vmware_vm_shell - Run commands in a VMware guest operating system¶

New in version 2.1.

Synopsis
- Requirements
Parameters
Notes
Examples
Return Values
Status
Maintenance
- Author

Synopsis ¶

Module allows user to run common system administration commands in the guest operating system.

Requirements ¶

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

python >= 2.6
PyVmomi

Parameters ¶

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Comments
cluster		The cluster hosting the virtual machine. If set, it will help to speed up virtual machine search.
datacenter		The datacenter hosting the virtual machine. If set, it will help to speed up virtual machine search.
folder (added in 2.4)		Destination folder, absolute or relative path to find an existing guest or create the new guest. The folder should include the datacenter. ESX's datacenter is ha-datacenter. 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
hostname str		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 supported added in version 2.6.
password str		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 supported added in version 2.6. aliases: pass, pwd
port int (added in 2.5)	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 supported added in version 2.6.
timeout (added in 2.7)	Default: 3600	Timeout in seconds. If set to positive integers, then `wait_for_process` will honor this parameter and will exit after this timeout.
username str		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 supported added in version 2.6. aliases: admin, user
validate_certs bool	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 supported added in version 2.6. If set to `yes`, please make sure Python >= 2.7.9 is installed on the given machine.
vm_id required		Name of the virtual machine to work with.
vm_id_type	Choices: uuid dns_name inventory_path vm_name ←	The VMware identification method by which the virtual machine will be identified.
vm_password required		The password used to login-in to the virtual machine.
vm_shell required		The absolute path to the program to start. On Linux, shell is executed via bash.
vm_shell_args	Default:	The argument to the program. The characters which must be escaped to the shell also be escaped on the command line provided.
vm_shell_cwd		The current working directory of the application from which it will be run.
vm_shell_env		Comma separated list of environment variable, specified in the guest OS notation.
vm_username required		The user to login-in to the virtual machine.
wait_for_process bool (added in 2.7)	Choices: no ← yes	If set to `True`, module will wait for process to complete in the given virtual machine.

Notes ¶

Note

Tested on vSphere 5.5, 6.0 and 6.5.
Only the first match against vm_id is used, even if there are multiple matches.

Examples ¶

- name: Run command inside a virtual machine
  vmware_vm_shell:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    folder: /"{{datacenter}}"/vm
    vm_id: "{{ vm_name }}"
    vm_username: root
    vm_password: superSecret
    vm_shell: /bin/echo
    vm_shell_args: " $var >> myFile "
    vm_shell_env:
      - "PATH=/bin"
      - "VAR=test"
    vm_shell_cwd: "/tmp"
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: shell_command_output

- name: Run command inside a virtual machine with wait and timeout
  vmware_vm_shell:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    folder: /"{{datacenter}}"/vm
    vm_id: NameOfVM
    vm_username: root
    vm_password: superSecret
    vm_shell: /bin/sleep
    vm_shell_args: 100
    wait_for_process: True
    timeout: 2000
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: shell_command_with_wait_timeout

- name: Change user password in the guest machine
  vmware_vm_shell:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    folder: /"{{datacenter}}"/vm
    vm_id: "{{ vm_name }}"
    vm_username: sample
    vm_password: old_password
    vm_shell: "/bin/echo"
    vm_shell_args: "-e 'old_password\nnew_password\nnew_password' | passwd sample > /tmp/$$.txt 2>&1"
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Change hostname of guest machine
  vmware_vm_shell:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    validate_certs: no
    datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
    folder: /"{{datacenter}}"/vm
    vm_id: "{{ vm_name }}"
    vm_username: testUser
    vm_password: SuperSecretPassword
    vm_shell: "/usr/bin/hostnamectl"
    vm_shell_args: "set-hostname new_hostname > /tmp/$$.txt 2>&1"
  delegate_to: localhost

Return Values ¶

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

Key	Returned	Description
results dict	on success	metadata about the new process after completion with wait_for_process Sample: {'cmd_line': '"/bin/sleep" 1', 'end_time': '2018-04-26T05:03:21+00:00', 'uuid': '564db1e2-a3ff-3b0e-8b77-49c25570bb66', 'owner': 'dev1', 'start_time': '2018-04-26T05:03:19+00:00', 'exit_code': 0, 'name': 'sleep'}

Status ¶

This module is flagged as preview which means that it is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface.

Maintenance ¶

This module is flagged as community which means that it is maintained by the Ansible Community. See Module Maintenance & Support for more info.

For a list of other modules that are also maintained by the Ansible Community, see here.

Author ¶

Ritesh Khadgaray (@ritzk)
Abhijeet Kasurde (@Akasurde)

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