vsphere wait for vm powered off

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1

We use cloning to create new VMs in our vsphere cluster. The template is usually powered on (to receive regular updates), so we power it off before we create a clone:

  • name: power off the template
    vsphere_guest:
    vcenter_hostname: “{{ vcenter }}”
    username: “{{ user }}”
    password: “{{ pass }}”
    guest: “{{ template }}”
    validate_certs: False
    state: powered_off
    force: yes

  • debug: msg=“template state is {{ hw_power_status }}.”

  • name: ensure the template is powered off
    assert: { that: hw_power_status == “POWERED OFF” }

This used to work for VSphere 5.x, since the upgrade to VSphere 6.0 the assert fails:

TASK [debug] *******************************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
“msg”: “template state is POWERED ON.”
}

TASK [ensure the template is powered off] **************************************
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {
“assertion”: “hw_power_status == "POWERED OFF"”,
“changed”: false,
“evaluated_to”: false,
“failed”: true
}

VSphere shuts down the VM as requested, so maybe it is just a timing problem?

So how can I ensure the VM is really powered off before the next task starts? Is there a way to wait till hw_power_status changes?

Mathias

2

Something like this.

- name: Check if {{ template }} is down
   vsphere_guest:
     vcenter_hostname: "{{ vcenter }}"
     username: "{{ user }}"
     password: "{{ pass }}"
     guest: "{{ template }}"
     vmware_guest_facts: yes
   register: result
   until: result.hw_power_status == "POWERED OFF"
   reties: 10
   delay: 5

3

@Mathias, as an aside, what version of Ansible are you running? I ask because the vmware_guest module is available as of 2.2 as a replacement of this module.

4

Hi Kai,

thank you, this works for me (with a very small modification:

  • name: wait till {{ template }} is powered off
    vsphere_guest:
    vcenter_hostname: “{{vcenter}}”
    username: “{{user}}”
    password: “{{passw}}”
    guest: “{{template}}”
    validate_certs: False
    vmware_guest_facts: yes
    register: result
    until: result.ansible_facts.hw_power_status == “POWERED OFF”
    retries: 10
    delay: 5
    ).

Mathias

5

Hi Dylan,

I am using 2.2. Thanks for pointing me at vmware_guest, but vsphere_guest works for me (at moment).

6

Thanks for that info!

Just a heads up, we’re deprecating the vsphere_guest module in a couple of releases. Please take a look at this post for more information.

~@thaumos

7

Hi, I am trying to use this code to check VM power state and its failing for me with this error…

“msg”: “The conditional check ‘result.hw_power_status == "POWERED OFF"’ failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional (result.hw_power_status == "POWERED OFF"): ‘dict object’ has no attribute ‘hw_power_status’”

My playbook…

`
Enter code here… - name: Wait till {{ target }} is powered off
vsphere_guest:
vcenter_hostname=“{{ vcenter_server }}”
username=ansible@mbu.local
password=“{{ vc_passwd }}”
guest=mbu-zabbix-ccp
validate_certs=False
vmware_guest_facts=yes
register: result
until: result.hw_power_status == “POWERED OFF”
retries: 10
delay: 5

i tried withresult.hw_power_status == “POWERED OFF” and`
result.````ansible_facts.hw_power_status == "POWERED OFF"

both fail with a same error..

Regards

8

change result to vm_state if youre using vsphere_guest

register: vm_state
until: vm_state.ansible_facts.hw_power_status == ‘POWERED OFF’
retries: 10
delay: 5

9

Hi, thank you, your suggestion works.
I am wondering are this options documented some where? or how can I list this option for a module?
Ansible documentation is not covering all this options or I haven’t been able to find it.

here is a working code

`

  • name: Wait till {{ target }} is powered off
    vsphere_guest:
    vcenter_hostname=“{{ vcenter_server }}”
    username=ansible@local.domain
    password=“{{ vc_passwd }}”
    guest=“{{ ansible_hostname }}”
    validate_certs=False
    vmware_guest_facts=yes
    register: vm_state
    until: vm_state.ansible_facts.hw_power_status == ‘POWERED OFF’
    retries: 10
    delay: 5
    delegate_to: localhost

`

Best regards

10

The directives one the same level as vsphere_guest is not part of the module they are part of the task.
The directive you can use and where is documented here
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/reference_appendices/playbooks_keywords.html

The documentation for until you'll find here
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/user_guide/playbooks_loops.html#do-until-loops

11

Hi,
thank you for the info.
one more question, for vsphere_guest module, how to know that “state” parameter should be referenced as
“vm_state.ansible_facts.hw_power_status”, this part a have not find in the documentation.? how is this contracted for all other parameters for particular module?

Best regards

12

Some module has this documented, but most of them don't unfortunately.
So you are left with finding it yourself.

To do that you run the module with "register: ..." directive and print the content of the variable.
The content you print like this

   - debug: var=vm_state

13

Hi, thank you for your replay

Do you know is it possible to list all undocumented parameters of a module and its states?

Regards

14

I don't think there are any undocumented parameters so in that regard the module documentation is very good.
But the output they generate is lacking on many of them, and the only way to find this is to read the code or run it and print out the result as I described in previous post.