community.vmware.vmware_guest_powerstate module – Manages power states of virtual machines in vCenter

Note

This module is part of the community.vmware collection (version 4.8.0).

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_guest_powerstate.

Synopsis

  • Power on / Power off / Restart a virtual machine.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

answer

list / elements=dictionary

A list of questions to answer, should one or more arise while waiting for the task to complete.

Some common uses are to allow a cdrom to be changed even if locked, or to answer the question as to whether a VM was copied or moved.

Can be used if state=powered-on.

question

string / required

The message id, for example msg.uuid.altered.

response

string / required

The choice key, for example button.uuid.copiedTheVM.

datacenter

string

The datacenter where the VM you’d like to operate the power.

Default: "ha-datacenter"

folder

string

Destination folder, absolute or relative path to find an existing 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

force

boolean

Ignore warnings and complete the actions.

This parameter is useful while forcing virtual machine state.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

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.

moid

string

Managed Object ID of the instance to manage if known, this is a unique identifier only within a single vCenter instance.

This is required if name or uuid is not supplied.

name

string

Name of the virtual machine to work with.

Virtual machine names in vCenter are not necessarily unique, which may be problematic, see name_match.

name_match

string

If multiple virtual machines matching the name, use the first or last found.

Choices:

  • "first" ← (default)

  • "last"

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.

schedule_task_description

string

Description of schedule task.

Valid only if scheduled_at is specified.

schedule_task_enabled

boolean

Flag to indicate whether the scheduled task is enabled or disabled.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

schedule_task_name

string

Name of schedule task.

Valid only if scheduled_at is specified.

scheduled_at

string

Date and time in string format at which specified task needs to be performed.

The required format for date and time - ‘dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm’.

Scheduling task requires vCenter server. A standalone ESXi server does not support this option.

state

string

Set the state of the virtual machine.

Choices:

  • "powered-off"

  • "powered-on"

  • "reboot-guest"

  • "restarted"

  • "shutdown-guest"

  • "suspended"

  • "present" ← (default)

state_change_timeout

integer

If the state=shutdown-guest, by default the module will return immediately after sending the shutdown signal.

If this argument is set to a positive integer, the module will instead wait for the VM to reach the poweredoff state.

The value sets a timeout in seconds for the module to wait for the state change.

Default: 0

use_instance_uuid

boolean

Whether to use the VMware instance UUID rather than the BIOS UUID.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

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.

uuid

string

UUID of the instance to manage if known, this is VMware’s unique identifier.

This is required if name or moid is not supplied.

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)

Notes

Note

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

  • All variables and VMware object names are case sensitive.

Examples

- name: Set the state of a virtual machine to poweroff
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_powerstate:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/my_folder"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: powered-off
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: deploy

- name: Set the state of a virtual machine to poweron using MoID
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_powerstate:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/my_folder"
    moid: vm-42
    state: powered-on
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: deploy

- name: Set the state of a virtual machine to poweroff at given scheduled time
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_powerstate:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/my_folder"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: powered-off
    scheduled_at: "09/01/2018 10:18"
    schedule_task_name: "task_00001"
    schedule_task_description: "Sample task to poweroff VM"
    schedule_task_enabled: true
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: deploy_at_schedule_datetime

- name: Wait for the virtual machine to shutdown
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_powerstate:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: shutdown-guest
    state_change_timeout: 200
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: deploy

- name: Automatically answer if a question locked a virtual machine
  block:
    - name: Power on a virtual machine without the answer param
      community.vmware.vmware_guest_powerstate:
        hostname: "{{ esxi_hostname }}"
        username: "{{ esxi_username }}"
        password: "{{ esxi_password }}"
        validate_certs: false
        folder: "{{ f1 }}"
        name: "{{ vm_name }}"
        state: powered-on
  rescue:
    - name: Power on a virtual machine with the answer param
      community.vmware.vmware_guest_powerstate:
        hostname: "{{ esxi_hostname }}"
        username: "{{ esxi_username }}"
        password: "{{ esxi_password }}"
        validate_certs: false
        folder: "{{ f1 }}"
        name: "{{ vm_name }}"
        answer:
          - question: "msg.uuid.altered"
            response: "button.uuid.copiedTheVM"
        state: powered-on

Authors

  • Abhijeet Kasurde (@Akasurde)