community.vmware.vmware_guest_snapshot module – Manages virtual machines snapshots in vCenter

Note

This module is part of the community.vmware collection (version 3.7.0).

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_guest_snapshot.

Synopsis

  • This module can be used to create, delete and update snapshot(s) of the given virtual machine.

  • All parameters and VMware object names are case sensitive.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

datacenter

string / required

Destination datacenter for the deploy operation.

description

string

Define an arbitrary description to attach to snapshot.

Default: ""

folder

string

Destination folder, absolute or relative path to find an existing guest.

This is required parameter, if name is supplied.

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.

memory_dump

boolean

If set to true, memory dump of virtual machine is also included in snapshot.

Note that memory snapshots take time and resources, this will take longer time to create.

If virtual machine does not provide capability to take memory snapshot, then this flag is set to false.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

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.

name_match

string

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

Choices:

  • "first" ← (default)

  • "last"

new_description

string

Value to change the description of an existing snapshot to.

new_snapshot_name

string

Value to rename the existing snapshot to.

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.

quiesce

boolean

If set to true and virtual machine is powered on, it will quiesce the file system in virtual machine.

Note that VMware Tools are required for this flag.

If virtual machine is powered off or VMware Tools are not available, then this flag is set to false.

If virtual machine does not provide capability to take quiesce snapshot, then this flag is set to false.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

remove_children

boolean

If set to true and state is set to absent, then entire snapshot subtree is set for removal.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

snapshot_name

string

Sets the snapshot name to manage.

This param is required only if state is not remove_all

state

string

Manage snapshot(s) attached to a specific virtual machine.

If set to present and snapshot absent, then will create a new snapshot with the given name.

If set to present and snapshot present, then no changes are made.

If set to absent and snapshot present, then snapshot with the given name is removed.

If set to absent and snapshot absent, then no changes are made.

If set to revert and snapshot present, then virtual machine state is reverted to the given snapshot.

If set to revert and snapshot absent, then no changes are made.

If set to remove_all and snapshot(s) present, then all snapshot(s) will be removed.

If set to remove_all and snapshot(s) absent, then no changes are made.

Choices:

  • "present" ← (default)

  • "absent"

  • "revert"

  • "remove_all"

use_instance_uuid

boolean

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

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

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 instance to manage if known, this is VMware’s BIOS UUID by default.

This is required if name or moid parameter 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:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

Notes

Note

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

Examples

- name: Create a snapshot
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_snapshot:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: present
    snapshot_name: snap1
    description: snap1_description
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Remove a snapshot
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_snapshot:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: absent
    snapshot_name: snap1
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Revert to a snapshot
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_snapshot:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: revert
    snapshot_name: snap1
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Remove all snapshots of a VM
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_snapshot:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: remove_all
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Remove all snapshots of a VM using MoID
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_snapshot:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/"
    moid: vm-42
    state: remove_all
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Take snapshot of a VM using quiesce and memory flag on
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_snapshot:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: present
    snapshot_name: dummy_vm_snap_0001
    quiesce: true
    memory_dump: true
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Remove a snapshot and snapshot subtree
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_snapshot:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: absent
    remove_children: true
    snapshot_name: snap1
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Rename a snapshot
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_snapshot:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    folder: "/{{ datacenter_name }}/vm/"
    name: "{{ guest_name }}"
    state: present
    snapshot_name: current_snap_name
    new_snapshot_name: im_renamed
    new_description: "{{ new_snapshot_description }}"
  delegate_to: localhost

Return Values

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

Key

Description

snapshot_results

dictionary

metadata about the virtual machine snapshots

Returned: always

Sample: {"current_snapshot": {"creation_time": "2019-04-09T14:40:26.617427+00:00", "description": "Snapshot 4 example", "id": 4, "name": "snapshot4", "state": "poweredOff"}, "snapshots": [{"creation_time": "2019-04-09T14:38:24.667543+00:00", "description": "Snapshot 3 example", "id": 3, "name": "snapshot3", "state": "poweredOff"}, {"creation_time": "2019-04-09T14:40:26.617427+00:00", "description": "Snapshot 4 example", "id": 4, "name": "snapshot4", "state": "poweredOff"}]}

Authors

  • Loic Blot (@nerzhul)