community.vmware.vmware_host_auto_start module – Manage the auto power ON or OFF for vm on ESXi host

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_host_auto_start.

Synopsis

  • In this module, can set up automatic startup and shutdown of virtual machines according to host startup or shutdown.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

esxi_hostname

string / required

ESXi hostname where the VM to set auto power on or off exists.

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

VM name to set auto power on or off.

This is not necessary if change only system default VM settings for autoStart config.

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

power_info

dictionary

Startup or shutdown settings of virtual machine.

This setting will override the system defaults.

Default: {"start_action": "none", "start_delay": -1, "start_order": -1, "stop_action": "systemDefault", "stop_delay": -1, "wait_for_heartbeat": "systemDefault"}

start_action

string

Whether to start the virtual machine when the host startup.

Choices:

  • "none" ← (default)

  • "powerOn"

start_delay

integer

Auto start delay in seconds of virtual machine.

Default: -1

start_order

integer

The autostart priority of virtual machine.

Virtual machines with a lower number are powered on first.

On host shutdown, the virtual machines are shut down in reverse order, meaning those with a higher number are powered off first.

Default: -1

stop_action

string

Stop action executed on the virtual machine when the system stops of virtual machine.

Choices:

  • "none"

  • "systemDefault" ← (default)

  • "powerOff"

  • "suspend"

stop_delay

integer

Auto stop delay in seconds of virtual machine.

Default: -1

wait_for_heartbeat

string

Continue power on processing when VMware Tools started.

Choices:

  • "no"

  • "yes"

  • "systemDefault" ← (default)

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.

system_defaults

dictionary

System defaults for auto-start or auto-stop config for virtual machine.

enabled

boolean

Enable automatically start or stop of virtual machines.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

start_delay

integer

Default auto start delay in seconds.

Default: 120

stop_action

string

Default stop action executed on the virtual machine when the system stops.

Choices:

  • "none"

  • "guestShutdown"

  • "powerOff" ← (default)

  • "suspend"

stop_delay

integer

Default auto stop delay in seconds.

Default: 120

wait_for_heartbeat

boolean

Continue power on processing when VMware Tools started.

If this parameter is enabled to powers on the next virtual machine without waiting for the delay to pass.

However, the virtual machine must have VMware Tools installed.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

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

VM uuid to set auto power on or off, this is VMware’s unique identifier.

This is required if name is not supplied.

This is not necessary if change only system default VM settings for autoStart config.

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: Update for system defaults config.
  community.vmware.vmware_host_auto_start:
    hostname: "{{ hostname }}"
    username: "{{ username }}"
    password: "{{ password }}"
    esxi_hostname: "{{ esxi_hostname }}"
    system_defaults:
      enabled: true
      start_delay: 100
      stop_action: guestShutdown

- name: Update for powerInfo config of virtual machine.
  community.vmware.vmware_host_auto_start:
    hostname: "{{ hostname }}"
    username: "{{ username }}"
    password: "{{ password }}"
    esxi_hostname: "{{ esxi_hostname }}"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
    power_info:
      start_action: powerOn
      start_delay: 10
      start_order: 1
      stop_action: powerOff
      wait_for_heartbeat: true

Return Values

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

Key

Description

power_info_config

dictionary

Parameter return when virtual machine power info config is changed.

Returned: changed

Sample: {"start_action": "powerOn", "start_delay": -1, "start_order": -1, "stop_action": "systemDefault", "stop_delay": -1, "wait_for_heartbeat": "systemDefault"}

system_defaults_config

dictionary

Parameter return when system defaults config is changed.

Returned: changed

Sample: {"enabled": true, "start_delay": 120, "stop_action": "powerOff", "stop_delay": 120, "wait_for_heartbeat": false}

Authors

  • sky-joker (@sky-joker)