VMware Control Center

This task allows the user to see all the virtual machines listed on vCenter and perform individual actions on them:

Power on
Power off
Reset
Shutdown (Via guest OS, only when VMware Tools are installed)
Reboot (Via guest OS, only when VMware Tools are installed)
Create a snapshot
Restore a snapshot

It requires credentials to connect to vCenter.

Playbook Files

# The task was built to work with these plugin versions.
plugins:
  ppa: ~3
  ppa_tools: ~3
  hashicorp_vault: ~4
  vmware: ~1

steps:

  - name: Introduction
    actions:

      - ppa.ui.output_markdown:
          doc: >

            {{ globals.icons.vmware.full }}

            # Vmware Control Center

            In this playbook, we will:

            1. Safely retrieve vCenter connection details from Hashicorp Vault.

            2. Display all the discoverable virtual machines in a table.

            3. Interact with any virtual machine to perform one of the following operations:

               - Power on

               - Power off

               - Reset

               - Shutdown (Via guest OS, only when Vmware Tools are installed)

               - Reboot (Via guest OS, only when Vmware Tools are installed)

               - Create a snapshot

               - Restore a snapshot

      - ppa.ui.input_accept:
          text: Start

  - name: Get credentials
    actions:

      - hashicorp_vault.key_value.read_secret_keys:
          secret: vcenter_connection
          reason: Getting Vcenter connection details
          keys:
            - address
          sensitive_keys:
            - username
            - password
          create_missing: true
        save: vcenter_connection_info

  - name: Discover all virtual machines
    actions:

      - vmware.vms.get_all:
        load:
          vcenter_connection: vcenter_connection_info
        save: all_vms

  - name: Virtual machine operations
    until: not perform_another_operation
    actions:

      - set:
          name: failed_operation
          value: false

      # Display VM choice

      - ppa_tools.generate.table_from_dictionaries:
          header:
            - Name
            - UUID
            - Operating System
            - IP Address
            - Power State
            - Last Booted
          keys:
            - name
            - uuid
            - operating_system
            - ip_address
            - power_state
            - last_booted_at
        load:
          dictionaries: all_vms
        save: all_vms_table

      - ppa.ui.input_table:
          text: Chosen virtual machine
          minimum: 1
          maximum: 1
        load:
          header: all_vms_table.header
          rows: all_vms_table.rows
        save: chosen_vm_indices

      - set:
          name: chosen_vm_uuid
        load:
          value: all_vms[chosen_vm_indices[0]]['uuid']

      - ppa.ui.input_choice:
          text: What operation do you want to perform?
          element_id: vm_operation_choice
          options:
            - Power on
            - Power off
            - Reset
            - Shutdown
            - Reboot
            - Create snapshot
            - Restore snapshot
            - None of the above (Cancel)
        save: vm_operation

      # VM operations

      - vmware.vms.power_on:
        load:
          vm_uuid: chosen_vm_uuid
          vcenter_connection: vcenter_connection_info
        when: vm_operation == "Power on"

      - vmware.vms.power_off:
        load:
          vm_uuid: chosen_vm_uuid
          vcenter_connection: vcenter_connection_info
        when: vm_operation == "Power off"

      - vmware.vms.reset:
        load:
          vm_uuid: chosen_vm_uuid
          vcenter_connection: vcenter_connection_info
        when: vm_operation == "Reset"

      - vmware.vms.shutdown:
        load:
          vm_uuid: chosen_vm_uuid
          vcenter_connection: vcenter_connection_info
        when: vm_operation == "Shutdown"

      - vmware.vms.reboot:
        load:
          vm_uuid: chosen_vm_uuid
          vcenter_connection: vcenter_connection_info
        when: vm_operation == "Reboot"

      - ppa.ui.input_text:
          text: Enter snapshot name
        when: vm_operation == "Create snapshot" or vm_operation == "Restore snapshot"
        save: snapshot_name

      - vmware.vms.create_snapshot:
        load:
          vm_uuid: chosen_vm_uuid
          snapshot_name: snapshot_name
          vcenter_connection: vcenter_connection_info
        when: vm_operation == "Create snapshot"

      - vmware.vms.restore_snapshot:
        load:
          vm_uuid: chosen_vm_uuid
          snapshot_name: snapshot_name
          vcenter_connection: vcenter_connection_info
        when: vm_operation == "Restore snapshot"

      # Perform another operation?

      - ppa.ui.input_confirm:
          text: Do you want to perform an operation on another virtual machine?
          element_id: next_operation
          confirm: Yes
          cancel: No
        save: perform_another_operation

Running this Playbook

Click download playbook
Import the downloaded file via the Playbooks page on PPA
Build the playbook from the Edit & Build tab
Run the playbook from the Preview & Deploy tab

* Requires PPA v2.9.x or newer

Integrations

PPA User Interface
PPA Tools Generate
Hashicorp Vault Key-Value engine
VMware Virtual Machines

Required Vault Details

vCenter

Address
Username
Password

The set of virtual machines you can see and manage depend on this user's permissions on vCenter.

Vault Configuration Wizard

The first time you run a task built from this playbook, PPA will check the required Vault details exist.

If they don't exist, PPA will ask you to supply the details at the start of the task.

Below you can see a user providing details the first time they run an Active Directory task.

vault-config-wizard

Once the details are added to Vault, the task won't ask for them again.

If you don't know the required details, ask an administrator to run the task or configure Vault manually.

What the Task Does

Once started this task will:

Ask user to provide vCenter access credentials
Display all the discoverable virtual machines in a table.
Interact with any virtual machine to perform one of the following operations:
- Power on
- Power off
- Reset
- Shutdown (Via guest OS, only when VMware Tools are installed)
- Reboot (Via guest OS, only when VMware Tools are installed)
- Create a snapshot
- Restore a snapshot

See our other playbooks

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Documentation

Installation Guide
See how easy it is to get started with our installation guide
Playbooks
View our task writing reference guide
Plugins
See how to integrate with different systems using our plugins reference guide.