community.vmware.vmware_guest_network module – Manage network adapters of specified virtual machine in given vCenter infrastructure

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_network.

New in version 1.0.0: of community.vmware

Synopsis

  • This module is used to add, reconfigure, remove network adapter of given virtual machine.

Requirements

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

  • python >= 2.7

  • PyVmomi

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

cluster

string

Name of cluster where VM belongs to.

connected

boolean

If NIC should be connected to the network.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

datacenter

string

Datacenter the VM belongs to.

Default: “ha-datacenter”

device_type

string

Type of virtual network device.

Valid choices are - e1000, e1000e, pcnet32, vmxnet2, vmxnet3 (default), sriov.

Default: “vmxnet3”

directpath_io

boolean

Enable Universal Pass-through (UPT).

Only compatible with the vmxnet3 device type.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

esxi_hostname

string

The hostname of the ESXi host where the VM belongs to.

folder

string

Folder location of given VM, this is only required when there’s multiple VM’s with the same name.

force

boolean

Force adapter creation even if an existing adapter is attached to the same network.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

gather_network_info

aliases: gather_network_facts

boolean

Return information about current guest network adapters.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

guest_control

boolean

Enables guest control over whether the connectable device is connected.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

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.

label

string

Alter the name of the network adapter.

mac_address

string

MAC address of the NIC that should be altered, if a MAC address is not supplied a new nic will be created.

Required when state=absent.

moid

string

Managed Object ID of the instance to manage if known, this is a unique identifier only within a single vCenter instance.

Required if uuid or name is not supplied.

name

string

Name of virtual machine

Required if uuid or moid is not supplied.

network_name

string

Name of network in vSphere.

networks

list / elements=dictionary

This method will be deprecated, use loops in your playbook for multiple interfaces instead.

A list of network adapters.

mac or label or device_type is required to reconfigure or remove an existing network adapter.

If there are multiple network adapters with the same device_type, you should set label or mac to match one of them, or will apply changes on all network adapters with the device_type specified.

mac, label, device_type is the order of precedence from greatest to least if all set.

connected

boolean

Indicates that virtual network adapter connects to the associated virtual machine.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes

device_type

string

Valid virtual network device types are e1000, e1000e, pcnet32, vmxnet2, vmxnet3 (default), sriov.

Used to add new network adapter, reconfigure or remove the existing network adapter with this type.

If mac and label not specified or not find network adapter by mac or label will use this parameter.

directpath_io

boolean

If set, Universal Pass-Through (UPT or DirectPath I/O) will be enabled on the network adapter.

UPT is only compatible for Vmxnet3 adapter.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes

dvswitch_name

string

Name of the distributed vSwitch.

This value is required if multiple distributed portgroups exists with the same name.

label

string

Label of the existing network adapter to be reconfigured or removed, e.g., “Network adapter 1”.

mac

string

MAC address of the existing network adapter to be reconfigured or removed.

manual_mac

string

Manual specified MAC address of the network adapter when creating, or reconfiguring.

If not specified when creating new network adapter, mac address will be generated automatically.

When reconfigure MAC address, VM should be in powered off state.

There are restrictions on the MAC addresses you can set. Consult the documentation of your vSphere version as to allowed MAC addresses.

name

string

Name of the portgroup or distributed virtual portgroup for this interface.

When specifying distributed virtual portgroup make sure given esxi_hostname or cluster is associated with it.

start_connected

boolean

Indicates that virtual network adapter starts with associated virtual machine powers on.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes

state

string

State of the network adapter.

If set to present, then will do reconfiguration for the specified network adapter.

If set to new, then will add the specified network adapter.

If set to absent, then will remove this network adapter.

vlan

integer

VLAN number for this interface.

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.

start_connected

boolean

If NIC should be connected to network on startup.

Choices:

  • no

  • yes ← (default)

state

string

NIC state.

When state=present, a nic will be added if a mac address or label does not previously exists or is unset.

When state=absent, the mac_address parameter has to be set.

Choices:

  • present ← (default)

  • absent

switch

string

Name of the (dv)switch for destination network, this is only required for dvswitches.

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

vm uuid

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)

vlan_id

integer

VLAN id associated with the network.

wake_onlan

boolean

Enable wake on LAN.

Choices:

  • no ← (default)

  • yes

Notes

Note

  • Tested on vSphere 6.0, 6.5 and 6.7

  • For backwards compatibility network_data is returned when using the gather_network_info and networks parameters

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

Examples

- name: change network for 00:50:56:11:22:33 on vm01.domain.fake
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_network:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    name: vm01.domain.fake
    mac_address: 00:50:56:11:22:33
    network_name: admin-network
    state: present

- name: add a nic on network with vlan id 2001 for 422d000d-2000-ffff-0000-b00000000000
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_network:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    uuid: 422d000d-2000-ffff-0000-b00000000000
    vlan_id: 2001

- name: remove nic with mac 00:50:56:11:22:33 from vm01.domain.fake
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_network:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    mac_address: 00:50:56:11:22:33
    name: vm01.domain.fake
    state: absent

- name: add multiple nics to vm01.domain.fake
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_network:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    name: vm01.domain.fake
    state: present
    vlan_id: "{{ item.vlan_id | default(omit) }}"
    network_name: "{{ item.network_name | default(omit) }}"
    connected: "{{ item.connected | default(omit) }}"
  loop:
    - vlan_id: 2000
      connected: false
    - network_name: guest-net
      connected: true

Return Values

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

Key

Description

network_data

dictionary

For backwards compatibility, metadata about the virtual machine network adapters

Returned: when using gather_network_info or networks parameters

Sample: {“network_data”: {“0”: {“allow_guest_ctl”: true, “connected”: true, “device_type”: “vmxnet3”, “label”: “Network adapter 2”, “mac_addr”: “00:50:56:AA:AA:AA”, “mac_address”: “00:50:56:AA:AA:AA”, “name”: “admin-net”, “network_name”: “admin-net”, “start_connected”: true, “switch”: “vSwitch0”, “unit_number”: 8, “vlan_id”: 10, “wake_onlan”: false}, “1”: {“allow_guest_ctl”: true, “connected”: true, “device_type”: “vmxnet3”, “label”: “Network adapter 1”, “mac_addr”: “00:50:56:BB:BB:BB”, “mac_address”: “00:50:56:BB:BB:BB”, “name”: “guest-net”, “network_name”: “guest-net”, “start_connected”: true, “switch”: “vSwitch0”, “unit_number”: 7, “vlan_id”: 10, “wake_onlan”: true}}}

network_info

list / elements=string

metadata about the virtual machine network adapters

Returned: always

Sample: {“network_info”: [{“allow_guest_ctl”: true, “connected”: true, “device_type”: “vmxnet3”, “label”: “Network adapter 2”, “mac_address”: “00:50:56:AA:AA:AA”, “network_name”: “admin-net”, “start_connected”: true, “switch”: “vSwitch0”, “unit_number”: 8, “vlan_id”: 10, “wake_onlan”: false}, {“allow_guest_ctl”: true, “connected”: true, “device_type”: “vmxnet3”, “label”: “Network adapter 1”, “mac_address”: “00:50:56:BB:BB:BB”, “network_name”: “guest-net”, “start_connected”: true, “switch”: “vSwitch0”, “unit_number”: 7, “vlan_id”: 10, “wake_onlan”: true}]}

Authors

  • Diane Wang (@Tomorrow9)