# How to assign random name for vmware snapshot?

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-assign-random-name-for-vmware-snapshot/32870>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Tags:** vmware\
**Created:** [May 7, 2020, 8:30am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-assign-random-name-for-vmware-snapshot/32870 "2020-05-07T08:30:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Mani](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mani)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 8:30am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-assign-random-name-for-vmware-snapshot/32870/1 "2020-05-07T08:30:36Z")

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I am a newbie to ansible and I am trying to take a snapshot of multiple VM’s with a random snapshot name including the VM name (vmname + random number or timestamp).

I am able to take snapshot using the VM name with the below code:

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**Author:** ![Akasurde](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/akasurde/32/230_2.png) [@Akasurde](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Akasurde)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 8:46am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-assign-random-name-for-vmware-snapshot/32870/2 "2020-05-07T08:46:15Z")

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You can use filters - [https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user\_guide/playbooks\_filters.html](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_filters.html)

Either - “{{ hostname | to\_uuid }}” or “{{ ‘%Y\_%m\_%d\_%H\_%M\_%S’ | strftime }}”

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**Author:** ![Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Mani](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Mani)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 9:33am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/how-to-assign-random-name-for-vmware-snapshot/32870/3 "2020-05-07T09:33:19Z")

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Thank you, Abhijeet. That worked!!