vmware_tools – Execute tasks inside a VM via VMware Tools

New in version 2.8.

Synopsis

• Use VMware tools to run tasks in, or put/fetch files to guest operating systems running in VMware infrastructure.

• In case of Windows VMs, set ansible_shell_type to powershell.

• Does not work with ‘become’.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the local master node that executes this connection.

• pyvmomi (Python library)

• requests (Python library)

Parameters

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Configuration	Comments
exec_command_sleep_interval float	Default: 0.5	var: ansible_vmware_tools_exec_command_sleep_interval	Time in seconds to sleep between execution of command.
executable -	Default: "/bin/sh"	ini entries: [defaults] executable = /bin/sh env:ANSIBLE_EXECUTABLE var: ansible_executable var: ansible_vmware_tools_executable	shell to use for execution inside container
file_chunk_size integer	Default: 128	var: ansible_vmware_tools_file_chunk_size	File chunk size. (Applicable when writing a file to disk, example: using the fetch module.)
validate_certs boolean	Choices: no yes ←	env:VMWARE_VALIDATE_CERTS var: ansible_vmware_validate_certs	Verify SSL for the connection. Note: This will validate certs for both vmware_host and the ESXi host running the VM.
vm_password - / required		var: ansible_password var: ansible_vmware_tools_password	Password for the user in guest operating system.
vm_path - / required		var: ansible_vmware_guest_path	VM path absolute to the connection. vCenter Example: Datacenter/vm/Discovered virtual machine/testVM. ESXi Host Example: ha-datacenter/vm/testVM. Must include VM name, appended to 'folder' as would be passed to vmware_guest. Needs to include vm between the Datacenter and the rest of the VM path. Datacenter default value for ESXi server is ha-datacenter. Folder vm is not visible in the vSphere Web Client but necessary for VMware API to work.
vm_user - / required		var: ansible_user var: ansible_vmware_tools_user	VM username.
vmware_host - / required		env:VI_SERVER env:VMWARE_HOST var: ansible_host var: ansible_vmware_host	FQDN or IP Address for the connection (vCenter or ESXi Host).
vmware_password - / required		env:VI_PASSWORD env:VMWARE_PASSWORD var: ansible_vmware_password	Password for the connection.
vmware_port -	Default: 443	env:VI_PORTNUMBER env:VMWARE_PORT var: ansible_port var: ansible_vmware_port	Port for the connection.
vmware_user - / required		env:VI_USERNAME env:VMWARE_USER var: ansible_vmware_user	Username for the connection. Requires the following permissions on the VM: - VirtualMachine.GuestOperations.Execute - VirtualMachine.GuestOperations.Modify - VirtualMachine.GuestOperations.Query

Examples

# example vars.yml
---
ansible_connection: vmware_tools

ansible_vmware_host: vcenter.example.com
ansible_vmware_user: [email protected]
ansible_vmware_password: Secr3tP4ssw0rd!12
ansible_vmware_validate_certs: no  # default is yes

# vCenter Connection VM Path Example
ansible_vmware_guest_path: DATACENTER/vm/FOLDER/{{ inventory_hostname }}
# ESXi Connection VM Path Example
ansible_vmware_guest_path: ha-datacenter/vm/{{ inventory_hostname }}

ansible_vmware_tools_user: root
ansible_vmware_tools_password: MyR00tPassw0rD

# if the target VM guest is Windows set the 'ansible_shell_type' to 'powershell'
ansible_shell_type: powershell


# example playbook_linux.yml
---
- name: Test VMware Tools Connection Plugin for Linux
  hosts: linux
  tasks:
    - command: whoami

    - ping:

    - copy:
        src: foo
        dest: /home/user/foo

    - fetch:
        src: /home/user/foo
        dest: linux-foo
        flat: yes

    - file:
        path: /home/user/foo
        state: absent


# example playbook_windows.yml
---
- name: Test VMware Tools Connection Plugin for Windows
  hosts: windows
  tasks:
    - win_command: whoami

    - win_ping:

    - win_copy:
        src: foo
        dest: C:\Users\user\foo

    - fetch:
        src: C:\Users\user\foo
        dest: windows-foo
        flat: yes

    - win_file:
        path: C:\Users\user\foo
        state: absent

Status

• This connection is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]

• This connection is maintained by the Ansible Community. [community]

Authors

• Deric Crago <deric.crago@gmail.com>

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation, you can edit this document to improve it.

Hint

Configuration entries for each entry type have a low to high priority order. For example, a variable that is lower in the list will override a variable that is higher up.