community.vmware.vmware_guest – Manages virtual machines in vCenter

Note

This plugin is part of the community.vmware collection (version 1.15.0).

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.

Synopsis

  • This module can be used to create new virtual machines from templates or other virtual machines, manage power state of virtual machine such as power on, power off, suspend, shutdown, reboot, restart etc., modify various virtual machine components like network, disk, customization etc., rename a virtual machine and remove a virtual machine with associated components.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • python >= 2.6
  • PyVmomi

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
advanced_settings
list / elements=dictionary
added in 1.7.0 of community.vmware
Define a list of advanced settings to be added to the VMX config.
An advanced settings object takes two fields key and value.
Incorrect key and values will be ignored.
annotation
string
A note or annotation to include in the virtual machine.

aliases: notes
cdrom
raw
A list of CD-ROM configurations for the virtual machine. Added in version 2.9.
Providing CD-ROM configuration as dict is deprecated and will be removed VMware collection 4.0.0. Please use a list instead.
Parameters controller_type, controller_number, unit_number, state are added for a list of CD-ROMs configuration support.
For ide controller, hot-add or hot-remove CD-ROM is not supported.
controller_number
integer
For ide controller, valid value is 0 or 1.
For sata controller, valid value is 0 to 3.
controller_type
string
Valid options are ide and sata.
Default value is ide.
When set to sata, please make sure unit_number is correct and not used by SATA disks.
iso_path
string
The datastore path to the ISO file to use, in the form of [datastore1] path/to/file.iso.
Required if type is set iso.
state
string
Valid value is present or absent.
Default is present.
If set to absent, then the specified CD-ROM will be removed.
type
string
The type of CD-ROM, valid options are none, client or iso.
With none the CD-ROM will be disconnected but present.
The default value is client.
unit_number
integer
For CD-ROM device attach to ide controller, valid value is 0 or 1.
For CD-ROM device attach to sata controller, valid value is 0 to 29.
controller_number and unit_number are mandatory attributes.
cluster
string
The cluster name where the virtual machine will run.
This is a required parameter, if esxi_hostname is not set.
esxi_hostname and cluster are mutually exclusive parameters.
This parameter is case sensitive.
convert
string
    Choices:
  • thin
  • thick
  • eagerzeroedthick
Specify convert disk type while cloning template or virtual machine.
customization
dictionary
Parameters for OS customization when cloning from the template or the virtual machine, or apply to the existing virtual machine directly.
Not all operating systems are supported for customization with respective vCenter version, please check VMware documentation for respective OS customization.
For supported customization operating system matrix, (see http://partnerweb.vmware.com/programs/guestOS/guest-os-customization-matrix.pdf)
All parameters and VMware object names are case sensitive.
Linux based OSes requires Perl package to be installed for OS customizations.
autologon
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Auto logon after virtual machine customization.
Specific to Windows customization.
autologoncount
integer
Number of autologon after reboot.
Specific to Windows customization.
Ignored if autologon is unset or set to False.
If unset, 1 will be used.
dns_servers
list / elements=string
List of DNS servers to configure.
Common for Linux and Windows customization.
dns_suffix
list / elements=string
List of domain suffixes, also known as DNS search path.
Default domain parameter.
Common for Linux and Windows customization.
domain
string
DNS domain name to use.
Common for Linux and Windows customization.
domainadmin
string
User used to join in AD domain.
Required if joindomain specified.
Specific to Windows customization.
domainadminpassword
string
Password used to join in AD domain.
Required if joindomain specified.
Specific to Windows customization.
existing_vm
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
If set to True, do OS customization on the specified virtual machine directly.
Common for Linux and Windows customization.
fullname
string
Server owner name.
Specific to Windows customization.
If unset, "Administrator" will be used as a fall-back.
hostname
string
Computer hostname.
Default is shortened name parameter.
Allowed characters are alphanumeric (uppercase and lowercase) and minus, rest of the characters are dropped as per RFC 952.
Common for Linux and Windows customization.
hwclockUTC
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Specifies whether the hardware clock is in UTC or local time.
Specific to Linux customization.
joindomain
string
AD domain to join.
Not compatible with joinworkgroup.
Specific to Windows customization.
joinworkgroup
string
Workgroup to join.
Not compatible with joindomain.
Specific to Windows customization.
If unset, "WORKGROUP" will be used as a fall-back.
orgname
string
Organisation name.
Specific to Windows customization.
If unset, "ACME" will be used as a fall-back.
password
string
Local administrator password.
Specific to Windows customization.
productid
string
Product ID.
Specific to Windows customization.
runonce
list / elements=string
List of commands to run at first user logon.
Specific to Windows customization.
timezone
string
Timezone.
See List of supported time zones for different vSphere versions in Linux/Unix.
Common for Linux and Windows customization.
customization_spec
string
Unique name identifying the requested customization specification.
This parameter is case sensitive.
If set, then overrides customization parameter values.
customvalues
list / elements=dictionary
Define a list of custom values to set on virtual machine.
A custom value object takes two fields key and value.
Incorrect key and values will be ignored.
datacenter
string
Default:
"ha-datacenter"
Destination datacenter for the deploy operation.
This parameter is case sensitive.
datastore
string
Specify datastore or datastore cluster to provision virtual machine.
This parameter takes precedence over disk.datastore parameter.
This parameter can be used to override datastore or datastore cluster setting of the virtual machine when deployed from the template.
Please see example for more usage.
delete_from_inventory
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Whether to delete Virtual machine from inventory or delete from disk.
disk
list / elements=dictionary
A list of disks to add.
This parameter is case sensitive.
Shrinking disks is not supported.
Removing existing disks of the virtual machine is not supported.
Attributes controller_type, controller_number, unit_number are used to configure multiple types of disk controllers and disks for creating or reconfiguring virtual machine. Added in Ansible 2.10.
autoselect_datastore
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Select the less used datastore.
disk.datastore and disk.autoselect_datastore will not be used if datastore is specified outside this disk configuration.
controller_number
integer
    Choices:
  • 0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
Disk controller bus number.
The maximum number of same type controller is 4 per VM.
controller_type
string
    Choices:
  • buslogic
  • lsilogic
  • lsilogicsas
  • paravirtual
  • sata
  • nvme
Type of disk controller.
nvme controller type support starts on ESXi 6.5 with VM hardware version version 13. Set this type on not supported ESXi or VM hardware version will lead to failure in deployment.
When set to sata, please make sure unit_number is correct and not used by SATA CDROMs.
If set to sata type, please make sure controller_number and unit_number are set correctly when cdrom also set to sata type.
datastore
string
The name of datastore which will be used for the disk.
If autoselect_datastore is set to True, will select the less used datastore whose name contains this "disk.datastore" string.
disk_mode
string
    Choices:
  • persistent
  • independent_persistent
  • independent_nonpersistent
Type of disk mode.
Added in Ansible 2.6.
If persistent specified, changes are immediately and permanently written to the virtual disk. This is default.
If independent_persistent specified, same as persistent, but not affected by snapshots.
If independent_nonpersistent specified, changes to virtual disk are made to a redo log and discarded at power off, but not affected by snapshots.
filename
string
Existing disk image to be used.
Filename must already exist on the datastore.
Specify filename string in [datastore_name] path/to/file.vmdk format. Added in Ansible 2.8.
size
string
Disk storage size.
Please specify storage unit like [kb, mb, gb, tb].
size_gb
integer
Disk storage size in gb.
size_kb
integer
Disk storage size in kb.
size_mb
integer
Disk storage size in mb.
size_tb
integer
Disk storage size in tb.
type
string
    Choices:
  • thin
  • thick
  • eagerzeroedthick
Type of disk.
If thin specified, disk type is set to thin disk.
If eagerzeroedthick specified, disk type is set to eagerzeroedthick disk. Added Ansible 2.5.
If not specified, disk type is inherited from the source VM or template when cloned and thick disk, no eagerzero otherwise.
unit_number
integer
Disk Unit Number.
Valid value range from 0 to 15 for SCSI controller, except 7.
Valid value range from 0 to 14 for NVME controller.
Valid value range from 0 to 29 for SATA controller.
controller_type, controller_number and unit_number are required when creating or reconfiguring VMs with multiple types of disk controllers and disks.
When creating new VM, the first configured disk in the disk list will be "Hard Disk 1".
esxi_hostname
string
The ESXi hostname where the virtual machine will run.
This is a required parameter, if cluster is not set.
esxi_hostname and cluster are mutually exclusive parameters.
This parameter is case sensitive.
folder
string
Destination folder, absolute path to find an existing guest or create the new guest.
The folder should include the datacenter. ESXi's datacenter is ha-datacenter.
This parameter is case sensitive.
If multiple machines are found with same name, this parameter is used to identify
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
force
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Ignore warnings and complete the actions.
This parameter is useful while removing virtual machine which is powered on state.
This module reflects the VMware vCenter API and UI workflow, as such, in some cases the `force` flag will be mandatory to perform the action to ensure you are certain the action has to be taken, no matter what the consequence. This is specifically the case for removing a powered on the virtual machine when state is set to absent.
guest_id
string
Set the guest ID.
This parameter is case sensitive.
rhel7_64Guest for virtual machine with RHEL7 64 bit.
centos64Guest for virtual machine with CentOS 64 bit.
ubuntu64Guest for virtual machine with Ubuntu 64 bit.
This field is required when creating a virtual machine, not required when creating from the template.
hardware
dictionary
Manage virtual machine's hardware attributes.
All parameters case sensitive.
boot_firmware
string
    Choices:
  • bios
  • efi
Choose which firmware should be used to boot the virtual machine.
cpu_limit
integer
The CPU utilization of a virtual machine will not exceed this limit.
Unit is MHz.
cpu_reservation
integer
The amount of CPU resource that is guaranteed available to the virtual machine.
hotadd_cpu
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Allow virtual CPUs to be added while the virtual machine is running.
hotadd_memory
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Allow memory to be added while the virtual machine is running.
hotremove_cpu
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Allow virtual CPUs to be removed while the virtual machine is running.
iommu
boolean
added in 1.11.0 of community.vmware
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Flag to specify if I/O MMU is enabled for this virtual machine.
max_connections
integer
Maximum number of active remote display connections for the virtual machines.
mem_limit
integer
The memory utilization of a virtual machine will not exceed this limit.
Unit is MB.
mem_reservation
integer
The amount of memory resource that is guaranteed available to the virtual machine.

aliases: memory_reservation
memory_mb
integer
Amount of memory in MB.
memory_reservation_lock
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
If set true, memory resource reservation for the virtual machine.
nested_virt
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Enable nested virtualization.
num_cpu_cores_per_socket
integer
Number of Cores Per Socket.
num_cpus
integer
Number of CPUs.
num_cpus must be a multiple of num_cpu_cores_per_socket.
For example, to create a VM with 2 sockets of 4 cores, specify num_cpus as 8 and num_cpu_cores_per_socket as 4.
scsi
string
    Choices:
  • buslogic
  • lsilogic
  • lsilogicsas
  • paravirtual
Valid values are buslogic, lsilogic, lsilogicsas and paravirtual.
paravirtual is default.
secure_boot
boolean
added in 1.11.0 of community.vmware
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Whether to enable or disable (U)EFI secure boot.
version
string
The Virtual machine hardware versions.
Default is 10 (ESXi 5.5 and onwards).
If set to latest, the specified virtual machine will be upgraded to the most current hardware version supported on the host.
latest is added in Ansible 2.10.
Please check VMware documentation for correct virtual machine hardware version.
Incorrect hardware version may lead to failure in deployment. If hardware version is already equal to the given.
virt_based_security
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Enable Virtualization Based Security feature for Windows on ESXi 6.7 and later, from hardware version 14.
Supported Guest OS are Windows 10 64 bit, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019 and later.
The firmware of virtual machine must be EFI and secure boot must be enabled.
Virtualization Based Security depends on nested virtualization and Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O.
Deploy on unsupported ESXi, hardware version or firmware may lead to failure or deployed VM with unexpected configurations.
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.
is_template
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Flag the instance as a template.
This will mark the given virtual machine as template.
Note, this may need to be done in a dedicated task invocation that is not making any other changes. For example, user cannot change the state from powered-on to powered-off AND save as template in the same task.
See community.vmware.vmware_guest source for more details.
linked_clone
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Whether to create a linked clone from the snapshot specified.
If specified, then snapshot_src is required parameter.
name
string
Name of the virtual machine to work with.
Virtual machine names in vCenter are not necessarily unique, which may be problematic, see name_match.
If multiple virtual machines with same name exists, then folder is required parameter to identify uniqueness of the virtual machine.
This parameter is required, if state is set to poweredon, powered-on, poweredoff, powered-off, present, restarted, suspended and virtual machine does not exists.
This parameter is case sensitive.
name_match
string
    Choices:
  • first
  • last
If multiple virtual machines matching the name, use the first or last found.
networks
list / elements=dictionary
A list of networks (in the order of the NICs).
Removing NICs is not allowed, while reconfiguring the virtual machine.
All parameters and VMware object names are case sensitive.
connected
boolean
added in 1.5.0 of community.vmware
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Indicates whether the NIC is currently connected.
device_type
string
Virtual network device.
Valid value can be one of e1000, e1000e, pcnet32, vmxnet2, vmxnet3, sriov.
vmxnet3 is default.
Optional per entry.
Used for virtual hardware.
dns_servers
string
DNS servers for this network interface (Windows).
Optional per entry.
Used for OS customization.
domain
string
Domain name for this network interface (Windows).
Optional per entry.
Used for OS customization.
dvswitch_name
string
Name of the distributed vSwitch.
Optional per entry.
Used for virtual hardware.
gateway
string
Static gateway.
Optional per entry.
Used for OS customization.
ip
string
Static IP address. Implies type=static.
Optional per entry.
Used for OS customization.
mac
string
Customize MAC address.
Optional per entry.
Used for virtual hardware.
name
string
Name of the portgroup or distributed virtual portgroup for this interface.
Required per entry.
When specifying distributed virtual portgroup make sure given esxi_hostname or cluster is associated with it.
netmask
string
Static netmask required for ip.
Optional per entry.
Used for OS customization.
start_connected
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Specifies whether or not to connect the device when the virtual machine starts.
type
string
Type of IP assignment.
Valid values are one of dhcp, static.
dhcp is default.
Optional per entry.
Used for OS customization.
vlan
integer
VLAN number for this interface.
Required per entry.
nvdimm
dictionary
added in 1.13.0 of community.vmware
Add or remove a virtual NVDIMM device to the virtual machine.
VM virtual hardware version must be 14 or higher on vSphere 6.7 or later.
Verify that guest OS of the virtual machine supports PMem before adding virtual NVDIMM device.
Verify that you have the Datastore.Allocate space privilege on the virtual machine.
Make sure that the host or the cluster on which the virtual machine resides has available PMem resources.
To add or remove virtual NVDIMM device to the existing virtual machine, it must be in power off state.
label
string
The label of the virtual NVDIMM device to be removed or configured, e.g., "NVDIMM 1".
This parameter is required when state is set to absent, or present to reconfigure NVDIMM device size. When add a new device, please do not set label.
size_mb
integer
Default:
1024
Virtual NVDIMM device size in MB.
state
string
    Choices:
  • present
  • absent
Valid value is present or absent.
If set to absent, then the NVDIMM device with specified label will be removed.
password
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.

aliases: pass, pwd
port
integer
Default:
443
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.
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.
resource_pool
string
Use the given resource pool for virtual machine operation.
This parameter is case sensitive.
Resource pool should be child of the selected host parent.
When not specified Resources is taken as default value.
snapshot_src
string
Name of the existing snapshot to use to create a clone of a virtual machine.
This parameter is case sensitive.
While creating linked clone using linked_clone parameter, this parameter is required.
state
string
    Choices:
  • absent
  • poweredon
  • powered-on
  • poweredoff
  • powered-off
  • present
  • rebootguest
  • reboot-guest
  • restarted
  • suspended
  • shutdownguest
  • shutdown-guest
Specify the state the virtual machine should be in.
If state is set to present and virtual machine exists, ensure the virtual machine configurations conforms to task arguments.
If state is set to absent and virtual machine exists, then the specified virtual machine is removed with it's associated components.
If state is set to one of the following poweredon, powered-on, poweredoff, powered-off, present, restarted, suspended and virtual machine does not exists, virtual machine is deployed with the given parameters.
If state is set to poweredon or powered-on and virtual machine exists with powerstate other than powered on, then the specified virtual machine is powered on.
If state is set to poweredoff or powered-off and virtual machine exists with powerstate other than powered off, then the specified virtual machine is powered off.
If state is set to restarted and virtual machine exists, then the virtual machine is restarted.
If state is set to suspended and virtual machine exists, then the virtual machine is set to suspended mode.
If state is set to shutdownguest or shutdown-guest and virtual machine exists, then the virtual machine is shutdown.
If state is set to rebootguest or reboot-guest and virtual machine exists, then the virtual machine is rebooted.
Powerstate powered-on and powered-off is added in version 2.10.
state_change_timeout
integer
Default:
0
If the state is set to shutdownguest, by default the module will return immediately after sending the shutdown signal.
If this argument is set to a positive integer, the module will instead wait for the virtual machine to reach the poweredoff state.
The value sets a timeout in seconds for the module to wait for the state change.
template
string
Template or existing virtual machine used to create new virtual machine.
If this value is not set, virtual machine is created without using a template.
If the virtual machine already exists, this parameter will be ignored.
This parameter is case sensitive.
From version 2.8 onwards, absolute path to virtual machine or template can be used.

aliases: template_src
use_instance_uuid
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Whether to use the VMware instance UUID rather than the BIOS UUID.
username
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.

aliases: admin, user
uuid
string
UUID of the virtual machine to manage if known, this is VMware's unique identifier.
This is required if name is not supplied.
If virtual machine does not exists, then this parameter is ignored.
Please note that a supplied UUID will be ignored on virtual machine creation, as VMware creates the UUID internally.
validate_certs
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
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.
vapp_properties
list / elements=dictionary
A list of vApp properties.
For full list of attributes and types refer to: https://code.vmware.com/apis/704/vsphere/vim.vApp.PropertyInfo.html
id
string
Property ID.
Required per entry.
operation
string
The remove attribute is required only when removing properties.
type
string
Value type, string type by default.
value
string
Property value.
wait_for_customization
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Wait until vCenter detects all guest customizations as successfully completed.
When enabled, the VM will automatically be powered on.
If vCenter does not detect guest customization start or succeed, failed events after time wait_for_customization_timeout parameter specified, warning message will be printed and task result is fail.
wait_for_customization_timeout
integer
Default:
"3600"
Define a timeout (in seconds) for the wait_for_customization parameter.
Be careful when setting this value since the time guest customization took may differ among guest OSes.
wait_for_ip_address
boolean
    Choices:
  • no
  • yes
Wait until vCenter detects an IP address for the virtual machine.
This requires vmware-tools (vmtoolsd) to properly work after creation.
vmware-tools needs to be installed on the given virtual machine in order to work with this parameter.
wait_for_ip_address_timeout
integer
Default:
"300"
Define a timeout (in seconds) for the wait_for_ip_address parameter.

Notes

Note

  • Please make sure that the user used for community.vmware.vmware_guest has the correct level of privileges.
  • For example, following is the list of minimum privileges required by users to create virtual machines.
  • DataStore > Allocate Space
  • Virtual Machine > Configuration > Add New Disk
  • Virtual Machine > Configuration > Add or Remove Device
  • Virtual Machine > Inventory > Create New
  • Network > Assign Network
  • Resource > Assign Virtual Machine to Resource Pool
  • Module may require additional privileges as well, which may be required for gathering facts - e.g. ESXi configurations.
  • Tested on vSphere 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 and 6.7.
  • Use SCSI disks instead of IDE when you want to expand online disks by specifying a SCSI controller.
  • Uses SysPrep for Windows VM (depends on ‘guest_id’ parameter match ‘win’) with PyVmomi.
  • In order to change the VM’s parameters (e.g. number of CPUs), the VM must be powered off unless the hot-add support is enabled and the state=present must be used to apply the changes.
  • For additional information please visit Ansible VMware community wiki - https://github.com/ansible/community/wiki/VMware.
  • All modules requires API write access and hence is not supported on a free ESXi license.

Examples

- name: Create a virtual machine on given ESXi hostname
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    folder: /DC1/vm/
    name: test_vm_0001
    state: poweredon
    guest_id: centos64Guest
    # This is hostname of particular ESXi server on which user wants VM to be deployed
    esxi_hostname: "{{ esxi_hostname }}"
    disk:
    - size_gb: 10
      type: thin
      datastore: datastore1
    hardware:
      memory_mb: 512
      num_cpus: 4
      scsi: paravirtual
    networks:
    - name: VM Network
      mac: aa:bb:dd:aa:00:14
      ip: 10.10.10.100
      netmask: 255.255.255.0
      device_type: vmxnet3
    wait_for_ip_address: true
    wait_for_ip_address_timeout: 600
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: deploy_vm

- name: Create a virtual machine from a template
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    folder: /testvms
    name: testvm_2
    state: poweredon
    template: template_el7
    disk:
    - size_gb: 10
      type: thin
      datastore: g73_datastore
    # Add another disk from an existing VMDK
    - filename: "[datastore1] testvms/testvm_2_1/testvm_2_1.vmdk"
    hardware:
      memory_mb: 512
      num_cpus: 6
      num_cpu_cores_per_socket: 3
      scsi: paravirtual
      memory_reservation_lock: True
      mem_limit: 8096
      mem_reservation: 4096
      cpu_limit: 8096
      cpu_reservation: 4096
      max_connections: 5
      hotadd_cpu: True
      hotremove_cpu: True
      hotadd_memory: False
      version: 12 # Hardware version of virtual machine
      boot_firmware: "efi"
    cdrom:
        - controller_number: 0
          unit_number: 0
          state: present
          type: iso
          iso_path: "[datastore1] livecd.iso"
    networks:
    - name: VM Network
      mac: aa:bb:dd:aa:00:14
    wait_for_ip_address: true
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: deploy

- name: Clone a virtual machine from Windows template and customize
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: datacenter1
    cluster: cluster
    name: testvm-2
    template: template_windows
    networks:
    - name: VM Network
      ip: 192.168.1.100
      netmask: 255.255.255.0
      gateway: 192.168.1.1
      mac: aa:bb:dd:aa:00:14
      domain: my_domain
      dns_servers:
      - 192.168.1.1
      - 192.168.1.2
    - vlan: 1234
      type: dhcp
    customization:
      autologon: true
      dns_servers:
      - 192.168.1.1
      - 192.168.1.2
      domain: my_domain
      password: new_vm_password
      runonce:
      - powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File C:\Windows\Temp\ConfigureRemotingForAnsible.ps1 -ForceNewSSLCert -EnableCredSSP
  delegate_to: localhost

- name:  Clone a virtual machine from Linux template and customize
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    state: present
    folder: /DC1/vm
    template: "{{ template }}"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
    cluster: DC1_C1
    networks:
      - name: VM Network
        ip: 192.168.10.11
        netmask: 255.255.255.0
    wait_for_ip_address: True
    customization:
      domain: "{{ guest_domain }}"
      dns_servers:
        - 8.9.9.9
        - 7.8.8.9
      dns_suffix:
        - example.com
        - example2.com
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Rename a virtual machine (requires the virtual machine's uuid)
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    uuid: "{{ vm_uuid }}"
    name: new_name
    state: present
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Remove a virtual machine by uuid
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    uuid: "{{ vm_uuid }}"
    state: absent
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Remove a virtual machine from inventory
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    name: vm_name
    delete_from_inventory: True
    state: absent
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Manipulate vApp properties
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    name: vm_name
    state: present
    vapp_properties:
      - id: remoteIP
        category: Backup
        label: Backup server IP
        type: string
        value: 10.10.10.1
      - id: old_property
        operation: remove
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Set powerstate of a virtual machine to poweroff by using UUID
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    uuid: "{{ vm_uuid }}"
    state: poweredoff
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Deploy a virtual machine in a datastore different from the datastore of the template
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    name: "{{ vm_name }}"
    state: present
    template: "{{ template_name }}"
    # Here datastore can be different which holds template
    datastore: "{{ virtual_machine_datastore }}"
    hardware:
      memory_mb: 512
      num_cpus: 2
      scsi: paravirtual
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Create a diskless VM
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ dc1 }}"
    state: poweredoff
    cluster: "{{ ccr1 }}"
    name: diskless_vm
    folder: /Asia-Datacenter1/vm
    guest_id: centos64Guest
    datastore: "{{ ds1 }}"
    hardware:
        memory_mb: 1024
        num_cpus: 2
        num_cpu_cores_per_socket: 1

- name: Create a VM with multiple disks of different disk controller types
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    folder: /DC1/vm/
    name: test_vm_multi_disks
    state: poweredoff
    guest_id: centos64Guest
    datastore: datastore1
    disk:
    - size_gb: 10
      controller_type: 'nvme'
      controller_number: 0
      unit_number: 0
    - size_gb: 10
      controller_type: 'paravirtual'
      controller_number: 0
      unit_number: 1
    - size_gb: 10
      controller_type: 'sata'
      controller_number: 0
      unit_number: 2
    hardware:
      memory_mb: 512
      num_cpus: 4
      version: 14
    networks:
    - name: VM Network
      device_type: vmxnet3
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: deploy_vm

- name: Create a VM with NVDIMM device
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    folder: /DC1/vm/
    name: test_vm_nvdimm
    state: poweredoff
    guest_id: centos7_64Guest
    datastore: datastore1
    hardware:
      memory_mb: 512
      num_cpus: 4
      version: 14
    networks:
    - name: VM Network
      device_type: vmxnet3
    nvdimm:
      state: present
      size_mb: 2048
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: deploy_vm

Return Values

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

Key Returned Description
instance
dictionary
always
metadata about the new virtual machine

Sample:
None


Authors

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2021 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/community/vmware/vmware_guest_module.html