community.vmware.vmware_guest_file_operation module – Files operation in a VMware guest operating system without network

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_file_operation.

Synopsis

  • Module to copy a file to a VM, fetch a file from a VM and create or delete a directory in the guest OS.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

cluster

string

The cluster hosting the virtual machine.

If set, it will help to speed up virtual machine search.

copy

dictionary

Copy file to vm without requiring network.

dest

string / required

File destination, path must be exist.

overwrite

boolean

Overwrite or not.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

src

string / required

File source absolute or relative.

datacenter

string

The datacenter hosting the virtual machine.

If set, it will help to speed up virtual machine search.

directory

dictionary

Create or delete a directory.

Can be used to create temp directory inside guest using mktemp operation.

mktemp sets variable dir in the result with the name of the new directory.

operation

string / required

Operation to perform.

Choices:

  • "create"

  • "delete"

  • "mktemp"

path

string

Directory path.

Required for directory.operation=create or directory.operation=remove.

prefix

string

Temporary directory prefix.

Required for directory.operation=mktemp.

recurse

boolean

Not required.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

suffix

string

Temporary directory suffix.

Required for directory.operation=mktemp.

fetch

dictionary

Get file from virtual machine without requiring network.

dest

string / required

File destination on localhost, path must be exist.

src

string / required

The file on the remote system to fetch.

This must be a file, not a directory.

folder

string

Destination folder, absolute path to find an existing guest or create the new guest.

The folder should include the datacenter. ESX’s datacenter is ha-datacenter

Used only if vm_id_type=inventory_path.

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

folder: vm/folder2

folder: 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.

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.

timeout

integer

added in community.vmware 3.1.0

Timeout seconds for fetching or copying a file.

Default: 100

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.

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_id

string / required

Name of the virtual machine to work with.

vm_id_type

string

The VMware identification method by which the virtual machine will be identified.

Choices:

  • "uuid"

  • "instance_uuid"

  • "dns_name"

  • "inventory_path"

  • "vm_name" ← (default)

vm_password

string / required

The password used to login-in to the virtual machine.

vm_username

string / required

The user to login in to the virtual machine.

Notes

Note

  • Only the first match against vm_id is used, even if there are multiple matches

  • 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: Create directory inside a vm
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_file_operation:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    vm_id: "{{ guest_name }}"
    vm_username: "{{ guest_username }}"
    vm_password: "{{ guest_userpassword }}"
    directory:
      path: "/test"
      operation: create
      recurse: false
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: copy file to vm
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_file_operation:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    vm_id: "{{ guest_name }}"
    vm_username: "{{ guest_username }}"
    vm_password: "{{ guest_userpassword }}"
    copy:
        src: "files/test.zip"
        dest: "/root/test.zip"
        overwrite: false
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: fetch file from vm
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_file_operation:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    vm_id: "{{ guest_name }}"
    vm_username: "{{ guest_username }}"
    vm_password: "{{ guest_userpassword }}"
    fetch:
        src: "/root/test.zip"
        dest: "files/test.zip"
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: If a timeout error occurs, specify a high(er) timeout value
  community.vmware.vmware_guest_file_operation:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    vm_id: "{{ guest_name }}"
    vm_username: "{{ guest_username }}"
    vm_password: "{{ guest_userpassword }}"
    timeout: 10000
    copy:
        src: "files/test.zip"
        dest: "/root/test.zip"
        overwrite: false
  delegate_to: localhost

Authors

  • Stéphane Travassac (@stravassac)