community.vmware.vmware_guest_move module – Moves virtual machines in vCenter

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_move.

Synopsis

  • This module can be used to move virtual machines between folders.

Requirements

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

  • python >= 2.6

  • PyVmomi

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

datacenter

string / required

Destination datacenter for the move operation

dest_folder

string / required

Absolute path to move an existing guest

The dest_folder should include the datacenter. ESX’s datacenter is ha-datacenter.

This parameter is case sensitive.

Examples:

dest_folder: /ha-datacenter/vm

dest_folder: ha-datacenter/vm

dest_folder: /datacenter1/vm

dest_folder: datacenter1/vm

dest_folder: /datacenter1/vm/folder1

dest_folder: datacenter1/vm/folder1

dest_folder: /folder1/datacenter1/vm

dest_folder: folder1/datacenter1/vm

dest_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.

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 existing virtual machine to move.

This is required if uuid or moid is not supplied.

name_match

string

If multiple virtual machines matching the name, use the first or last found.

Choices:

  • first ← (default)

  • last

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.

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 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 5.5 and vSphere 6.5

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

Examples

- name: Move Virtual Machine
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_move:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: datacenter
    name: testvm-1
    dest_folder: "/{{ datacenter }}/vm"
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Move Virtual Machine using MoID
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_move:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: datacenter
    moid: vm-42
    dest_folder: "/{{ datacenter }}/vm"
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Get VM UUID
  vmware_guest_facts:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter }}/vm"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: vm_facts

- name: Get UUID from previous task and pass it to this task
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_move:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    uuid: "{{ vm_facts.instance.hw_product_uuid }}"
    dest_folder: "/DataCenter/vm/path/to/new/folder/where/we/want"
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: facts

Return Values

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

Key

Description

instance

dictionary

metadata about the virtual machine

Returned: always

Sample: {“annotation”: null, “current_snapshot”: null, “customvalues”: {}, “guest_consolidation_needed”: false, “guest_question”: null, “guest_tools_status”: null, “guest_tools_version”: “0”, “hw_cores_per_socket”: 1, “hw_datastores”: [“LocalDS_0”], “hw_esxi_host”: “DC0_H0”, “hw_eth0”: {“addresstype”: “generated”, “ipaddresses”: null, “label”: “ethernet-0”, “macaddress”: “00:0c:29:6b:34:2c”, “macaddress_dash”: “00-0c-29-6b-34-2c”, “summary”: “DVSwitch: 43cdd1db-1ef7-4016-9bbe-d96395616199”}, “hw_files”: [“[LocalDS_0] DC0_H0_VM0/DC0_H0_VM0.vmx”], “hw_folder”: “/F0/DC0/vm/F0”, “hw_guest_full_name”: null, “hw_guest_ha_state”: null, “hw_guest_id”: “otherGuest”, “hw_interfaces”: [“eth0”], “hw_is_template”: false, “hw_memtotal_mb”: 32, “hw_name”: “DC0_H0_VM0”, “hw_power_status”: “poweredOn”, “hw_processor_count”: 1, “hw_product_uuid”: “581c2808-64fb-45ee-871f-6a745525cb29”, “instance_uuid”: “8bcb0b6e-3a7d-4513-bf6a-051d15344352”, “ipv4”: null, “ipv6”: null, “module_hw”: true, “snapshots”: []}

Authors

  • Jose Angel Munoz (@imjoseangel)