community.vmware.vmware_guest_custom_attributes module – Manage custom attributes from VMware for the given virtual machine

Note

This module is part of the community.vmware collection (version 1.18.2).

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_custom_attributes.

Synopsis

  • This module can be used to add, remove and update custom attributes for the given virtual machine.

Requirements

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

  • python >= 2.6

  • PyVmomi

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

attributes

list / elements=dictionary

A list of name and value of custom attributes that needs to be manage.

Value of custom attribute is not required and will be ignored, if state is set to absent.

Default: []

name

string / required

Name of the attribute.

value

string

Value of the attribute.

Default: “”

datacenter

string

Datacenter name where the virtual machine is located in.

folder

string

Absolute path to find an existing guest.

This is required parameter, if name is supplied and multiple virtual machines with same name are found.

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 to work with.

This is required parameter, if uuid or moid is not supplied.

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.

state

string

The action to take.

If set to present, then custom attribute is added or updated.

If set to absent, then custom attribute is removed.

Choices:

  • present ← (default)

  • absent

use_instance_uuid

boolean

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

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

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.

uuid

string

UUID of the virtual machine to manage if known. This is VMware’s unique identifier.

This is required parameter, 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.

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)

Notes

Note

  • Tested on vSphere 6.5

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

Examples

- name: Add virtual machine custom attributes
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_custom_attributes:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    uuid: 421e4592-c069-924d-ce20-7e7533fab926
    state: present
    attributes:
      - name: MyAttribute
        value: MyValue
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: attributes

- name: Add multiple virtual machine custom attributes
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_custom_attributes:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    uuid: 421e4592-c069-924d-ce20-7e7533fab926
    state: present
    attributes:
      - name: MyAttribute
        value: MyValue
      - name: MyAttribute2
        value: MyValue2
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: attributes

- name: Remove virtual machine Attribute
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_custom_attributes:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    uuid: 421e4592-c069-924d-ce20-7e7533fab926
    state: absent
    attributes:
      - name: MyAttribute
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: attributes

- name: Remove virtual machine Attribute using Virtual Machine MoID
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_custom_attributes:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    moid: vm-42
    state: absent
    attributes:
      - name: MyAttribute
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: attributes

Return Values

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

Key

Description

custom_attributes

dictionary

metadata about the virtual machine attributes

Returned: always

Sample: {“mycustom”: “my_custom_value”, “mycustom_2”: “my_custom_value_2”, “sample_1”: “sample_1_value”, “sample_2”: “sample_2_value”, “sample_3”: “sample_3_value”}

Authors

  • Jimmy Conner (@cigamit)

  • Abhijeet Kasurde (@Akasurde)