community.vmware.vmware_vm_shell – Run commands in a VMware guest operating system
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_vm_shell
.
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 string | The cluster hosting the virtual machine. If set, it will help to speed up virtual machine search. | |
datacenter string | The datacenter hosting the virtual machine. If set, it will help to speed up virtual machine search. | |
folder string | 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 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. | |
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. | |
timeout integer | 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 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 | |
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.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. |
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. |
vm_password string / required | The password used to login-in to the virtual machine. | |
vm_shell string / required | The absolute path to the program to start. On Linux, shell is executed via bash. | |
vm_shell_args string | 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 string | The current working directory of the application from which it will be run. | |
vm_shell_env list / elements=string | Comma separated list of environment variable, specified in the guest OS notation. | |
vm_username string / required | The user to login-in to the virtual machine. | |
wait_for_process boolean |
| 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.
- All modules requires API write access and hence is not supported on a free ESXi license.
Examples
- name: Run command inside a virtual machine community.vmware.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 community.vmware.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 community.vmware.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/$$.txt 2>&1" delegate_to: localhost - name: Change hostname of guest machine community.vmware.vmware_vm_shell: hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}" username: "{{ vcenter_username }}" password: "{{ vcenter_password }}" datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}" folder: "/{{datacenter}}/vm" vm_id: "{{ vm_name }}" vm_username: testUser vm_password: SuperSecretPassword vm_shell: "/usr/bin/hostnamectl" vm_shell_args: "set-hostname new_hostname > /tmp/$$.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 dictionary | 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', 'exit_code': 0, 'name': 'sleep', 'owner': 'dev1', 'start_time': '2018-04-26T05:03:19+00:00', 'uuid': '564db1e2-a3ff-3b0e-8b77-49c25570bb66'} |
Authors
- Ritesh Khadgaray (@ritzk)
- Abhijeet Kasurde (@Akasurde)
© 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_vm_shell_module.html