vmware.vmware.esxi_host module – Manage VMware ESXi host status in vCenter

Note

This module is part of the vmware.vmware collection (version 2.9.0).

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 vmware.vmware.

To use it in a playbook, specify: vmware.vmware.esxi_host.

Synopsis

  • Manage VMware ESXi host status in vCenter, including cluster or folder membership.

  • The host must be in maintenance mode to remove it or update its placement.

  • This module does not manage the connection status of hosts in vCenter. That functionality is in vmware.vmware.esxi_connection

  • The host must be in maintenance mode if it is already registered with vCenter but should be moved to a new cluster or folder.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

cluster

aliases: cluster_name

string

The name of the cluster to be managed.

One of cluster or folder is required when state is present.

Since ESXi names are unique in a datacenter, this option is not used when state is absent.

datacenter

aliases: datacenter_name

string / required

The name of the datacenter.

esxi_host_name

string / required

ESXi hostname to manage.

esxi_password

string

The password to use when authenticating to the ESXi host.

Required when state is present.

esxi_port

integer

The port on which the ESXi host’s SSL certificate can be seen.

This is used when fetching the SSL thumbprint, and is not used if ssl_thumbprint is provided.

Default: 443

esxi_username

string

The username to use when authenticating to the ESXi host.

Required when state is present.

folder

string

Name of the folder under which host to add.

One of cluster or folder is required when state is present

Since ESXi names are unique in a datacenter, this option is not used when state is absent.

folder_paths_are_absolute

boolean

If true, any folder path parameters are treated as absolute paths.

If false, modules will try to intelligently determine if the path is absolute or relative.

This option is useful when your environment has a complex folder structure. By default, modules will try to intelligently determine if the path is absolute or relative. They may mistakenly prepend the datacenter name or other folder names, and this option can be used to avoid this.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

force_add

boolean

Forces the ESXi host to be added to the vCenter server, even if it is already being managed by another server.

The host must be in maintenance mode even if this option is enabled.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

hostname

string

The hostname or IP address of the vSphere vCenter 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 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 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

The 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

The 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.

ssl_thumbprint

string

Specify the host system’s SSL certificate thumbprint.

You can run the following command on the host to get the thumbprint - ‘openssl x509 -in /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt -fingerprint -sha1 -noout’

If this is not set, the module will attempt to fetch the thumbprint from the host itself. This essentially skips the host certificate verification, since whatever host is presented will be trusted.

This option is only used when state is present.

If proxy_host is set, the proxy is used when fetching the SSL thumbprint.

state

string

If set to present, make sure the host is registered in vCenter in the desired folder or cluster.

If set to absent, remove the host from vCenter if it exists.

If set to absent, the host must either be disconnected or be in maintenance mode before it can be removed.

Choices:

  • "present" ← (default)

  • "absent"

username

aliases: admin, user

string

The username of the vSphere vCenter 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)

Notes

Note

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

  • All variables and VMware object names are case sensitive.

  • Modules may rely on the ‘requests’ python library, which does not use the system certificate store by default. You can specify the certificate store by setting the REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE environment variable. Note having this variable set may cause a ‘false’ value for the ‘validate_certs’ option to be ignored in some cases. Example: ‘export REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE=/path/to/your/ca_bundle.pem’

See Also

See also

vmware.vmware.esxi_connection

Manage VMware ESXi host connection status in vCenter.

Examples

- name: Make Sure Host Is In A Cluster
  vmware.vmware.esxi_host:
    datacenter: DC01
    cluster: MyCluster
    esxi_host_name: 1.1.1.1
    esxi_username: root
    esxi_password: mypassword!
    state: present


- name: Make Sure Host Is In A Folder (Standalone Host)
  vmware.vmware.esxi_host:
    datacenter: DC01
    folder: my/host/folder   # or DC01/host/my/host/folder
    esxi_host_name: 1.1.1.1
    esxi_username: root
    esxi_password: mypassword!
    state: present


- name: Remove Host From Cluster
  vmware.vmware.esxi_host:
    datacenter: DC01
    esxi_host_name: 1.1.1.1
    state: absent

Return Values

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

Key

Description

host

dictionary

Identifying information about the host

If the state is absent and the host does not exist, only the name is returned

Returned: On success

Sample: {"host": {"moid": "host-111111", "name": "10.10.10.10"}}

result

dictionary

Information about the vCenter task, if something changed

Returned: On change

Sample: {"result": {"completion_time": "2024-07-29T15:27:37.041577+00:00", "entity_name": "test-5fb1_my_esxi_host", "error": null, "state": "success"}}

Authors

  • Ansible Cloud Team (@ansible-collections)