Configure Ansible Dynamic Inventory for VMware in Simple Steps — Video Tutorial

Introduction This guide shows you the best way to list all the virtual machines within your VMware infrastructure using Ansible. I'll provide a live Playbook and some simple Ansible code. Welcome to today's episode of Ansible Pilot—I'm Luca Berton. Ansible Dynamic Inventory for VMware - **Functionality**: Dynamically retrieves virtual machines as inventory hosts from the VMware environment. - **Plugin**: `community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory` - **Dependencies**: Python `pyVmomi`, `requests`, and vSphere Automation SDK The VMware dynamic inventory plugin interacts with VMware APIs to dynamically manage nodes with Ansible. The `community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory` plugin, part of the community-supported collection, allows you to run Ansible automation across your VMware virtual machines. Links - [`community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory`](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/community/vmware/vmware_vm_inventory_inventory.html) Demo Let’s configure Ansible Dynamic Inventory for VMware to list all virtual machines in your VMware infrastructure as an Ansible inventory. Configuration Files - **ansible.cfg**: ```yaml [inventory] enable_plugins = vmware_vm_inventory ``` - **inventory.vmware.yml**: ```yaml plugin: vmware_vm_inventory strict: False hostname: vmware.example.com username: username@vsphere.local password: MySecretPassword123 validate_certs: False with_tags: False groups: VMs: True ``` Listing Hosts - **Command**: ```bash $ ansible-inventory -i inventory.vmware.yml --list ``` - **Output**: ```bash { "VMs": { "hosts": [ "myvm_42254893-3793-0e4f-9f61-7c37d244c2a8" ] }, "_meta": { "hostvars": { "myvm_42254893-3793-0e4f-9f61-7c37d244c2a8": { "config": { ... }, ... } } }, "all": { "children": [ "VMs", ... ] }, ... } ``` Graphing Hosts - **Command**: ```bash $ ansible-inventory -i inventory.vmware.yml --graph ``` - **Output**: ```bash @all: |--@VMs: | |--myvm_42254893-3793-0e4f-9f61-7c37d244c2a8 |--@centos64Guest: | |--myvm_42254893-3793-0e4f-9f61-7c37d244c2a8 |--@poweredOff: | |--myvm_42254893-3793-0e4f-9f61-7c37d244c2a8 ``` [Code with ❤️ on GitHub](https://github.com/lucab85/ansible-pilot/) Conclusion Now you know how to configure Ansible Dynamic Inventory for VMware, enabling you to automate and manage your VMware virtual machines efficiently. Related Articles - [building an Ansible inventory](/articles/ansible-inventory-complete-guide) Complete Inventory Configuration ```yaml vmware_inventory.yml plugin: community.vmware.vmware_vm_inventory strict: false hostname: vcenter.example.com username: "{{ vault_vcenter_user }}" password: "{{ vault_vcenter_password }}" validate_certs: false Grou