1.. _vmware_guest_rename_virtual_machine:
2
3**********************************
4Rename an existing virtual machine
5**********************************
6
7.. contents:: Topics
8
9Introduction
10============
11
12This guide will show you how to utilize Ansible to rename an existing virtual machine.
13
14Scenario Requirements
15=====================
16
17* Software
18
19    * Ansible 2.5 or later must be installed.
20
21    * The Python module ``Pyvmomi`` must be installed on the Ansible control node (or Target host if not executing against localhost).
22
23    * We recommend installing the latest version with pip: ``pip install Pyvmomi`` (as the OS packages are usually out of date and incompatible).
24
25* Hardware
26
27    * At least one standalone ESXi server or
28
29    * vCenter Server with at least one ESXi server
30
31* Access / Credentials
32
33    * Ansible (or the target server) must have network access to the either vCenter server or the ESXi server
34
35    * Username and Password for vCenter or ESXi server
36
37    * Hosts in the ESXi cluster must have access to the datastore that the template resides on.
38
39Caveats
40=======
41
42- All variable names and VMware object names are case sensitive.
43- You need to use Python 2.7.9 version in order to use ``validate_certs`` option, as this version is capable of changing the SSL verification behaviours.
44
45
46Example Description
47===================
48
49With the following Ansible playbook you can rename an existing virtual machine by changing the UUID.
50
51.. code-block:: yaml
52
53    ---
54    - name: Rename virtual machine from old name to new name using UUID
55      gather_facts: no
56      vars_files:
57        - vcenter_vars.yml
58      vars:
59        ansible_python_interpreter: "/usr/bin/env python3"
60      hosts: localhost
61      tasks:
62        - set_fact:
63            vm_name: "old_vm_name"
64            new_vm_name: "new_vm_name"
65            datacenter: "DC1"
66            cluster_name: "DC1_C1"
67
68        - name: Get VM "{{ vm_name }}" uuid
69          vmware_guest_facts:
70            hostname: "{{ vcenter_server }}"
71            username: "{{ vcenter_user }}"
72            password: "{{ vcenter_pass }}"
73            validate_certs: False
74            datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
75            folder: "/{{datacenter}}/vm"
76            name: "{{ vm_name }}"
77          register: vm_facts
78
79        - name: Rename "{{ vm_name }}" to "{{ new_vm_name }}"
80          vmware_guest:
81            hostname: "{{ vcenter_server }}"
82            username: "{{ vcenter_user }}"
83            password: "{{ vcenter_pass }}"
84            validate_certs: False
85            cluster: "{{ cluster_name }}"
86            uuid: "{{ vm_facts.instance.hw_product_uuid }}"
87            name: "{{ new_vm_name }}"
88
89Since Ansible utilizes the VMware API to perform actions, in this use case it will be connecting directly to the API from localhost.
90
91This means that playbooks will not be running from the vCenter or ESXi Server.
92
93Note that this play disables the ``gather_facts`` parameter, since you don't want to collect facts about localhost.
94
95You can run these modules against another server that would then connect to the API if localhost does not have access to vCenter. If so, the required Python modules will need to be installed on that target server. We recommend installing the latest version with pip: ``pip install Pyvmomi`` (as the OS packages are usually out of date and incompatible).
96
97Before you begin, make sure you have:
98
99- Hostname of the ESXi server or vCenter server
100- Username and password for the ESXi or vCenter server
101- The UUID of the existing Virtual Machine you want to rename
102
103For now, you will be entering these directly, but in a more advanced playbook this can be abstracted out and stored in a more secure fashion using :ref:`ansible-vault` or using `Ansible Tower credentials <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible-tower/latest/html/userguide/credentials.html>`_.
104
105If your vCenter or ESXi server is not setup with proper CA certificates that can be verified from the Ansible server, then it is necessary to disable validation of these certificates by using the ``validate_certs`` parameter. To do this you need to set ``validate_certs=False`` in your playbook.
106
107Now you need to supply the information about the existing virtual machine which will be renamed. For renaming virtual machine, ``vmware_guest`` module uses VMware UUID, which is unique across vCenter environment. This value is autogenerated and can not be changed. You will use ``vmware_guest_facts`` module to find virtual machine and get information about VMware UUID of the virtual machine.
108
109This value will be used input for ``vmware_guest`` module. Specify new name to virtual machine which conforms to all VMware requirements for naming conventions as ``name`` parameter. Also, provide ``uuid`` as the value of VMware UUID.
110
111What to expect
112--------------
113
114Running this playbook can take some time, depending on your environment and network connectivity. When the run is complete you will see
115
116.. code-block:: yaml
117
118    {
119        "changed": true,
120        "instance": {
121            "annotation": "",
122            "current_snapshot": null,
123            "customvalues": {},
124            "guest_consolidation_needed": false,
125            "guest_question": null,
126            "guest_tools_status": "guestToolsNotRunning",
127            "guest_tools_version": "10247",
128            "hw_cores_per_socket": 1,
129            "hw_datastores": ["ds_204_2"],
130            "hw_esxi_host": "10.x.x.x",
131            "hw_eth0": {
132                "addresstype": "assigned",
133                "ipaddresses": [],
134                "label": "Network adapter 1",
135                "macaddress": "00:50:56:8c:b8:42",
136                "macaddress_dash": "00-50-56-8c-b8-42",
137                "portgroup_key": "dvportgroup-31",
138                "portgroup_portkey": "15",
139                "summary": "DVSwitch: 50 0c 3a 69 df 78 2c 7b-6e 08 0a 89 e3 a6 31 17"
140            },
141            "hw_files": ["[ds_204_2] old_vm_name/old_vm_name.vmx", "[ds_204_2] old_vm_name/old_vm_name.nvram", "[ds_204_2] old_vm_name/old_vm_name.vmsd", "[ds_204_2] old_vm_name/vmware.log", "[ds_204_2] old_vm_name/old_vm_name.vmdk"],
142            "hw_folder": "/DC1/vm",
143            "hw_guest_full_name": null,
144            "hw_guest_ha_state": null,
145            "hw_guest_id": null,
146            "hw_interfaces": ["eth0"],
147            "hw_is_template": false,
148            "hw_memtotal_mb": 1024,
149            "hw_name": "new_vm_name",
150            "hw_power_status": "poweredOff",
151            "hw_processor_count": 1,
152            "hw_product_uuid": "420cbebb-835b-980b-7050-8aea9b7b0a6d",
153            "hw_version": "vmx-13",
154            "instance_uuid": "500c60a6-b7b4-8ae5-970f-054905246a6f",
155            "ipv4": null,
156            "ipv6": null,
157            "module_hw": true,
158            "snapshots": []
159        }
160    }
161
162confirming that you've renamed the virtual machine.
163
164
165Troubleshooting
166---------------
167
168If your playbook fails:
169
170- Check if the values provided for username and password are correct.
171- Check if the datacenter you provided is available.
172- Check if the virtual machine specified exists and you have permissions to access the datastore.
173- Ensure the full folder path you specified already exists.
174