# Ansible in VMware: searching for templates

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-in-vmware-searching-for-templates/29930>\
**Category:** Ansible Developer\
**Tags:** azure, vmware, aws\
**Created:** [March 20, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-in-vmware-searching-for-templates/29930 "2019-03-20T21:06:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Justin\_DynamicD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/97f17d/32.png) [@Justin\_DynamicD](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Justin_DynamicD)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-in-vmware-searching-for-templates/29930/1 "2019-03-20T21:06:58Z")

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So in both AWS and Azure, there are methods that can be used to either directly query an account for all available images that match a regex pattern, or download a list of all images then filter it to accomplish the same. y doing this I can auto install lastest versions of images (either marketplace or internally created) and not need to constantly update my Ansible vars with the correct current image.

I can’t, however, figure out how to do the same in VMware. Does anyone know a way to query/register a list of VMware templates so that I could potentially filter/select the appropriate one?

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**Author:** ![Justin\_DynamicD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/97f17d/32.png) [@Justin\_DynamicD](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Justin_DynamicD)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-in-vmware-searching-for-templates/29930/2 "2019-03-20T21:16:00Z")

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I should add that I do NOT want to constantly overwrite images, because that would block me from any kind of rapid rollback if an auto-built image cause issues. The idea is to simply delete the offending image and let the next build “just work” while we troubleshoot in the background … not scramble to build a new template/image and have people wait.