Getting a Column value from row

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1

I need to get the VMID field from the column data as below.

[[root@prmh-mag-31:~] vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
Vmid Name File Guest OS Version Annotation
51 myvgpu_clone2 [EVC_Store1] myvgpu_clone2/myvgpu_clone2.vmx windows8_64Guest vmx-11

so as above is the command result , i need to get the VMID corresponding to vm name myvgpu_clone2. For that i have used ansible command module and grepping the first output of vm list for vmname so i get the one row . now i have to get the VMID field from the single row.

I have used following code but it does not give the desired output. any help is aprreciated.

Thanks,
VM

name: Get the VM id of the powered ON VM
command: vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | grep ‘{{guest_name}}’ | “‘cut -d ’ ’ -f 1’”
register: ouputvmid
ignore_errors: true

  • debug:
    var: ouputvmid
2

I need to get the VMID field from the column data as below.

[[root@prmh-mag-31:~] vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
Vmid Name File
Guest OS Version Annotation
51 myvgpu_clone2 [EVC_Store1] myvgpu_clone2/myvgpu_clone2.vmx
windows8_64Guest vmx-11

so as above is the command result , i need to get the VMID corresponding
to vm name myvgpu_clone2. For that i have used ansible command module and
grepping the first output of vm list for vmname so i get the one row . now
i have to get the VMID field from the single row.

I have used following code but it does not give the desired output. any
help is aprreciated.

What output do you get and what's wrong with it?

  name: Get the VM id of the powered ON VM
         command: vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | grep '{{guest_name}}' | "'cut -d
' ' -f 1'"
         register: ouputvmid
         ignore_errors: true

Not all esx have python so you might need to use the raw module.

You need to remove the single and double quotes around cut like so.

   - name: Get the VM id of the powered ON VM
     command: vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | grep '{{guest_name}}' | cut -d' ' -f1
     register: ouputvmid

3

Thanks Kai for your quick response !

Here is my output , problem is it does not extract the VMID but outputs the whole string. I intend to just get the VMID.

TASK [ESX_VM_SnapRestore : debug] ************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [10.114.22.61] => {
“changed”: false,
“ouputvmid”: {
“changed”: true,
“cmd”: [
“vim-cmd”,
“vmsvc/getallvms”,
“|”,
“grep”,
“myvgpu_clone2”,
“|”,
“‘cut -d ’ ’ -f 1’”
],
“delta”: “0:00:00.455803”,
“end”: “2017-07-26 07:10:17.235366”,
“rc”: 0,
“start”: “2017-07-26 07:10:16.779563”,
“stderr”: “”,
“stderr_lines”: ,
“stdout”: "Vmid Name File Guest OS Version Annotation\n51 myvgpu_clone2 [EVC_Store1] myvgpu_clone2/myvgpu_clone2.vmx windows8_64Guest vmx-11 ",
“stdout_lines”: [
“Vmid Name File Guest OS Version Annotation”,
"51 myvgpu_clone2 [EVC_Store1] myvgpu_clone2/myvgpu_clone2.vmx windows8_64Guest vmx-11 "
]
}
}

Though when i run it on ESX command line . it outputs the VMID as below.

vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | grep ‘myvgpu_clone2’| cut -d ’ ’ -f 1## 51

4

Try using the shell module instead of command.

5

use : ouputvmid.stdout_lines[2] and filter it with the good regexp with regexp_replace Regards, JYL

6

I forgot that command doesn't allow pipe, so as James suggested, use the shell module. You can also use the raw module.

- name: Get the VM id of the powered ON VM
   shell: vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | grep '{{guest_name}}' | cut -d' ' -f1
   register: ouputvmid

or

- name: Get the VM id of the powered ON VM
   raw: vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | grep '{{guest_name}}' | cut -d' ' -f1
   register: ouputvmid

The value will be in {{ ouputvmid.stdout }}

7

Awesome Kai & Jean ! it worked when i used the shell command. :slight_smile:

Lot of thanks to you guys!

ASK [ESX_VM_SnapRestore : Get the VM id of the powered ON VM] *********************************************************************************************************************************************
changed:

TASK [ESX_VM_SnapRestore : debug] **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: => {
“changed”: false,
“ouputvmid”: {
“changed”: true,
“cmd”: “vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | grep ‘myvgpu_clone2’ | cut -d ’ ’ -f 1”,
“delta”: “0:00:00.464921”,
“end”: “2017-07-26 18:34:12.646298”,
“rc”: 0,
“start”: “2017-07-26 18:34:12.181377”,
“stderr”: “”,
“stderr_lines”: ,
“stdout”: “51”,
“stdout_lines”: [
“51”
]
}
}

TASK [ESX_VM_SnapRestore : Create snapshot of a vGPU VM] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************
changed: ]