ansibleansible-inventoryvcenter

Ansible vmware_vm_inventory: How to access dynamic host variables?


I am using Ansible 2.9 and my end goal is to create a snapshot of all running vm's with the tag test. But i cant seem to access variables other than name

VMware inventory

plugin: vmware_vm_inventory
strict: False
hostname: < hostname >
username: < username > 
password: < password >
validate_certs: False
with_tags: True

Playbook

---
- name: Create snapshot for running vm's with tag - test
  hosts: test
  gather_facts: False
  vars_files:
    - vcenter-vars.yml
  tasks:
    - debug:
        var: vars
    - debug:
        var: guest.guestState

    - name: Make Snapshot
      vmware_guest_snapshot:
        hostname: "{{ vcenter_server }}"
        username: "{{ vcenter_user }}"
        password: "{{ vcenter_pass }}"
        datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
        name: "{{ name }}"
        folder: .
        state: present
        snapshot_name: snap1
        description: snap1_description
        validate_certs: no
      delegate_to: localhost
      when: guest.guestState == "running"

Debug Output

PLAY [Create snapshot for running vm's with tag - test] ********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

TASK [debug] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638] => {
    "vars": {
        "ansible_check_mode": false,
        "ansible_dependent_role_names": [],
        "ansible_diff_mode": false,
        "ansible_facts": {},
        "ansible_forks": 5,
        "ansible_host": "10.32.112.10",
        "ansible_inventory_sources": [
            "/home/usrmainadmin/vmware_test/test.vmware.yml"
        ],
        "ansible_play_batch": [
            "UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638"
        ],
        "ansible_play_hosts": [
            "UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638"
        ],
        "ansible_play_hosts_all": [
            "UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638"
        ],
        "ansible_play_name": "Create snapshot for running vm's with tag - test",
        "ansible_play_role_names": [],
        "ansible_playbook_python": "/usr/bin/python3.6",
        "ansible_role_names": [],
        "ansible_run_tags": [
            "all"
        ],
        "ansible_skip_tags": [],
        "ansible_verbosity": 0,
        "ansible_version": {
            "full": "2.9.7",
            "major": 2,
            "minor": 9,
            "revision": 7,
            "string": "2.9.7"
        },
        "config.cpuHotAddEnabled": false,
        "config.cpuHotRemoveEnabled": false,
        "config.hardware.numCPU": 4,
        "config.instanceUuid": "503ec98c-2c65-c8ef-c8d4-cf7dd86958ec",
        "config.name": "UniFi Controller",
        "config.template": false,
        "datacenter_name": "Global-e",
        "environment": [],
        "group_names": [
            "poweredOn",
            "test",
            "ubuntu64Guest"
        ],
        "groups": {
          ### A lot of groups
        },
        "guest.guestId": "ubuntu64Guest",
        "guest.guestState": "running",
        "guest.hostName": "unifi-controller",
        "guest.ipAddress": "10.32.112.10",
        "hostvars": {
          ## A huge list of all found vm's found by the inventory (also one's without the tag)
        },
        "inventory_dir": "/home/usrmainadmin/vmware_test",
        "inventory_file": "/home/usrmainadmin/vmware_test/test.vmware.yml",
        "inventory_hostname": "UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638",
        "inventory_hostname_short": "UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638",
        "name": "UniFi Controller",
        "omit": "__omit_place_holder__244f702061bd95e53eba844e6bbce396f8033152",
        "play_hosts": [
            "UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638"
        ],
        "playbook_dir": "/home/usrmainadmin/vmware_test",
        "role_names": [],
        "runtime.maxMemoryUsage": 8192,
        "vcenter_pass": < password >,
        "vcenter_server": < hostname >",
        "vcenter_user": "< username >"
    }
}

TASK [debug] ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
ok: [UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638] => {
    "guest.guestState": "VARIABLE IS NOT DEFINED!"
}
TASK [Make Snapshot] *******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
fatal: [UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638]: FAILED! => {"msg": "The conditional check 'guest.guestState == \"running\"' failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional (guest.guestState == \"running\"): 'guest' is undefined\n\nThe error appears to be in '/home/usrmainadmin/vmware_test/test-vcenter.yml': line 12, column 7, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n        var: guest.guestState\n    - name: Make Snapshot\n      ^ here\n"}

PLAY RECAP *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
UniFi Controller_423eea90-9d28-d823-a22e-d98eca9c9638 : ok=2    changed=0    unreachable=0    failed=1    skipped=0    rescued=0    ignored=0

I can get the name of the vm with the variable: name, but i also need the state to determine if the vm is running and guest.guestState returned undefined. How can i access those variables?


Solution

  • Because the vars has a special character in it that jinja2 normally reserves for member access, you'll need to use the dict key syntax for that var:

    - debug:
        msg: guest state = {{ vars["guest.guestState"] }}