{"id":1139,"date":"2020-12-19T20:46:42","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T20:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicktailor.com\/?p=1139"},"modified":"2024-04-30T05:49:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T05:49:01","slug":"how-to-deploy-vmware-vm-using-ansible-from-a-clone-templates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nicktailor.com\/tech-blog\/how-to-deploy-vmware-vm-using-ansible-from-a-clone-templates\/","title":{"rendered":"How to deploy Vmware VM’s using Ansible from Cloned Templates"},"content":{"rendered":"

QUICK OVERVIEW OF WHAT ANSIBLE IS..<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ansible is a radically simple IT automation engine that automates cloud provisioning, configuration management, application deployment, intra-service orchestration, and many other IT needs.<\/p>\n

Designed for multi-tier deployments since day one, Ansible models your IT infrastructure by describing how all of your systems inter-relate, rather than just managing one system at a time.<\/p>\n

It uses no agents and no additional custom security infrastructure, so it’s easy to deploy – and most importantly, it uses a very simple language (YAML, in the form of Ansible Playbooks) that allow you to describe your automation jobs in a way that approaches plain English.<\/p>\n

On this page, we’ll give you a really quick overview so you can see things in context. For more detail, hop over to docs.ansible.com.<\/p>\n

EFFICIENT ARCHITECTURE<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ansible works by connecting to your nodes and pushing out small programs, called “Ansible modules” to them. These programs are written to be resource models of the desired state of the system. Ansible then executes these modules (over SSH by default<\/span>), and<\/span> removes them when finished.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your library of modules can reside on any machine, and there are no servers, daemons, or databases required. <\/span>Typically<\/span> you’ll work with your <\/span>favorite<\/span> terminal program, a text editor, and probably a version control system to keep track of changes to your content.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Okay so what that actually is saying is. Ansible has a whole library of python modules that come out of the box coupled with a <\/span>huge community of <\/span>open source<\/span> python modules to do all sorts of tasks to automate infrastructure.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>You can call these modules by writing <\/span>yaml<\/span> code, inside your <\/span>yaml<\/span> code when you call a specific module, you can the pass specific variables to that module to do specific things defined by the python module.
\nExample power on and off a vm, or connect or disconnect network, etc.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For the purposes of this <\/span>post<\/span> we are <\/span>are<\/span> going to dive into <\/span>using <\/span>\u201c<\/span>vmware_guest<\/span>\u201d module<\/span> by way of using http <\/span>api authentication<\/span> session & cookies<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong> There are many other python modules which you can search <\/span>in the<\/span> ansible <\/span>documentation and or ansible-galaxy<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/docs.ansible.com\/ansible\/latest\/collections\/community\/vmware\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Now it <\/span>definitely helps<\/span> to be able to code in python<\/span> or at least be able to read python code<\/span>, however completely not necessary. Anyone with basic understanding of bash scripting can learn ansible. I could teach a newbie ansible in a couple days. <\/span> Sharing is caring.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anyone who says otherwise\u2026\u2026<\/span>don\u2019t<\/span> hire them. <\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ansible Setup: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Now this post assumes you already have ansible setup and are running a newer version. If not you will need to review post on how to setup ansible before you can proceed with this.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Pre-Module install Steps: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Requirements<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>python >= 2.6<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>PyVmomi<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>PIP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Community.vmware<\/span> library of python modules<\/span><\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
1.<\/span>Okay so you if <\/span>your<\/span> on our ansible machine as root<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Run the<\/span> following this should install the modules you need<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>ansible-galaxy<\/span> <\/span>collection<\/span> <\/span>install<\/span> <\/span>community.vmware<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Note: Depending on where you ran this from. If you ran this from \/home\/root. You can find all your python modules in \u2018root<\/span>\/.ansible<\/span>\/collections\/ansible_collections\/community\/vmware\/plugins\/modules\u2019<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>You will probably need to install python 2.6 or greater<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Redhat : Yum install python<\/span> (should get you the latest version)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Okay you may also <\/span>neeed<\/span> to install pip<\/span><\/div>\n

Note: Now on centos <\/em><\/span>its<\/em><\/span> not available out of the box<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span>Centos 7 PIP install<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
1.<\/span>sudo<\/span> yum install <\/span>epel<\/span>-release<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
2.<\/span>sudo<\/span> yum install python-pip<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
3.<\/span>pip \u2013version<\/span> (verify its installed)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
4.<\/span>sudo<\/span> yum install python-<\/span>devel<\/span> (these are for building python modules<\/span>)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
5.<\/span>sudo<\/span> yum <\/span>groupinstall<\/span> ‘development tools’ <\/span>(these are for building python <\/span>modules(<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span>Install <\/span>PyVmomi: <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
1.<\/span>pip install <\/span>\u2013upgrade <\/span>pyvmomi<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It will look like<\/span>\u2026..<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[<\/span>root@nick<\/span> roles]#<\/span> pip install –upgrade <\/span>pyvmomi<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Collecting pyvmomi<\/p>\n

Downloading https:\/\/files.pythonhosted.org\/packages\/ba\/69\/4e8bfd6b0aae49382e1ab9e3ce7de9ea6318eac007b3076e6006dbe5a7cd\/pyvmomi-7.0.1.tar.gz (584kB)<\/p>\n

100% |\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588| 593kB 861kB\/s<\/p>\n

Cache entry deserialization failed, entry ignored<\/p>\n

Collecting requests>=2.3.0 (from pyvmomi)<\/p>\n

Downloading https:\/\/files.pythonhosted.org\/packages\/29\/c1\/24814557f1d22c56d50280771a17307e6bf87b70727d975fd6b2ce6b014a\/requests-2.25.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl (61kB)<\/p>\n

100% |\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588| 61kB 3.5MB\/s<\/p>\n

Collecting six>=1.7.3 (from pyvmomi)<\/p>\n

Downloading https:\/\/files.pythonhosted.org\/packages\/ee\/ff\/48bde5c0f013094d729fe4b0316ba2a24774b3ff1c52d924a8a4cb04078a\/six-1.15.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl<\/p>\n

Cache entry deserialization failed, entry ignored<\/p>\n

Collecting certifi>=2017.4.17 (from requests>=2.3.0->pyvmomi)<\/p>\n

Downloading https:\/\/files.pythonhosted.org\/packages\/5e\/a0\/5f06e1e1d463903cf0c0eebeb751791119ed7a4b3737fdc9a77f1cdfb51f\/certifi-2020.12.5-py2.py3-none-any.whl (147kB)<\/p>\n

100% |\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588| 153kB 6.5MB\/s<\/p>\n

Cache entry deserialization failed, entry ignored<\/p>\n

Collecting urllib3<1.27,>=1.21.1 (from requests>=2.3.0->pyvmomi)<\/p>\n

Downloading https:\/\/files.pythonhosted.org\/packages\/f5\/71\/45d36a8df68f3ebb098d6861b2c017f3d094538c0fb98fa61d4dc43e69b9\/urllib3-1.26.2-py2.py3-none-any.whl (136kB)<\/p>\n

100% |\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588| 143kB 6.9MB\/s<\/p>\n

Cache entry deserialization failed, entry ignored<\/p>\n

Collecting idna<3,>=2.5 (from requests>=2.3.0->pyvmomi)<\/p>\n

Downloading https:\/\/files.pythonhosted.org\/packages\/a2\/38\/928ddce2273eaa564f6f50de919327bf3a00f091b5baba8dfa9460f3a8a8\/idna-2.10-py2.py3-none-any.whl (58kB)<\/p>\n

100% |\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588| 61kB 4.4MB\/s<\/p>\n

Cache entry deserialization failed, entry ignored<\/p>\n

Collecting chardet<5,>=3.0.2 (from requests>=2.3.0->pyvmomi)<\/p>\n

Downloading https:\/\/files.pythonhosted.org\/packages\/19\/c7\/fa589626997dd07bd87d9269342ccb74b1720384a4d739a1872bd84fbe68\/chardet-4.0.0-py2.py3-none-any.whl (178kB)<\/p>\n

100% |\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588| 184kB 3.5MB\/s<\/p>\n

Installing collected packages: certifi, urllib3, idna, chardet, requests, six, pyvmomi<\/p>\n

Found existing installation: certifi 2018.4.16<\/p>\n

Uninstalling certifi-2018.4.16:<\/p>\n

Successfully uninstalled certifi-2018.4.16<\/p>\n

Found existing installation: urllib3 1.22<\/p>\n

Uninstalling urllib3-1.22:<\/p>\n

Successfully uninstalled urllib3-1.22<\/p>\n

Found existing installation: idna 2.6<\/p>\n

Uninstalling idna-2.6:<\/p>\n

Successfully uninstalled idna-2.6<\/p>\n

Found existing installation: chardet 3.0.4<\/p>\n

Uninstalling chardet-3.0.4:<\/p>\n

Successfully uninstalled chardet-3.0.4<\/p>\n

Found existing installation: requests 2.18.4<\/p>\n

Uninstalling requests-2.18.4:<\/p>\n

Successfully uninstalled requests-2.18.4<\/p>\n

Found existing installation: six 1.9.0<\/p>\n

Uninstalling six-1.9.0:<\/p>\n

Successfully uninstalled six-1.9.0<\/p>\n

Running setup.py install for pyvmomi … done<\/p>\n

Successfully installed certifi-2020.12.5 chardet-4.0.0 idna-2.10 pyvmomi-7.0.1 requests-2.25.1 six-1.15.0 urllib3-1.26.2<\/p>\n

You are using pip version 10.0.1, however version 20.3.3 is available.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You should consider upgrading via the ‘pip install –upgrade pip’ command. <\/strong><\/p>\n

(You noticed this at the bottom)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of the time you need to upgrade pip for the modules to install as python is always evolving at a fast pace<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So run<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
2.<\/span>pip install \u2013upgrade pip<\/span><\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[root@nick roles]# pip install –upgrade pip<\/p>\n

Collecting pip<\/p>\n

Downloading https:\/\/files.pythonhosted.org\/packages\/54\/eb\/4a3642e971f404d69d4f6fa3885559d67562801b99d7592487f1ecc4e017\/pip-20.3.3-py2.py3-none-any.whl (1.5MB)<\/p>\n

100% |\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588\u2588| 1.5MB 799kB\/s<\/p>\n

Installing collected packages: pip<\/p>\n

Found existing installation: pip 8.1.2<\/p>\n

Uninstalling pip-8.1.2:<\/p>\n

Successfully uninstalled pip-8.1.2<\/p>\n

Successfully installed pip-10.0.1<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You get the idea<\/span>\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span>Vpshere<\/span> – <\/span>Pre-<\/span>requistes<\/span> for this to work<\/span>: <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You will need a <\/span>vmware<\/span> user who has <\/span>api<\/span> access permission for the following items. If the <\/span>user<\/span> you have setup in <\/span>vcenter<\/span> is unable to see these items. This module will fail. You do <\/span>not need<\/span> a user with full admin privileges, which is what a lot of documentation says online cryptically. I have tested this and confirmed that is not the case. <\/span>Obivously<\/span>, its way better to just give admin privileges to the user and trust the people you hire and use ansible vault to hide the credentials. Which we will get into later\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You can also check these parameters in your code by validating using assertions to see if they are all working with your user prior to moving on the next task.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– vSphere API configuration<\/span><\/p>\n

– VM details<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>vcenter_host<\/span><\/p>\n

– cluster<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>datacenter<\/span><\/p>\n

– folder<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>vm_disk_size<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>vm_cpu_count<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>vm_memory<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>vm_vlan<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>vm_vlan_name<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>vm_dvswitch<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>vm_datatstore<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/span>vmware<\/span> tools and or <\/span>open_vm_tools<\/span> must <\/span>installed<\/span> the clone template (super important)<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Okay so now were on setting up the <\/span>vmware_guest<\/span> module using <\/span>yaml<\/span> code.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Setting <\/span>vmware_guest<\/span> module on ansible: <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now what I like to do is set everything up as a role<\/span> in ansible<\/span> to call in your playbooks, it keeps things cleaner and <\/span>its<\/span> much easier to find spacing mistakes in your code when writin<\/span>g in <\/span>yaml<\/span>. Lots of <\/span>NB<\/span>To<\/span> aid in checking for mistakes. But ultimately its experience. <\/span>I\u2019m<\/span> a bit of both but I tend just pop a vi open and just write and much in there <\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
1.<\/span>Inside your \/etc\/ansible<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Create a directory called roles<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>mkdir<\/span> roles<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
3.<\/span>Next you want to move inside the that directo<\/span>ry and create a name directory for this role and then go inside that directory <\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
i.<\/span>cd roles<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
ii.<\/span>mkdir<\/span> ansible-<\/span>vmware<\/span>-deploy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
iii.<\/span>cd ansible-<\/span>vmware<\/span>-deploy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
4.<\/span>Next <\/span>create the following <\/span>direcorties<\/span> inside \u2018ansible-<\/span>vmware<\/span>-deploy\u2019<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
iv.<\/span>mkdir<\/span> defaults<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
v.<\/span>mkdir<\/span> tasks<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
vi.<\/span>mkdir<\/span> meta<\/span> (this is <\/span>really only<\/span> needed for when you\u2019re setting repositories in <\/span>bickbucket<\/span>, git, etc)<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
5.<\/span>move into the <\/span>tasks<\/span> directory <\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
vii.<\/span>cd tasks<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Note: Now we do most of our work in this directory. Your primary <\/span>yaml<\/span> file is always called \u201c<\/span>main.yml<\/span>\u201d Your playbooks always look for this file when trying to call python modules.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
6.<\/span>Open your <\/span>favorite<\/span> editor vi, nano, joe, visual studio (whatever)<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
a.<\/span>Call the file \u201c<\/span>main.yml<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
b.<\/span>Inside the file\u2026<\/span><\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Setting up the <\/span>yaml<\/span>: <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1. First stage of the <\/span>yaml<\/span> is use the http login to the <\/span>vcenter<\/span> host and successfully authenticate and then grab those session cookies to carry out the next set of tasks which utilise the <\/span>vmware_guest<\/span> module.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

– name: Login into vCenter and get cookies<\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span>delegate_<\/span>to<\/span>:<\/span> localhost<\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span>uri<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

url: https:\/<\/span>\/{<\/span>{ <\/span>vcenter_host<\/span> }}\/rest\/com\/<\/span>vmware<\/span>\/cis\/session<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span>force_basic_auth<\/span>: yes<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span>validate_certs<\/span>: no<\/span><\/p>\n

method: POST<\/span><\/p>\n

user: ‘<\/span>{{ <\/span>vcenter<\/span>_username<\/span> }}’<\/span><\/p>\n

password: ‘<\/span>{{ <\/span>vcenter<\/span>_password<\/span> }}’<\/span><\/p>\n

register: login<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2. Okay so this where we are now actually calling the <\/span>vmware_guest<\/span> module in <\/span>yaml<\/span>. You can see that the code has a lot of areas that are <\/span>variablelised<\/span>. <\/span>These variable<\/span> are passed in a couple of ways. <\/span>You need to pass the defaults through the defaults directory we created earlier, and the second is host specific variables which will be under your <\/span>host_vars<\/span> directory under your inventory structure, which we will get into later.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note: Now remember this is code to deploy from an existing cloned template you have sitting on datastore somewhere in your environment. The process to deploy a <\/em><\/span>vm<\/em><\/span> using kickstart using DHCP that\u2019s bit different to setup <\/em><\/span> I wrote this to help out those people who <\/em><\/span>cant<\/em><\/span> see the wisdom and efficiency of having <\/em><\/span>DHCP\u2019d<\/em><\/span> deployments <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You will be passing these variables<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– name: Create a VM<\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span>vmware_guest<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

hostname: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vcenter<\/span>_host<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

username: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vcenter<\/span>_username<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

password: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vcenter<\/span>_password<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span>validate_certs<\/span>: False<\/span><\/p>\n

cluster: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vcenter<\/span>_cluster<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span>datacenter<\/span>: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vcenter<\/span>_dc<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note: name: This will be the name of the new <\/em><\/span>vm<\/em><\/span> created. Keep in mind the <\/em><\/span>vm<\/em><\/span> host will also be setup with a <\/em><\/span>shortname<\/em><\/span> for the hostname of the server<\/em><\/span> not the FQDN<\/em><\/span>. You can probably fix this using <\/em><\/span>vmshell<\/em><\/span> or I used <\/em><\/span>a completely separate<\/em><\/span> role to setup the network for physical machines which uses jinja templates and inside the role I passed the new name as a variable. But <\/em><\/span>that\u2019s<\/em><\/span> for another post <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

name: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>inventory<\/span>_hostname<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

folder: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_folder<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

template: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>VMTemplate<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

state: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_state<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

Note: <\/span>guest_id<\/span>: this is what kind of OS will the VM Run<\/span>, almost every hypervisor asks that prior to creating a <\/span>vm<\/span>. You can find the list online.<\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/span>guest_id<\/span>: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_guest_id<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

Note: d<\/em><\/span>isk: <\/em><\/span>this section you could technically pass it through as a variable in your <\/em><\/span>host_vars<\/em><\/span> on the specific hosts, but since were using a template. I kept these parameters static here inside the role.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

disk:<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>size_gb<\/span>: 80<\/span><\/p>\n

type: thin<\/span><\/p>\n

datastore: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_datastore<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span>size_gb<\/span>: 100<\/span><\/p>\n

type: thin<\/span><\/p>\n

datastore: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_datastore<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

hardware:<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>memory_mb<\/span>: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_memory<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>num_cpus<\/span>: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_cpu_count<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>scsi<\/span>: paravirtual<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note: Customization: This section is very important because without it your<\/em><\/span> dns<\/em><\/span> in \/etc\/<\/em><\/span>resolv.conf<\/em><\/span> will not be configured correctly. A lot of people have a hell of time with this on the net, as the parsing of this in <\/em><\/span>yaml<\/em><\/span> is bit tricky, and people resort to using <\/em><\/span>vm_guest_file<\/em><\/span> to update the \/etc\/<\/em><\/span>resolv.conf<\/em><\/span>, which sucks because now you need the root\/pass via <\/em><\/span>ssh<\/em><\/span>. <\/em><\/span>My way will work <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n


\ncustomization:<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>dns_servers<\/span>: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_dns_servers<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>dns_suffix<\/span>: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_dns_suffix<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n


\nNote: networks: This section is the section which will use <\/em><\/span>vmware<\/em><\/span>-tools or <\/em><\/span>open_vm_tools<\/em><\/span> to update the network config on host after powering on the <\/em><\/span>vm, but before the OS is booted,<\/em><\/span> provided you said to power it on in your <\/em><\/span>host_var<\/em><\/span> file. This section helps people get around the issue of having no DHCP and having to deploy each server using the same static address on a dedicated <\/em><\/span>vlan<\/em><\/span>. This section will go and update the <\/em><\/span>vm<\/em><\/span> network parameters and the template <\/em><\/span>vm<\/em><\/span> will deploy on a  whatever <\/em><\/span>vlan<\/em><\/span>, with different <\/em><\/span>ip<\/em><\/span>, gateway, netmask. <\/em><\/span> It will also register a new <\/em><\/span>mac address to the <\/em><\/span>vm<\/em><\/span>, so you <\/em><\/span>don\u2019t<\/em><\/span> end up with <\/em><\/span>vm\u2019s<\/em><\/span> with duplicate mac-addresses. Lastly, it will update \/etc\/hosts with the new ip and shortname of the server<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n


\nnetworks:<\/span><\/p>\n

– name: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_vlan_name<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

type: static<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>dvswitch_name<\/span>: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_dvswitch<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>ip<\/span>: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_ip<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

netmask: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_netmask<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

gateway: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_gateway<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/span>start_connected<\/span>: “<\/span>{{ <\/span>vm<\/span>_connected<\/span> }}”<\/span><\/p>\n

# <\/span>wait_for_ip_address<\/span>: yes<\/span> (this is if you are using DHCP)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

  <\/span>delegate_<\/span>to<\/span>:<\/span> localhost<\/span><\/p>\n

register: <\/span>vm_deploy<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Note<\/em><\/span>: This section is just <\/em><\/span>spits<\/em><\/span> out verbose information on the how the build went and the mac-address of the <\/em><\/span>vm<\/em><\/span>. This hand to pay attention to so you can ensure your template mac and your new <\/em><\/span>vm<\/em><\/span> don\u2019t<\/em><\/span> have duplicate macs. If you do. You will need to go into <\/em><\/span>vshere<\/em><\/span> find the VM. Remove the network and readd it manually, to register a new mac<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– debug: <\/span><\/p>\n

var: vm_<\/span>deploy.instance<\/span>.hw_eth0.macaddress<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– debug:<\/span><\/p>\n

var: <\/span>deploy_vm<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

– debug:<\/span><\/p>\n

var: mac<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
7.<\/span>Okay <\/span>so now we need to setup our defaults to pass the to role we just created.<\/span><\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>So<\/span> go into your defaults directory for the role<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>cd \/etc\/ansible\/roles\/<\/span>ansible-<\/span>vmware<\/span>-deploy\/defaults<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Create another file called \u2018<\/span>main.yml<\/span>\u2019 <\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Vi <\/span>main.yml<\/span> and copy the contents below.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Not<\/em><\/span>: Its easier to put all your defaults here and then comment out the ones you want to pass through your <\/em><\/span>host_vars<\/em><\/span> specific files after you got it working the way you want.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

—<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

vm_disks: 100<\/p>\n

vm_cpu_count: 2<\/p>\n

vm_state: present<\/p>\n

vm_memory: 2048<\/p>\n

#vm_datastore: vmfs-datastore1234<\/p>\n

vcenter_username: BruceWayne<\/p>\n

vcenter_password: ( you<\/span> will put <\/span>ansible_vault<\/span> encrypted variable here<\/span>, for now just put in your password for tes<\/span>t<\/span>ing)<\/span><\/p>\n

vm_dvswitch: DvSwitch<\/p>\n

vcenter_cluster: ProdCluster<\/p>\n

vcenter_host: vcenter.nicktailor.com<\/p>\n

vcenter_dc: London<\/p>\n

#vm_folder: \/Production\/Unix\/<\/p>\n

#vm_vlan_name: VM76123<\/p>\n

vm_guest_id: rhel7_64Guest<\/p>\n

#VMTemplate: redhat-template2020<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Save the file defaults\/main.yml<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ansible Hosts and Inventory:<\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Okay so this is where everyone handles things uniquely. I personally like to take the approach of creating inventory based on environment. Its logical and the best way to manage hosts in very large infrastructures. <\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So if you have DEV\/STAGING\/PRODUCTION as your environments. Then I would set it up as such<\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      1. Inside your \/etc\/ansible directory create the following<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Mkdir<\/span> -p \/etc\/ansible\/inventory<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Mkdir<\/span> -p \/etc\/ansible\/inventory\/DEV<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Mkdir<\/span> -p \/etc\/ansible\/inventory\/STAGING<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Mkdir<\/span> -p \/etc\/ansible\/inventory\/PRODUCTION<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
2.<\/span>Inside each environment(DEV,STAGING,PROODUCTION) one you want to create the following:<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Mkdir<\/span> -p \/etc\/ansible\/inventory\/DEV<\/span>\/<\/span>group_vars<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\u25e6<\/span> <\/span>This is where you can pass group variables if you have hosts setup as groups in your hosts file that we just created.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Mkdir<\/span> -p \/etc\/ansible\/inventory\/DEV<\/span>\/<\/span>host<\/span>_vars<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\u25e6<\/span> <\/span>This is where you pass specific variables per host<\/span> instead of groups<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Touch <\/span>\/etc\/ansible\/inventory\/DEV\/hos<\/span>ts<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
3.<\/span>Open up<\/span> one of the host files in your <\/span>favorite<\/span> editor vi, nano, joe, visual studio, etc\u2026.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>vi \/etc\/ansible\/inventory\/DEV\/hosts<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For the purposes of this <\/span>post<\/span> we are just going to
\ncreate one group
\n=====================================<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

[All]<\/span><\/p>\n

nicktestvm.nicktailor.com <\/span>ansible_host<\/span>=192.168.1.200<\/span><\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Save file<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Note: <\/span>ansible_host<\/span>=(<\/span>ip<\/span>) This is used when you want to override <\/span>dns<\/span> of the host and tell ansible. Do not resolve the <\/span>dns<\/span> this host only connect to this <\/span>ip<\/span>. You don\u2019t need this here, however if <\/span>your\u2019re<\/span> using \u2018a\u2019 static address to deploy <\/span>vm\u2019s<\/span> initially and not using <\/span>vmwre_tools<\/span> to configure the <\/span>network, and<\/span> went with SSH after<\/span> for configuration of the host<\/span>. Then it will need to know which host to connect to setup the network. <\/span>So<\/span> I just like to have there in<\/span> case I want to temporary tell ansible look here for this server.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
4.<\/span>Now we want to create <\/span>host_var<\/span> for the specific VM host we want to deploy. <\/span><\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Create a <\/span>host_var<\/span> file for the new host you want to <\/span>deplo<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Vi <\/span><\/strong>\/etc\/ansible\/inventory\/DEV<\/span>\/<\/span>host_vars<\/span>\/<\/span>nicktestvm<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span>Note: You can see all the variables that were in the role and defaults are now being passed through here for this specific host. It <\/em><\/span>has to<\/em><\/span> be done in this fashion for it all work correctly. If you pass all this through the role may <\/em><\/span>crap<\/em><\/span> out on you.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

#vm_requirements<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

vm_ip<\/span>:<\/span> 192.168.1.86<\/span><\/p>\n

vm_netmask<\/span>: 255.255.255.0<\/span><\/p>\n

vm_gateway<\/span>: <\/span>192.168.1.1<\/span><\/p>\n

vm_vlan_name<\/span>: <\/span>VM76123<\/p>\n

VMTemplate<\/span>: <\/span>redhat-template2020<\/span><\/p>\n

vm_folder<\/span>: <\/span>\/Production\/Unix<\/span><\/p>\n

vm_state<\/span>: <\/span>poweredon<\/span><\/p>\n

vm_connected<\/span>: true<\/span><\/p>\n

vm_datastore<\/span>: vmfs-datastore1234<\/span><\/p>\n

note: <\/em><\/span>vm_dns_servers<\/em><\/span>: this section is very important. This was the only way I could get the <\/em><\/span>dns<\/em><\/span> server to parse and update the \/etc\/<\/em><\/span>resolv.conf<\/em><\/span> properly. If you <\/em><\/span>list<\/em><\/span> them out individually as one <\/em><\/span>lineers<\/em><\/span>. It seems to be a bug and will simply empty out the file, which will leave your vm unable to resolve dns.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

vm_dns_servers<\/span>: [<\/span>8.8.8.1<\/span>, <\/span>8.8.8.2<\/span>]<\/span><\/p>\n

vm_dns_suffix<\/span>: <\/span>nicktailor.co.uk<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Save the file<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Setting Ansible Vault and Encrypted variables<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
5.<\/span>Setting up the <\/span>vmware<\/span>-user password to be encrypted using ansible vault. Now this can be easily decrypted by anyone who has the vault password. But the benefit is that <\/span>its<\/span> not directly visible in your open code for prying as eyes. Which is just a generally good idea<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>So<\/span> you want to create vault password for the variable in side defaults which was \u201c<\/span>vcenter_password<\/span>\u201d. Keep in mind variable is <\/span>apart<\/span> of the encrypted process.<\/span>
\n
\nthere a couple of ways to do this you can do it via file, or via prompt. <\/span>I\u2019m<\/span> going to show you how to do it via file.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>First create a vault password file<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Echo \u201cpassword\u201d >> vault.pw.txt<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Cat vault.pw.txt (to ensure the password is now there) <\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\u25e6<\/span> <\/span>This the password for the<\/span> ansible<\/span> vault not the password for your <\/span>vcenter_password<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>Now encrypt the <\/span>vcenter_password<\/span> as a <\/span>varible<\/span> inside the vault as id1. It good to use id\u2019s <\/span>incase<\/span> you <\/span>you<\/span> want to have multiple passwords inside your vault.<\/span><\/div>\n

Note: the \u2013-name is the variable you want to pass in your code. So whatever you call that <\/em><\/span>has to<\/em><\/span> be there.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

ansible-vault <\/span>encrypt_string<\/span> –vault-id 1@vault.pass.txt ‘<\/span>vcenter<\/span>-password-here’ –name ‘<\/span>vcenter_password<\/span>‘<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

vcenter_password<\/span>: !vault<\/span> |<\/span><\/p>\n

$ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.<\/span>2;AES<\/span>256;1<\/span><\/p>\n

31623638366337643437633065623538663565336232333863303763336364396438663032363364<\/span><\/p>\n

3665376363663839306165663435356365643965343364310a313832393261363466393237666666<\/span><\/p>\n

36666437626563386366653938383565663361646333333732336439356633616231653639626465<\/span><\/p>\n

3130656134383365320a323032366238303366336562653865663130333963316237393839373830<\/span><\/p>\n

65396139323739323266643961653766333633366638336435613933373966643561<\/span><\/p>\n

Encryption successful<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
6.<\/span>Okay now you want copy <\/span>by highlighting this section below<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

vcenter_password<\/span>: !vault<\/span> |<\/span><\/p>\n

$ANSIBLE_VAULT;1.<\/span>2;AES<\/span>256;1<\/span><\/p>\n

31623638366337643437633065623538663565336232333863303763336364396438663032363364<\/span><\/p>\n

3665376363663839306165663435356365643965343364310a313832393261363466393237666666<\/span><\/p>\n

36666437626563386366653938383565663361646333333732336439356633616231653639626465<\/span><\/p>\n

3130656134383365320a323032366238303366336562653865663130333963316237393839373830<\/span><\/p>\n

65396139323739323266643961653766333633366638336435613933373966643561<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>open your \/etc\/ansible\/roles\/ansible-<\/span>vmware<\/span>-deploy\/defaults\/<\/span>main.yml<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\uf0fc<\/span>vi <\/span><\/strong>etc\/ansible\/roles\/ansible-<\/span>vmware<\/span>-deploy\/defaults\/<\/span>main.yml<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\u2022<\/span> <\/span>Next replace the whole \u2018<\/span>vcenter_password<\/span>\u2019 line with the highlight section above and save the file.<\/span><\/div>\n