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

Note

This plugin is part of the community.vmware collection (version 1.17.0).

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
Requirements
Parameters
Notes
Examples
Return Values

Synopsis 

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

Requirements 

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

python >= 2.6
PyVmomi

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. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
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. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
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. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6. 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. 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.
timeout integer	Timeout in seconds. If set to positive integers, then `wait_for_process` 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. Environment variable support added in Ansible 2.6.
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. 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. Choices: no yes ← (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: no ← (default) yes

Notes 

Note

Tested on vSphere 5.5, 6.0 and 6.5.
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)

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

Synopsis

Requirements

Parameters

Notes

Examples

Return Values