community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory inventory – VMware Guest inventory source

Note

This inventory plugin is part of the community.vmware collection (version 3.11.1).

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. You need further requirements to be able to use this inventory plugin, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory.

Synopsis

  • Get virtual machines as inventory hosts from VMware environment.

  • Uses any file which ends with vmware.yml, vmware.yaml, vmware_vm_inventory.yml, or vmware_vm_inventory.yaml as a YAML configuration file.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the local controller node that executes this inventory.

  • requests >= 2.3

  • vSphere Automation SDK - For tag feature

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

cache

boolean

Toggle to enable/disable the caching of the inventory’s source data, requires a cache plugin setup to work.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

Configuration:

cache_connection

string

Cache connection data or path, read cache plugin documentation for specifics.

Configuration:

cache_plugin

string

Cache plugin to use for the inventory’s source data.

Default: "memory"

Configuration:

cache_prefix

string

Prefix to use for cache plugin files/tables

Default: "ansible_inventory_"

Configuration:

  • INI entries:

    [default]
fact_caching_prefix = ansible_inventory_

    Removed in: version 2.16 of ansible.builtin

    Why: Fixes typing error in INI section name

    Alternative: Use the ‘defaults’ section instead

    [defaults]
fact_caching_prefix = ansible_inventory_

    [inventory]
cache_prefix = ansible_inventory_

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_CACHE_PLUGIN_PREFIX

  • Environment variable: ANSIBLE_INVENTORY_CACHE_PLUGIN_PREFIX

cache_timeout

integer

Cache duration in seconds

Default: 3600

Configuration:

compose

dictionary

Create vars from jinja2 expressions.

Default: {}

filters

list / elements=string

This option allows client-side filtering hosts with jinja templating.

When server-side filtering is introduced, it should be preferred over this.

Default: []

groups

dictionary

Add hosts to group based on Jinja2 conditionals.

Default: {}

hostname

string / required

Name of vCenter or ESXi server.

Configuration:

hostnames

list / elements=string

A list of templates in order of precedence to compose inventory_hostname.

Ignores template if resulted in an empty string or None value.

You can use property specified in properties as variables in the template.

Default: ["config.name + \"_\" + config.uuid"]

keyed_groups

list / elements=dictionary

Add hosts to group based on the values of a variable.

Default: [{"key": "config.guestId", "separator": ""}, {"key": "summary.runtime.powerState", "separator": ""}]

default_value

string

added in ansible-core 2.12

The default value when the host variable’s value is an empty string.

This option is mutually exclusive with trailing_separator.

key

string

The key from input dictionary used to generate groups

parent_group

string

parent group for keyed group

prefix

string

A keyed group name will start with this prefix

Default: ""

separator

string

separator used to build the keyed group name

Default: "_"

trailing_separator

boolean

added in ansible-core 2.12

Set this option to False to omit the separator after the host variable when the value is an empty string.

This option is mutually exclusive with default_value.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

leading_separator

boolean

added in ansible-core 2.11

Use in conjunction with keyed_groups.

By default, a keyed group that does not have a prefix or a separator provided will have a name that starts with an underscore.

This is because the default prefix is “” and the default separator is “_”.

Set this option to False to omit the leading underscore (or other separator) if no prefix is given.

If the group name is derived from a mapping the separator is still used to concatenate the items.

To not use a separator in the group name at all, set the separator for the keyed group to an empty string instead.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

password

string / required

Password of vSphere user.

Accepts vault encrypted variable.

Accepts Jinja to template the value

Configuration:

port

integer

Port number used to connect to vCenter or ESXi Server.

Default: 443

Configuration:

properties

list / elements=string

Specify the list of VMware schema properties associated with the VM.

These properties will be populated in hostvars of the given VM.

Each value in the list can be a path to a specific property in VM object or a path to a collection of VM objects.

config.name, config.uuid are required properties if hostnames is set to default.

config.guestId, summary.runtime.powerState are required if keyed_groups is set to default.

Please make sure that all the properties that are used in other parameters are included in this options.

In addition to VM properties, the following are special values

Use customValue to populate virtual machine’s custom attributes. customValue is only supported by vCenter and not by ESXi.

Use all to populate all the properties of the virtual machine. The value all is time consuming operation, do not use unless required absolutely.

Please refer more VMware guest attributes which can be used as properties https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/community/vmware/docsite/vmware_scenarios/vmware_inventory_vm_attributes.html

Default: ["name", "config.cpuHotAddEnabled", "config.cpuHotRemoveEnabled", "config.instanceUuid", "config.hardware.numCPU", "config.template", "config.name", "config.uuid", "guest.hostName", "guest.ipAddress", "guest.guestId", "guest.guestState", "runtime.maxMemoryUsage", "customValue", "summary.runtime.powerState", "config.guestId"]

proxy_host

string

Address of a proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them.

The format is a hostname or a IP.

This feature depends on a version of pyvmomi>=v6.7.1.2018.12.

Configuration:

proxy_port

integer

Port of the HTTP proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them.

Configuration:

resources

list / elements=dictionary

A list of resources to limit search scope.

Each resource item is represented by exactly one 'vim_type_snake_case:list of resource names pair and optional nested resources

Key name is based on snake case of a vim type name; e.g host_system correspond to vim.HostSystem

See VIM Types

Default: []

strict

boolean

If yes make invalid entries a fatal error, otherwise skip and continue.

Since it is possible to use facts in the expressions they might not always be available and we ignore those errors by default.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

use_extra_vars

boolean

added in ansible-core 2.11

Merge extra vars into the available variables for composition (highest precedence).

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

Configuration:

username

string / required

Name of vSphere user.

Accepts vault encrypted variable.

Accepts Jinja to template the value

Configuration:

validate_certs

boolean

Allows connection when SSL certificates are not valid.

Set to false when certificates are not trusted.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

Configuration:

with_nested_properties

boolean

This option transform flatten properties name to nested dictionary.

From 1.10.0 and onwards, default value is set to true.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

with_path

boolean

Include virtual machines path.

Set this option to a string value to replace root name from ‘Datacenters’.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

with_sanitized_property_name

boolean

This option allows property name sanitization to create safe property names for use in Ansible.

Also, transforms property name to snake case.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

with_tags

boolean

Include tags and associated virtual machines.

Requires ‘vSphere Automation SDK’ library to be installed on the given controller machine.

Please refer following URLs for installation steps

https://code.vmware.com/web/sdk/7.0/vsphere-automation-python

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

Examples

# Sample configuration file for VMware Guest dynamic inventory
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    with_tags: true

# Sample configuration file for VMware Guest dynamic inventory using Jinja to template the username and password.
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: '{{ (lookup("file","~/.config/vmware.yaml") | from_yaml).username }}'
    password: '{{ (lookup("file","~/.config/vmware.yaml") | from_yaml).password }}'
    validate_certs: false
    with_tags: true

# Gather minimum set of properties for VMware guest
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    properties:
    - 'name'
    - 'guest.ipAddress'
    - 'config.name'
    - 'config.uuid'

# Create Groups based upon VMware Tools status
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    properties:
    - 'name'
    - 'config.name'
    - 'guest.toolsStatus'
    - 'guest.toolsRunningStatus'
    hostnames:
    - config.name
    keyed_groups:
    - key: guest.toolsStatus
      separator: ''
    - key: guest.toolsRunningStatus
      separator: ''

# Filter VMs based upon condition
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    properties:
    - 'runtime.powerState'
    - 'config.name'
    filters:
    - runtime.powerState == "poweredOn"
    hostnames:
    - config.name

# Filter VM's based on OR conditions
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    properties:
    - 'name'
    - 'config.name'
    - 'guest.ipAddress'
    - 'guest.toolsStatus'
    - 'guest.toolsRunningStatus'
    - 'config.guestFullName'
    - 'config.guestId'
    hostnames:
    - 'config.name'
    filters:
    - config.guestId == "rhel7_64Guest" or config.name == "rhel_20_04_empty"

# Filter VM's based on regex conditions
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    properties:
    - 'config.name'
    - 'config.guestId'
    - 'guest.ipAddress'
    - 'summary.runtime.powerState'
    filters:
    - guest.ipAddress is defined and (guest.ipAddress is match('192.168.*') or guest.ipAddress is match('192.169.*'))

# Using compose and groups
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    properties:
    - 'name'
    - 'config.name'
    - 'guest.ipAddress'
    compose:
      # This will populate the IP address of virtual machine if available
      # and will be used while communicating to the given virtual machine
      ansible_host: 'guest.ipAddress'
      composed_var: 'config.name'
      # This will populate a host variable with a string value
      ansible_user: "'admin'"
      ansible_connection: "'ssh'"
    groups:
      VMs: true
    hostnames:
    - config.name

# Use Datacenter, Cluster and Folder value to list VMs
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.200.241
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    with_tags: true
    resources:
      - datacenter:
        - Asia-Datacenter1
        - Asia-Datacenter2
        resources:
        - compute_resource:
          - Asia-Cluster1
          resources:
          - host_system:
            - Asia-ESXI4
        - folder:
          - dev
          - prod

# Use Category and it's relation with Tag
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.201.128
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    hostnames:
    - 'config.name'
    properties:
    - 'config.name'
    - 'config.guestId'
    - 'guest.ipAddress'
    - 'summary.runtime.powerState'
    with_tags: true
    keyed_groups:
    - key: tag_category.OS
      prefix: "vmware_tag_os_category_"
      separator: ""
    with_nested_properties: true
    filters:
    - "tag_category.OS is defined and 'Linux' in tag_category.OS"

# customizing hostnames based on VM's FQDN. The second hostnames template acts as a fallback mechanism.
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    hostnames:
     - 'config.name+"."+guest.ipStack.0.dnsConfig.domainName'
     - 'config.name'
    properties:
      - 'config.name'
      - 'config.guestId'
      - 'guest.hostName'
      - 'guest.ipAddress'
      - 'guest.guestFamily'
      - 'guest.ipStack'

# Select a specific IP address for use by ansible when multiple NICs are present on the VM
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.223.31
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    compose:
      # Set the IP address used by ansible to one that starts by 10.42. or 10.43.
      ansible_host: >-
        guest.net
        | selectattr('ipAddress')
        | map(attribute='ipAddress')
        | flatten
        | select('match', '^10.42.*|^10.43.*')
        | list
        | first
    properties:
      - guest.net

# Group hosts using Jinja2 conditionals
    plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory
    strict: false
    hostname: 10.65.13.37
    username: [email protected]
    password: Esxi@123$%
    validate_certs: false
    hostnames:
    - config.name
    properties:
    - 'name'
    - 'config.name'
    - 'config.datastoreUrl'
    groups:
      slow_storage: "'Nas01' in config.datastoreUrl[0].name"
      fast_storage: "'SSD' in config.datastoreUrl[0].name"

Authors

  • Abhijeet Kasurde (@Akasurde)

Hint

Configuration entries for each entry type have a low to high priority order. For example, a variable that is lower in the list will override a variable that is higher up.