community.vmware.vmware_vm_shell module – Run commands in a VMware guest operating system

Note

This module is part of the community.vmware collection (version 4.2.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.vmware.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.vmware.vmware_vm_shell.

Synopsis

  • Module allows user to run common system administration commands in the guest operating system.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

cluster

string

The cluster hosting the virtual machine.

If set, it will help to speed up virtual machine search.

datacenter

string

The datacenter hosting the virtual machine.

If set, it will help to speed up virtual machine search.

folder

string

Destination folder, absolute or relative path to find an existing guest or create the new guest.

The folder should include the datacenter. ESX’s datacenter is ha-datacenter.

Examples:

folder: /ha-datacenter/vm

folder: ha-datacenter/vm

folder: /datacenter1/vm

folder: datacenter1/vm

folder: /datacenter1/vm/folder1

folder: datacenter1/vm/folder1

folder: /folder1/datacenter1/vm

folder: folder1/datacenter1/vm

folder: /folder1/datacenter1/vm/folder2

hostname

string

The hostname or IP address of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_HOST will be used instead.

password

aliases: pass, pwd

string

The password of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PASSWORD will be used instead.

port

integer

The port number of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PORT will be used instead.

Default: 443

proxy_host

string

Address of a proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them.

The format is a hostname or a IP.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PROXY_HOST will be used instead.

proxy_port

integer

Port of the HTTP proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_PROXY_PORT will be used instead.

timeout

integer

Timeout in seconds.

If set to positive integers, then wait_for_process=true will honor this parameter and will exit after this timeout.

Default: 3600

username

aliases: admin, user

string

The username of the vSphere vCenter or ESXi server.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_USER will be used instead.

validate_certs

boolean

Allows connection when SSL certificates are not valid. Set to false when certificates are not trusted.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable VMWARE_VALIDATE_CERTS will be used instead.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

vm_id

string / required

Name of the virtual machine to work with.

vm_id_type

string

The VMware identification method by which the virtual machine will be identified.

Choices:

  • "uuid"

  • "instance_uuid"

  • "dns_name"

  • "inventory_path"

  • "vm_name" ← (default)

vm_password

string / required

The password used to login-in to the virtual machine.

vm_shell

string / required

The absolute path to the program to start.

On Linux, shell is executed via bash.

vm_shell_args

string

The argument to the program.

The characters which must be escaped to the shell also be escaped on the command line provided.

Default: " "

vm_shell_cwd

string

The current working directory of the application from which it will be run.

vm_shell_env

list / elements=string

Comma separated list of environment variable, specified in the guest OS notation.

vm_username

string / required

The user to login-in to the virtual machine.

wait_for_process

boolean

If set to true, module will wait for process to complete in the given virtual machine.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

Notes

Note

  • Only the first match against vm_id is used, even if there are multiple matches.

  • All modules requires API write access and hence is not supported on a free ESXi license.

Examples

- name: Run command inside a virtual machine
  community.vmware.vmware_vm_shell:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    folder: "/{{datacenter}}/vm"
    vm_id: "{{ vm_name }}"
    vm_username: root
    vm_password: superSecret
    vm_shell: /bin/echo
    vm_shell_args: " $var >> myFile "
    vm_shell_env:
      - "PATH=/bin"
      - "VAR=test"
    vm_shell_cwd: "/tmp"
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: shell_command_output

- name: Run command inside a virtual machine with wait and timeout
  community.vmware.vmware_vm_shell:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    folder: "/{{datacenter}}/vm"
    vm_id: NameOfVM
    vm_username: root
    vm_password: superSecret
    vm_shell: /bin/sleep
    vm_shell_args: 100
    wait_for_process: true
    timeout: 2000
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: shell_command_with_wait_timeout

- name: Change user password in the guest machine
  community.vmware.vmware_vm_shell:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    folder: "/{{datacenter}}/vm"
    vm_id: "{{ vm_name }}"
    vm_username: sample
    vm_password: old_password
    vm_shell: "/bin/echo"
    vm_shell_args: "-e 'old_password\nnew_password\nnew_password' | passwd sample > /tmp/$$.txt 2>&1"
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Change hostname of guest machine
  community.vmware.vmware_vm_shell:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    folder: "/{{datacenter}}/vm"
    vm_id: "{{ vm_name }}"
    vm_username: testUser
    vm_password: SuperSecretPassword
    vm_shell: "/usr/bin/hostnamectl"
    vm_shell_args: "set-hostname new_hostname > /tmp/$$.txt 2>&1"
  delegate_to: localhost

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key

Description

results

dictionary

metadata about the new process after completion with wait_for_process

Returned: on success

Sample: {"cmd_line": "\"/bin/sleep\" 1", "end_time": "2018-04-26T05:03:21+00:00", "exit_code": 0, "name": "sleep", "owner": "dev1", "start_time": "2018-04-26T05:03:19+00:00", "uuid": "564db1e2-a3ff-3b0e-8b77-49c25570bb66"}

Authors

  • Ritesh Khadgaray (@ritzk)

  • Abhijeet Kasurde (@Akasurde)