community.vmware.vmware_guest_instant_clone module – Instant Clone VM

Note

This module is part of the community.vmware collection (version 4.8.0).

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_instant_clone.

Synopsis 

This module can be used for Creating a powered-on Instant Clone of a virtual machine.
community.vmware.vmware_guest module is needed for creating a VM with poweredon state which would be used as a parent VM.
community.vmware.vmware_guest_powerstate module is also needed to poweroff the instant cloned module.
The powered off VM would in turn be deleted by again using community.vmware.vmware_guest module.
Thus community.vmware.vmware_guest module is necessary for removing Instant Cloned VM when VMs being created in testing environment.
Also GuestOS Customization has now been added with guestinfo_vars parameter.
The Parent VM must have The Guest customization Engine for instant Clone to customize Guest OS.
Only Linux Os in Parent VM enable support for native vSphere Guest Customization for Instant Clone in vSphere 7.

Parameters 

Parameter	Comments
datacenter string / required	Name of the datacenter, where VM to be deployed.
datastore string / required	The name of the datastore or the datastore cluster. If datastore cluster name is specified, module will find the Storage DRS recommended datastore in that cluster.
folder string	Destination folder, absolute path to deploy the cloned vm. Examples: folder: ha-datacenter/vm folder: /datacenter1/vm
guestinfo_vars list / elements=dictionary	Provides GuestOS Customization functionality in instant cloned VM. A list of key value pairs that will be passed to the destination VM. These pairs should be used to provide user-defined customization to differentiate the destination VM from the source VM.
dns string	dns is used to set the dns in Instant Cloned Guest Operating System..
domain string	domain is used to set A fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or complete domain name for Instant Cloned Guest operating System.
gateway string	netmask is used to set the netmask in Instant Cloned Guest Operating System.
hostname string	hostname is used to obtain the DNS(Domain Name System) name and set the Guest system’s hostname.
ipaddress string	ipaddress is used to set the ipaddress in Instant Cloned Guest Operating System.
netmask string	netmask is used to set the netmask in Instant Cloned Guest Operating System.
host aliases: esxi_hostname string / required	Name of the ESX Host in datacenter in which to place cloned VM. The host has to be a member of the cluster that contains the resource pool. Required with `resource_pool` to find resource pool details. This will be used as additional information when there are resource pools with same name.
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.
moid string	Managed Object ID of the vm instance to manage if known, this is a unique identifier only within a single vCenter instance. This is required if `parent_vm` or `uuid` is not supplied.
name aliases: vm_name string / required	Name of the Cloned virtual machine.
parent_vm string	Name of the parent virtual machine. This is a required parameter, if parameter `uuid` or `moid` is not supplied.
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.
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. 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.
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.
resource_pool string	Name of the resource pool in datacenter in which to place deployed VM. `Resources` is the default name of resource pool.
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.
uuid string	UUID of the vm instance to clone from, this is VMware’s unique identifier. This is a required parameter, if parameter `parent_vm` 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. Choices: `false` `true` ← (default)
vm_password string	The password used to login-in to the virtual machine. Only required when using guest customization feature.
vm_username string	The user to login-in to the virtual machine. Only required when using guest customization feature.
wait_vm_tools boolean	Whether waiting until vm tools start after rebooting an instant clone vm. Choices: `false` `true` ← (default)
wait_vm_tools_timeout integer	Define a timeout (in seconds) for the `wait_vm_tools` parameter. Default: `300`

Notes 

Note

All modules requires API write access and hence is not supported on a free ESXi license.
All variables and VMware object names are case sensitive.

Examples 

- name: Instant Clone a VM
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_instant_clone:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    validate_certs: false
    folder: "{{ f0 }}"
    datastore: "{{ rw_datastore }}"
    datacenter: "{{ dc1 }}"
    host: "{{ esxi1 }}"
    name: "{{ Clone_vm }}"
    parent_vm: "{{ testvm_1 }}"
    resource_pool: "{{ test_resource_001 }}"
  register: vm_clone
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: set state to poweroff the Cloned VM
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_powerstate:
    validate_certs: false
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    name: "cloned_vm_from_vm_cluster"
    folder: "{{ f0 }}"
    state: powered-off
  register: poweroff_instant_clone_from_vm_when_cluster
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Clean VM
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    validate_certs: false
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    name: "cloned_vm_from_vm_cluster"
    datacenter: "{{ dc1 }}"
    state: absent
  register: delete_instant_clone_from_vm_when_cluster
  ignore_errors: true
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Instant Clone a VM with guest_customization
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_instant_clone:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    vm_username: "root"
    vm_password: "SuperSecret"
    validate_certs: false
    folder: "{{ f0 }}"
    datastore: "{{ rw_datastore }}"
    datacenter: "{{ dc1 }}"
    host: "{{ esxi1 }}"
    guestinfo_vars:
      - hostname: "{{ guestinfo.ic.hostname }}"
        ipaddress: "{{ guestinfo.ic.ipaddress }}"
        netmask: "{{ guestinfo.ic.netmask }}"
        gateway: "{{ guestinfo.ic.gateway }}"
        dns: "{{ guestinfo.ic.dns }}"
        domain: "{{ guestinfo.ic.domain }}"
    name: "Instant_clone_guest_customize"
    parent_vm: "test_vm1"
    resource_pool: DC0_C0_RP1
  register: Instant_cloned_guest_customize
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Instant Clone a VM when skipping optional params
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_instant_clone:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    validate_certs: false
    name: "{{ Clone_vm }}"
    parent_vm: "{{ testvm_1 }}"
    datacenter: "{{ dc1 }}"
    datastore: "{{ rw_datastore }}"
    host: "{{ esxi1 }}"
  register: VM_clone_optional_arguments
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Instant clone in check mode
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_instant_clone:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    validate_certs: false
    folder: "{{ f0 }}"
    datastore: "{{ rw_datastore }}"
    datacenter: "{{ dc1 }}"
    host: "{{ esx1 }}"
    name: "{{ Clone_vm }}"
    parent_vm: "{{ testvm_2 }}"
    resource_pool: "{{ test_resource_001 }}"
  check_mode: true
  register: check_mode_clone
  delegate_to: localhost
- debug:
    var: check_mode_clone

Return Values 

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

Key	Description
vm_info dictionary	metadata about the virtual machine Returned: always Sample: `{"datastore": "", "host": "", "instance_uuid": "", "vcenter": "", "vm_folder": "", "vm_name": ""}`

Authors

Anant Chopra (@Anant99-sys)

community.vmware.vmware_guest_instant_clone module – Instant Clone VM

Synopsis

Parameters

Notes

Examples

Return Values