user }} group={{ es_group }} recurse=yes
diff --git a/tasks/elasticsearch-templates.yml b/tasks/elasticsearch-templates.yml
index c9de8bb..5f987b0 100644
--- a/tasks/elasticsearch-templates.yml
+++ b/tasks/elasticsearch-templates.yml
@@ -8,9 +8,8 @@
 
 - name: Copy templates to elasticsearch
   copy: src={{ item }} dest=/etc/elasticsearch/templates owner={{ es_user }} group={{ es_group }}
-  when: es_templates_fileglob is defined
   with_fileglob:
-    - "{{ es_templates_fileglob }}"
+    - "{{ es_templates_fileglob | default('') }}"
 
 - set_fact: http_port=9200
   tags:
@@ -30,4 +29,4 @@
 
 - name: Install template(s)
   command: "curl -sL -XPUT http://localhost:{{http_port}}/_template/{{item}} -d @/etc/elasticsearch/templates/{{item}}.json"
-  with_items: "{{ resultstemplate.stdout_lines }}"
+  with_items: "{{ resultstemplate.stdout_lines | default([]) }}"