diff --git a/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml b/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml
index 4d42e5afd..8fa9e6e1e 100644
--- a/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml
+++ b/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@
 
     - name: stop standby ceph mds
       systemd:
-        name: ceph-mds@{{ hostvars[item]['ansible_hostname'] }}
+        name: "ceph-mds@{{ hostvars[item]['ansible_hostname'] }}"
         state: stopped
         enabled: no
       delegate_to: "{{ item }}"
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@
     # somehow, having a single task doesn't work in containerized context
     - name: mask systemd units for standby ceph mds
       systemd:
-        name: ceph-mds@{{ hostvars[item]['ansible_hostname'] }}
+        name: "ceph-mds@{{ hostvars[item]['ansible_hostname'] }}"
         masked: yes
       delegate_to: "{{ item }}"
       with_items: "{{ groups['standby_mdss'] }}"