VMware VM creation works but on boot the network adapter is disconnected

[N Owens]

I'm using Ansible Tower 3.8.2.

Ansible core is 2.9.15

I'm using the vmware_rest collection.  

I'm able to get the linux VM created from a template.  And the VM does poweron.  But when it comes up the network adapter does not.  It is in disconnected state.

My linux VM is RHEL 8.2

I see online that many folks have had this issue but I'm not seeing what the solution is for it.

Can anyone offer any tips that may help me solve this problem?

Thanks,

Norm

[Christopher Bachmeyer]

We're on Ansible Tower 3.8.3 and Ansible core is 2.9.x. 

I am trying to use the community.vmware collection and looking to deploy Windows and Linux vms to vSphere. 

When deploying Windows 2019 vms, the network adapter is always disconnected.

It seems like many are having issues with the same issue but there are few if any solutions. 

Any suggestions?

Thanks! 

[Norman Owens]

Christopher,

I had a similar issue with RHEL.  I found that the image/template that I was using to build my VM was missing a perl module.  I’ll have to check my notes for which module.  Once I installed that module in my image template, it worked.

I now need to do the same and get windows VMs spun up.  Would you mind sharing your playbook?  I have a test environment and I would be willing to help troubleshoot your issue.  

Regards,

Norm

Sent from my iPhone

On May 26, 2022, at 11:05 PM, Christopher Bachmeyer <chris.b...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Christopher Bachmeyer]

Hi, Norm, 

I have read about that issue in the forums regarding Perl and vmware tools on RHEL/ CentOS.  As far as I know, Windows does not need Perl ... ? 

I read on a forum post that someone found a vDS was somehow at the root of this issue which is, of course, what I am using as the network.  That 

gentleman switched over to a simple vswitch which seemed to alleviate this issues.  

You can read about it here along with a few other leads: https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/24506  

Sure, great!  I've redacted sensitive info.  The content within angle brackets indicate redacted or changed content. 

I am trying to work with a Windows2019 template.  

---
# Ansible play to create a virtual vmware within a vSphere environment
# Extra Variables are declared in the Ansible play but assigned in Template
# Extra Vars include: "memory", "vm_name", and "template"

- name: Ansible play for the creation of a virtual machine within vSphere
  hosts: localhost
  #connection: local
  gather_facts: no

  vars:
    cluster_name: <"My Test Cluster">
    datacenter_name: <Hoth>
    vcenter_server: <My.Vcenter.server>
    datastore_name: <Hoth_datatore>

  tasks:
  - name: Create a virtual machine within a particular vSphere cluster.
    vmware_guest:
      hostname: "{{ vcenter_server }}"
      validate_certs: false
      name: "{{ vm_name }}"
      state: poweredon
      template: "{{ template }}"
      datacenter: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
      folder: /{{ datacenter_name }}/vm
      cluster: "{{ cluster_name }}"
      datastore: "{{ datastore_name }}"
      hardware:
        memory_mb: "{{ memory | int }}"
        num_cpus: 2
        num_cpu_cores_per_socket: 2
      networks:
      - name: <vDS network>
        ip: <static_ip>
        netmask: <mask>
        type: static
        gateway: <gateway_ip>
        connected: true
        start_connected: true
        dns_servers:
        - <dns_1 ip>
      wait_for_ip_address: true
      customization:
        existing_vm: true
        hostname: "{{ vm_name }}"        
        dns_servers:
        - <dns_1 ip>
        - <dns_2 ip>
        domainadmin: "{{ admin }}"
        domainadminpassword: "{{ admin_pass }}"
        joindomain: <my_company>
#      wait_for_customization: yes
    delegate_to: localhost

I just noticed I am not using the "guest_id" param but according to the docs, I do not need this as I am deploying from a template. 

Thanks for taking a look, much appreciated! 

[N Owens]

Chris,

The only thing I've seen so far is that you want to make sure the template or image you are cloning has the latest version of vmware tools installed.

Norm

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[N Owens]

Chris,

I got the windows VM to poweron with the network connected with this configuration.  Hope this helps.  

Ansible: 2.9   Tower: 3.8.2

• Compatibility: ESXi 6.7 Update 2 and later (VM version 15)
  
• VMware Tools: Running, version:11297 (Current)

- name: "Create VM {{ vmware_provision_vm_hostname_long }} with IP {{ vmware_provision_vm_network_ip_addr }}"
  community.vmware.vmware_guest:
    datacenter: '{{ vmware_provision_datacenter }}'
    cluster: '{{ vmware_provision_vm_cluster }}'
    datastore: '{{ vmware_provision_vm_datastore }}'
    name: '{{ vmware_provision_vm_hostname_long }}'
    template: '{{ vmware_provision_vm_template }}'
    folder: '{{ vmware_provision_vm_folder }}'
    networks: 
    - name: '{{ vmware_provision_vm_network_name }}'  
      ip: '{{ vmware_provision_vm_network_ip_addr }}'
      netmask: '{{ vmware_provision_vm_network_ip_netmask_addr }}'
      gateway: '{{ vmware_provision_vm_network_ip_gateway_addr }}'
      type: "static"
      start_connected: true
    wait_for_ip_address: true
  delegate_to: localhost

        joindomain: sncorp.com

#      wait_for_customization: yes
    delegate_to: localhost

I just noticed I am not using the "guest_id" param but according to the docs, I do not need this as I am deploying from a template. 

Thanks for taking a look, much appreciated! 

On Friday, May 27, 2022 at 2:45:21 AM UTC-6 owen...@gmail.com wrote:

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[Christopher Bachmeyer]

Hi, Norm, 

My apologies for not seeing this post earlier.  No updates actually came to my inbox .. 

Thanks for the work, really appreciate it.  I'll give this a go this morning and see what happens! 

[Christopher Bachmeyer]

Still no dice.   I made the changes but I seem to be getting hung-up on an ipv6 address assignment which makes no sense. 

I am not using ipv6 and don't have anything in the code either. 

This is the stdout from Ansible ...

"ipaddresses": [ 

    "fe80::7990:4f2e:dfba:fcf5", 

    "<ipv4>", 

    "169.254.252.245" 

], 

"ipv4": null, 

"ipv6": "fe80::7990:4f2e:dfba:fcf5", 

[Norman Owens]

It’s prob in your template or VM that you are cloning.  Check there and disable.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 7, 2022, at 3:33 PM, Christopher Bachmeyer <chris.b...@gmail.com> wrote:

Still no dice.   I made the changes but I seem to be getting hung-up on an ipv6 address assignment which makes no sense. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ansible-project/8568f738-c967-4030-99d0-ae0e0280939an%40googlegroups.com.

[Walter Rowe]

Are you sure your vDS Name is accurate for the VLAN you are want to be attached?

[Chris Bachmeyer]

Hey Walter, 

Yeah, for sure.  I've double checked this a number of times.  

Regarding the ipv6 info Ansible was spitting to stdout,  my best guess is this is coming from the vm level.  It does not appear to be interfering with any of the builds, etc. 

If necessary, I can have one of the SA's remove IPv6, either disabling or uninstalling it, and recreating a win vmware template.  

While I still do not understand the root cause of the underlying issue with automated windows builds on vmware, I was able to overcome the issue.  

I removed the network adapter from the vmware template and recreated a new template to use.  I’ve tested the builds mainly using dhcp but statically 

assigned IP addresses should work without issue.  

Alternatively, it may be possible to write a few tasks in Ansible to create a windows vm while leaving it off, remove the adapter, and then add
a new adapter.  This may work in addition to creating a new template without the adapter.  I have yet to test this though.  

It would be really beneficial to understand the root cause of the adapter issue on windows builds.

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[Rowe, Walter P. (Fed)]

This is my entire task for creating a VM = works for Windows and Linux.

- name: create the guest vm using template

  community.vmware.vmware_guest:

    validate_certs: no

    hostname: "{{ vcenter[location|lower].vc }}"

    datacenter: "{{ vcenter[location|lower].dc }}"

    cluster: "{{ vcenter[location|lower].cl }}"

    name: "{{ vm_guest_name | lower }}"

    state: poweredoff

    template: "{{ os_type }}"

    folder:  "{{ esx_folder }}"

    datastore: "{{ vcenter[location|lower].ds }}"

    hardware:

      hotadd_cpu: yes

      hotadd_memory: yes

      memory_mb: "{{ vm_spec[vm_size].ram }}"

      num_cpus:  "{{ vm_spec[vm_size].cpu }}"

    networks:

      - name: "VLAN_{{ vlan }}"

        type: dhcp

        start_connected: yes

        connected: yes

    wait_for_ip_address: no

  delegate_to: localhost

  register: newvm

Does the folder where you place your VM have permission to the VLAN to which you are attaching? Seems like this is an environment related issue and not an ansible issue.

Walter
--
Walter Rowe, Division Chief
Infrastructure Services, OISM
Mobile: 202.355.4123

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[Christopher Bachmeyer]

Looking into this, Walter.  Thanks!