How to modify a virtual machine

• Introduction
• Scenario requirements

• How to add a CDROM drive to a virtual machine

  • Add a new SATA adapter
  • Result
  • Add a CDROM drive
  • Result

• How to attach a VM to a network

  • Attach a new NIC
  • Result
  • Adjust the configuration of the NIC
  • Result

• Increase the memory of the VM

  • Result

• Upgrade the hardware version of the VM

  • Result

• Adjust the number of CPUs of the VM

  • Result

• Remove a SATA controller

  • Result

• Attach a floppy drive

  • Result

• Attach a new disk

  • Result

Introduction

This section shows you how to use Ansible to modify an existing virtual machine.

Scenario requirements

You’ve already followed How to create a Virtual Machine and created a VM.

How to add a CDROM drive to a virtual machine

In this example, we use the vcenter_vm_hardware_* modules to add a new CDROM to an existing VM.

Add a new SATA adapter

First we create a new SATA adapter. We specify the pci_slot_number. This way if we run the task again it won’t do anything if there is already an adapter there.

- name: Create a SATA adapter at PCI slot 34
  vmware.vmware_rest.vcenter_vm_hardware_adapter_sata:
    vm: '{{ test_vm1_info.id }}'
    pci_slot_number: 34
  register: _sata_adapter_result_1

Result

{
    "value": {
        "bus": 0,
        "pci_slot_number": 34,
        "label": "SATA controller 0",
        "type": "AHCI"
    },
    "id": "15000",
    "changed": true
}

Add a CDROM drive

Now we can create the CDROM drive:

- name: Attach an ISO image to a guest VM
  vmware.vmware_rest.vcenter_vm_hardware_cdrom:
    vm: '{{ test_vm1_info.id }}'
    type: SATA
    sata:
      bus: 0
      unit: 2
    start_connected: true
    backing:
      iso_file: '[ro_datastore] fedora.iso'
      type: ISO_FILE
  register: _result

Result

{
    "value": {
        "start_connected": true,
        "backing": {
            "iso_file": "[ro_datastore] fedora.iso",
            "type": "ISO_FILE"
        },
        "allow_guest_control": false,
        "label": "CD/DVD drive 1",
        "state": "NOT_CONNECTED",
        "type": "SATA",
        "sata": {
            "bus": 0,
            "unit": 2
        }
    },
    "id": "16002",
    "changed": true
}

How to attach a VM to a network

Attach a new NIC

Here we attach the VM to the network (through the portgroup). We specify a pci_slot_number for the same reason.

The second task adjusts the NIC configuration.

- name: Attach a VM to a dvswitch
  vmware.vmware_rest.vcenter_vm_hardware_ethernet:
    vm: '{{ test_vm1_info.id }}'
    pci_slot_number: 4
    backing:
      type: DISTRIBUTED_PORTGROUP
      network: "{{ my_portgroup_info.dvs_portgroup_info.dvswitch1[0].key }}"
    start_connected: false
  register: vm_hardware_ethernet_1

Result

{
    "value": {
        "start_connected": false,
        "pci_slot_number": 4,
        "backing": {
            "connection_cookie": 2145337177,
            "distributed_switch_uuid": "50 33 88 3a 8c 6e f9 02-7a fd c2 c0 2c cf f2 ac",
            "distributed_port": "2",
            "type": "DISTRIBUTED_PORTGROUP",
            "network": "dvportgroup-1649"
        },
        "mac_address": "00:50:56:b3:49:5c",
        "mac_type": "ASSIGNED",
        "allow_guest_control": false,
        "wake_on_lan_enabled": false,
        "label": "Network adapter 1",
        "state": "NOT_CONNECTED",
        "type": "VMXNET3",
        "upt_compatibility_enabled": false
    },
    "id": "4000",
    "changed": true
}

Adjust the configuration of the NIC

- name: Turn the NIC's start_connected flag on
  vmware.vmware_rest.vcenter_vm_hardware_ethernet:
    nic: '{{ vm_hardware_ethernet_1.id }}'
    start_connected: true
    vm: '{{ test_vm1_info.id }}'

Result

{
    "id": "4000",
    "changed": true
}

Increase the memory of the VM

We can also adjust the amount of memory that we dedicate to our VM.

- name: Increase the memory of a VM
  vmware.vmware_rest.vcenter_vm_hardware_memory:
    vm: '{{ test_vm1_info.id }}'
    size_MiB: 1080
  register: _result

Result

{
    "id": null,
    "changed": true
}

Upgrade the hardware version of the VM

Here we use the vcenter_vm_hardware module to upgrade the version of the hardware:

- name: Upgrade the VM hardware version
  vmware.vmware_rest.vcenter_vm_hardware:
    upgrade_policy: AFTER_CLEAN_SHUTDOWN
    upgrade_version: VMX_13
    vm: '{{ test_vm1_info.id }}'
  register: _result

Result

{
    "id": null,
    "changed": true
}

Adjust the number of CPUs of the VM

You can use vcenter_vm_hardware_cpu for that:

- name: Dedicate one core to the VM
  vmware.vmware_rest.vcenter_vm_hardware_cpu:
    vm: '{{ test_vm1_info.id }}'
    count: 1
  register: _result

Result

{
    "value": {
        "hot_remove_enabled": false,
        "count": 1,
        "hot_add_enabled": false,
        "cores_per_socket": 1
    },
    "id": null,
    "changed": false
}

Remove a SATA controller

In this example, we remove the SATA controller of the PCI slot 34.

{
    "changed": true
}

Result

{
    "changed": true
}

Attach a floppy drive

Here we attach a floppy drive to a VM.

- name: Add a floppy disk drive
  vmware.vmware_rest.vcenter_vm_hardware_floppy:
    vm: '{{ test_vm1_info.id }}'
    allow_guest_control: true
  register: my_floppy_drive

Result

{
    "value": {
        "start_connected": false,
        "backing": {
            "auto_detect": true,
            "type": "HOST_DEVICE",
            "host_device": ""
        },
        "allow_guest_control": true,
        "label": "Floppy drive 1",
        "state": "NOT_CONNECTED"
    },
    "id": "8000",
    "changed": true
}

Attach a new disk

Here we attach a tiny disk to the VM. The capacity is in bytes.

- name: Create a new disk
  vmware.vmware_rest.vcenter_vm_hardware_disk:
    vm: '{{ test_vm1_info.id }}'
    type: SATA
    new_vmdk:
      capacity: 320000
  register: my_new_disk

Result

{
    "value": {
        "backing": {
            "vmdk_file": "[local] test_vm1_8/test_vm1_1.vmdk",
            "type": "VMDK_FILE"
        },
        "label": "Hard disk 2",
        "type": "SATA",
        "sata": {
            "bus": 0,
            "unit": 0
        },
        "capacity": 320000
    },
    "id": "16000",
    "changed": true
}