# deploy VM from template and customize guest **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [June 7, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115 "2020-06-07T18:48:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tony\_Wong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@Tony\_Wong](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tony_Wong)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/1 "2020-06-07T18:48:56Z")
I am trying to deploy VM from VM template with ansible. I got the playbook to deploy the VM. but how do I customize the guest: I need to 1. rename the guest name to VM name 2. join domain 3. put it in an specific OU any udea? ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/77aa72/32.png) [@Dave\_York](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dave_York)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2020, 10:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/2 "2020-06-07T22:31:05Z")
Ive done this by using the customization argument of the vmware\_guest module to join the domain. but prior to vmware\_guest i use a win\_domain\_computer delegated to a windows utility box to prestage the computer object in the right ou ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Wong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@Tony\_Wong](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tony_Wong)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/3 "2020-06-08T13:59:02Z")
I got a customization template in vcenter. how do I specify using that template. Also the template looks like will override my static IP settings on my Vms. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Wong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@Tony\_Wong](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tony_Wong)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/4 "2020-06-08T14:14:43Z")
for ansible, is there a reverse order to detroy the vms after the vm playbook has been run like terraform? Or do I need to create another playbook to destroy the vms? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Foley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@David\_Foley](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Foley)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/5 "2020-06-08T14:20:19Z")
> > I’ll assume you are refering to Custom Specs within vCenter : You can use the following: [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/vmware\_guest\_module.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/vmware_guest_module.html) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Foley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@David\_Foley](https://forum.ansible.com/u/David_Foley)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/6 "2020-06-08T14:22:30Z")
So you want to do something like Terraform init / plan & Apply and once finished you want to do a Terraform Destroy? No Ansible doesn’t do State Files ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/77aa72/32.png) [@Dave\_York](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dave_York)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/7 "2020-06-08T16:46:39Z")
These are the two plays I use to do what you were asking about: - name: Ensure Computer Object exists in AD win\_domain\_computer: name: ‘{{ inventory\_hostname\_short }}’ dns\_hostname: ‘{{ inventory\_hostname }}’ domain\_server: domaincontroller.fqdn sam\_account\_name: ‘{{ inventory\_hostname\_short }}$’ ou: ‘{{ AD\_OU }}’ description: ‘{{ owner\_email }}’ enabled: yes state: present delegate\_to: utilityserver.fqdn - name: Clone to VM from Template vmware\_guest: hostname: ‘{{ vsphere\_hostname }}’ username: ‘{{ lookup(“env”, “VMWARE\_USER”) }}’ password: ‘{{ lookup(“env”, “VMWARE\_PASSWORD”) }}’ validate\_certs: no folder: ‘{{ vmware\_folder }}’ annotation: “{{ owner\_email }}” datacenter: ‘{{ vmware\_datacenter }}’ name: ‘{{ inventory\_hostname\_short }}’ cluster: ‘{{ vmware\_cluster }}’ state: poweredon template: ‘{{ vmware\_template }}’ datastore: ‘{{ vmware\_datastore }}’ customization: domainadmin: ‘{{ lookup(“env”, “ANSIBLE\_NET\_USERNAME”) }}’ domainadminpassword: ‘{{ lookup(“env”, “ANSIBLE\_NET\_PASSWORD”) }}’ joindomain: domain.fqdn password: ‘{{ templatepwd }}’ timezone: 004 disk: - size\_gb: 100 type: thin - size\_gb: 100 type: thin hardware: memory\_mb: ‘{{ vmware\_mem }}’ num\_cpus: ‘{{ vmware\_cpu }}’ scsi: paravirtual hotadd\_cpu: True hotremove\_cpu: True hotadd\_memory: True boot\_firmware: “efi” networks: - name: ‘{{ vmware\_network }}’ ip: ‘{{ ipv4 }}’ netmask: ‘255.255.255.0’ gateway: ‘{{ ipv4\_gateway }}’ device\_type: vmxnet3 dns\_servers: - ‘{{ dns\_primary }}’ - ‘{{ dns\_secondary }}’ wait\_for\_ip\_address: yes wait\_for\_customization: yes delegate\_to: localhost register: deploy ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Wong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@Tony\_Wong](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tony_Wong)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/8 "2020-06-08T17:06:28Z")
Thank you. So for the customization part, i didnt see a mention of the name of the customization template in vcenter. so ansible does not use that ? ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_York](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/77aa72/32.png) [@Dave\_York](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Dave_York)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/9 "2020-06-08T17:12:51Z")
I’m not using a customization template, but it may be possible - I think that’s what David Foley was referencing. Check out customization\_spec within the vmware\_guest module [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/vmware\_guest\_module.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/modules/vmware_guest_module.html) You can use the method im using OR you can call customization\_spec ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Wong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@Tony\_Wong](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tony_Wong)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/10 "2020-06-09T14:16:51Z")
hi for customization: domainadmin: ‘{{ lookup(“env”, “ANSIBLE\_NET\_USERNAME”) }}’ domainadminpassword: ‘{{ lookup(“env”, “ANSIBLE\_NET\_PASSWORD”) }}’ joindomain: domain.fqdn what does this mean? lookup(“env”, “ANSIBLE\_NET\_USERNAME” are you manually putting the username and password in the answer file? Can this be encrypted ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Wong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@Tony\_Wong](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tony_Wong)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/11 "2020-06-09T15:31:17Z")
ok I was able to use the customization\_spec to join the machine to the domain But how do I assign the statistic IP to the server? my host file looks like this before using the customization\_spec [prod-k8s-workers] prod-k8s-worker01 deploy\_vsphere\_datastore=‘RW-VA-NIM-VOL9’ guest\_custom\_ip=‘10.200.1.41’ guest\_notes=‘Worker #01’ prod-k8s-worker02 deploy\_vsphere\_datastore=‘RW-VA-NIM-VOL9’ guest\_custom\_ip=‘10.200.1.43’ guest\_notes=‘Worker #02’ #prod-k8s-worker03 deploy\_vsphere\_datastore=‘RW-VA-NIM-VOL9’ guest\_custom\_ip=‘10.200.1.44’ guest\_notes=‘Worker #03’ #prod-k8s-worker04 deploy\_vsphere\_datastore=‘RW-VA-NIM-VOL9’ guest\_custom\_ip=‘10.200.1.45’ guest\_notes=‘Worker #04’ #prod-k8s-worker05 deploy\_vsphere\_datastore=‘RW-VA-NIM-VOL9’ guest\_custom\_ip=‘10.200.1.46’ guest\_notes=‘Worker #05’ and in my roles file networks: - name: ‘{{ guest\_network }}’ ip: ‘{{ guest\_custom\_ip }}’ netmask: ‘{{ guest\_netmask }}’ gateway: ‘{{ guest\_gateway }}’ customization: dns\_servers: - ‘{{ guest\_dns\_server }}’ domain : ‘{{ guest\_domain\_name }}’ hostname: '{{ inventory\_hostname }} I guess I cannot use the values in my roles file when using customization\_spec? ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Wong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@Tony\_Wong](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Tony_Wong)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/deploy-vm-from-template-and-customize-guest/33115/12 "2020-06-11T18:09:19Z")
can i get some help w this? My account to join the domain keeps getting locked out. This password has spaces in it like this “This is my pa$$w0rd!” but account keeps getting locked out