vmware_guest_screenshot – Create a screenshot of the Virtual Machine console

New in version 2.9.

Synopsis

  • This module is used to take screenshot of the given virtual machine when virtual machine is powered on.
  • All parameters and VMware object names are case sensitive.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • python >= 2.6
  • PyVmomi

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
cluster
string
The name of cluster where the virtual machine is running.
This is a required parameter, if esxi_hostname is not set.
esxi_hostname and cluster are mutually exclusive parameters.
datacenter
string
The datacenter name to which virtual machine belongs to.
esxi_hostname
string
The ESXi hostname where the virtual machine is running.
This is a required parameter, if cluster is not set.
esxi_hostname and cluster are mutually exclusive parameters.
folder
string
Destination folder, absolute or relative path to find an existing guest.
This is a required parameter, only if multiple VMs are found with same name.
The folder should include the datacenter. ESXi server'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.
Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
local_path
path
If local_path is not set, the created screenshot file will be kept in the directory of the virtual machine on ESXi host. If local_path is set to a valid path on local machine, then the screenshot file will be downloaded from ESXi host to the local directory.
If not download screenshot file to local machine, you can open it through the returned file URL in screenshot facts manually.
moid
string
added in 2.9
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
added in 2.5
 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
added in 2.9
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
added in 2.9
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.
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 gather facts if known, 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 yes, please make sure Python >= 2.7.9 is installed on the given machine.

Notes

Note

  • Tested on vSphere 6.5 and 6.7

Examples

- name: take a screenshot of the virtual machine console
  vmware_guest_screenshot:
    validate_certs: no
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "{{ folder_name }}"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
    local_path: "/tmp/"
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: take_screenshot

- name: Take a screenshot of the virtual machine console using MoID
  vmware_guest_screenshot:
    validate_certs: no
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "{{ folder_name }}"
    moid: vm-42
    local_path: "/tmp/"
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: take_screenshot

Return Values

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

Key Returned Description
screenshot_info
dictionary
always
display the facts of captured virtual machine screenshot file

Sample:
{'virtual_machine': 'test_vm', 'screenshot_file': '[datastore0] test_vm/test_vm-1.png', 'task_start_time': '2019-05-25T10:35:04.215016Z', 'task_complete_time': '2019-05-25T10:35:04.412622Z', 'result': 'success', 'screenshot_file_url': 'https://test_vcenter/folder/test_vm/test_vm-1.png?dcPath=test-dc&dsName=datastore0', 'download_local_path': '/tmp/', 'download_file_size': 2367}


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