community.vmware.vmware_guest_serial_port – Manage serial ports on an existing VM

Note

This plugin is part of the community.vmware collection (version 1.7.0).

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

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

Synopsis

• This module can be used to manage serial ports on an existing VM

Parameters

Parameter		Choices/Defaults	Comments
backings list / elements=dictionary / required			A list of backings for serial ports. backing_type (str): is required to add or reconfigure or remove an existing serial port.
	backing_type string / required		Backing type is required for the serial ports to be added or reconfigured or removed. aliases: type
	device_name string		Serial device absolutely path. Required when backing_type=device.
	direction string	Choices: client ← server	The direction of the connection. Required when backing_type=network.
	endpoint string	Choices: client ← server	When you use serial port pipe backing to connect a virtual machine to another process, you must define the endpoints. Required when backing_type=pipe.
	file_path string		File path for the host file used in this backing. Fully qualified path is required, like <datastore_name>/<file_name>. Required when backing_type=file.
	no_rx_loss boolean	Choices: no ← yes	Enables optimized data transfer over the pipe. Required when backing_type=pipe.
	pipe_name string		Pipe name for the host pipe. Required when backing_type=pipe.
	service_uri string		Identifies the local host or a system on the network, depending on the value of direction. If you use the virtual machine as a server, the URI identifies the host on which the virtual machine runs. In this case, the host name part of the URI should be empty, or it should specify the address of the local host. If you use the virtual machine as a client, the URI identifies the remote system on the network. Required when backing_type=network.
	state string	Choices: present ← absent	state is required to identify whether we are adding, modifying or removing the serial port. If state is set to present, a serial port will be added or modified. If state is set to absent, an existing serial port will be removed. If an existing serial port to modify or remove, backing_type and either of service_uri or pipe_name or device_name or file_path are required.
	yield_on_poll boolean	Choices: no yes ←	Enables CPU yield behavior.
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. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
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. This is a required parameter, if parameter uuid or moid is not supplied.
password 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. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6. aliases: pass, pwd
port integer		Default: 443	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. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
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. This feature depends on a version of pyvmomi greater than v6.7.1.2018.12
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.
use_instance_uuid boolean		Choices: no ← yes	Whether to use the VMware instance UUID rather than the BIOS UUID.
username 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. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6. aliases: admin, user
uuid string			UUID of the instance to manage the serial ports, this is VMware's unique identifier. This is a required parameter, if parameter name or moid is not supplied.
validate_certs boolean		Choices: no yes ←	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. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6. If set to true, please make sure Python >= 2.7.9 is installed on the given machine.

Examples

# Create serial ports
- name: Create multiple serial ports with Backing type - network, pipe, device and file
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_serial_port:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    name: "test_vm1"
    backings:
    - type: 'network'
      direction: 'client'
      service_uri: 'tcp://6000'
      yield_on_poll: True
    - type: 'pipe'
      pipe_name: 'serial_pipe'
      endpoint: 'client'
    - type: 'device'
      device_name: '/dev/char/serial/uart0'
    - type: 'file'
      file_path: '[datastore1]/file1'
      yield_on_poll:  True
    register: create_multiple_ports

# Modify existing serial port
- name: Modify Network backing type
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_serial_port:
    hostname: '{{ vcenter_hostname }}'
    username: '{{ vcenter_username }}'
    password: '{{ vcenter_password }}'
    name: '{{ name }}'
    backings:
    - type: 'network'
      state: 'present'
      direction: 'server'
      service_uri: 'tcp://6000'
  delegate_to: localhost

# Remove serial port
- name: Remove pipe backing type
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_serial_port:
    hostname: '{{ vcenter_hostname }}'
    username: '{{ vcenter_username }}'
    password: '{{ vcenter_password }}'
    name: '{{ name }}'
    backings:
    - type: 'pipe'
      state: 'absent'
  delegate_to: localhost

Return Values

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

Key	Returned	Description
serial_port_data dictionary	always	metadata about the virtual machine's serial ports after managing them Sample: [{'backing_type': 'network', 'direction': 'client', 'service_uri': 'tcp://6000'}, {'backing_type': 'pipe', 'direction': 'server', 'pipe_name': 'serial pipe'}]

Authors

• Anusha Hegde (@anusha94)