ansible add esxi host to datacenter or folder

[Tony_Wong]

I am new to ansible and want to know how to add a esxi host to vcenter in a datacenter

I have the following in a yml file but not sure what else to do

• hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  tasks:

• name: include vars
  include_vars:

• name: Add ESXi Host to vCenter
  vmware_host:
  hostname: ‘{{ vcenter_hostname }}’
  username: ‘{{ vcenter_username }}’
  password: ‘{{ vcenter_password }}’
  datacenter: datacenter_name
  esxi_hostname: ‘{{ esxi_hostname }}’
  esxi_username: ‘{{ esxi_username }}’
  esxi_password: ‘{{ esxi_password }}’
  state: present
  delegate_to: localhost

[David_Foley]

Hi Tony,

Looking at the Documentation https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/vmware_host_module.html

- name: Add ESXi Host to vCenter
  vmware_host:
    hostname: '{{ vcenter_hostname }}'
    username: '{{ vcenter_username }}'
    password: '{{ vcenter_password }}'
    datacenter: datacenter_name
    cluster: cluster_name
    esxi_hostname: '{{ esxi_hostname }}'
    esxi_username: '{{ esxi_username }}'
    esxi_password: '{{ esxi_password }}'
    state: present
  delegate_to: localhost

This code will add the host to a Cluster, 

[Jorge_Rua1 (Jorge Rúa)]

Hi Tony,

There are two ways of adding an esxi host to vCenter:

• In standalone mode (not part of a vCenter cluster)
• Part of a vCenter cluster
  See the following examples:

In standalone mode, first you’ll need a host folder to place your esxi hosts. Bear in mind here that vcenter_folder should be in the following form: /datacenter_name/host/name. For example if your dc is DC01:
/DC01/host/myhostfolder.

• name: Create a host folder
  vcenter_folder:
  hostname: “{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname][‘vcenter’] }}”
  username: “{{ vcenter_username | d(ansible_ssh_user) }}”
  password: “{{ vcenter_password | d(ansible_ssh_pass) }}”
  datacenter_name: “{{ datacenter_name }}”
  folder_name: “{{ vcenter_folder }}”
  folder_type: host
  state: present
  validate_certs: False
  register: folder_result
  delegate_to: localhost
  run_once: True
  retries: 10
  until: folder_result is succeeded

• name: Add host to vCenter (standalone)
  vmware_host:
  hostname: “{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname][‘vcenter’] }}”
  username: “{{ vcenter_username | d(ansible_ssh_user) }}”
  password: “{{ vcenter_password | d(ansible_ssh_pass) }}”
  datacenter_name: “{{ datacenter_name }}”
  folder: “{{ vcenter_folder }}”
  esxi_hostname: “{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname][‘fqdn’] }}”
  esxi_username: “{{ esxi_admin_username | d(‘root’) }}”
  esxi_password: “{{ esxi_root_password | d(‘password’) }}”
  state: present
  validate_certs: False
  delegate_to: localhost
  register: host_result
  retries: 10
  until: host_result is succeeded

Next option is to add a esxi host into an existing cluster:

• name: Attach esxi host to vCenter cluster
  vmware_host:
  hostname: “{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname][‘vcenter’] }}”
  username: “{{ vcenter_username | d(ansible_ssh_user) }}”
  password: “{{ vcenter_password | d(ansible_ssh_pass) }}”
  datacenter_name: “{{ datacenter_name }}”
  cluster_name: “{{ cluster_name }}”
  esxi_hostname: “{{ hostvars[inventory_hostname][‘fqdn’] }}”
  esxi_username: “{{ esxi_admin_username | d(‘root’) }}”
  esxi_password: “{{ esxi_root_password | d(‘password’) }}”
  state: present
  validate_certs: False
  delegate_to: localhost

Hope it helps,

Regards

[Tony_Wong]

Hi,

Thanks. what would the host be under ‘/DC01/host/myhostfolder’ ?

I have a parent folder that I need to add the host into but its not taking it.

can i specify a vcenter folder ?

[Tony_Wong]

how do i specify this folder? The is a vcenter folder and I need to add it to the HK datacenter

(attachments)

[Jorge_Rua1 (Jorge Rúa)]

Best thing you can do to understand how vCenter is organized is using govc tool:

For example, this is my home lab:

➜ govc about
Name: VMware vCenter Server
Vendor: VMware, Inc.
Version: 6.7.0
Build: 15129973
OS type: linux-x64
API type: VirtualCenter
API version: 6.7.3
Product ID: vpx
UUID: 1a93cd0c-f7f7-4021-a232-7ca15c73f8bd

In this case the only esxi host belong to a datacenter called DC01, in cluster CLUSTER01, and esxi host is 192.168.10.200.

➜ govc host.info 192.168.10.200
Name: 192.168.10.200
Path: /DC01/host/CLUSTER01/192.168.10.200
Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Logical CPUs: 4 CPUs @ 3408MHz
Processor type: Intel(R) Core™ i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz
CPU usage: 698 MHz (5.1%)
Memory: 32628MB
Memory usage: 16856 MB (51.7%)
Boot time: 2020-03-21 16:00:52.643186 +0000 UTC
State: connected

Regards,

[Tony_Wong]

when i run that it gave me govc: please specify a datacenter

tony@ubuntu:~/ansible-vmware/ansible-add-esxi-host$ govc about
Name: VMware vCenter Server
Vendor: VMware, Inc.
Version: 6.7.0
Build: 15976728
OS type: linux-x64
API type: VirtualCenter
API version: 6.7.3
Product ID: vpx
UUID: 4f7ea0f6-72b5-4d7c-9119-755870852497

[Tony_Wong]

I Keep getting folder not found. but govc shows the folder

[Tony_Wong]

wow I finally got it

the folder should be “/Remote Offices/HK/Host”

(attachments)

[Tony_Wong]

thank you

(attachments)