Dealing with list content

[Alex Wanderley]

Hello,

I understand this is the basics, but I'm still learning... Could anybody help?

This play collects all VMs in a VMware cluster and prints their names:

- name: List VMs in cluster
  become: no
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no
  connection: local

  tasks:
   
     - name: Collect list of VMs in cluster
       community.vmware.vmware_vm_info:
          validate_certs: false
       register: vm_list
       
     - name: Print list
       ansible.builtin.debug:
         msg: "{{ item['guest_name'] }}"
       loop: "{{ vm_list.virtual_machines }}"

Its output is looking like: 

ok: [localhost] => (item={'guest_name': 'xxxxxx', 'guest_fullname': 'Microsoft Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)', 'power_state': 'poweredOn', 'ip_address': 'xxxxxx', 'mac_address': ['xxxxxx'], 'uuid': 'xxxxxx', 'instance_uuid': 'xxxxxx', 'vm_network': {'xxxxxx': {'ipv4': ['xxxxxx'], 'ipv6': []}}, 'esxi_hostname': 'xxxxxx', 'datacenter': 'xxxxxx', 'cluster': 'xxxxxx', 'resource_pool': None, 'attributes': {}, 'tags': [], 'folder': 'xxxxxx', 'moid': 'xxxxxx', 'datastore_url': [{'name': 'xxxxxx', 'url': 'xxxxxx'}], 'allocated': {}}) => {
    "msg": "server01"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item={'guest_name': 'xxxxxx', 'guest_fullname': 'Microsoft Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)', 'power_state': 'poweredOn', 'ip_address': 'xxxxxx', 'mac_address': ['xxxxxx'], 'uuid': 'xxxxxx', 'instance_uuid': 'xxxxxx', 'vm_network': {'xxxxxx': {'ipv4': ['xxxxxx'], 'ipv6': []}}, 'esxi_hostname': 'xxxxxx', 'datacenter': 'xxxxxx', 'cluster': 'xxxxxx', 'resource_pool': None, 'attributes': {}, 'tags': [], 'folder': 'xxxxxx', 'moid': 'xxxxxx', 'datastore_url': [{'name': 'xxxxxx', 'url': 'xxxxxx'}], 'allocated': {}}) => {
    "msg": "server02"
}
ok: [localhost] => (item={'guest_name': 'xxxxxx', 'guest_fullname': 'Microsoft Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)', 'power_state': 'poweredOn', 'ip_address': 'xxxxxx', 'mac_address': ['xxxxxx'], 'uuid': 'xxxxxx', 'instance_uuid': 'xxxxxx', 'vm_network': {'xxxxxx': {'ipv4': ['xxxxxx'], 'ipv6': []}}, 'esxi_hostname': 'xxxxxx', 'datacenter': 'xxxxxx', 'cluster': 'xxxxxx', 'resource_pool': None, 'attributes': {}, 'tags': [], 'folder': 'xxxxxx', 'moid': 'xxxxxx', 'datastore_url': [{'name': 'xxxxxx', 'url': 'xxxxxx'}], 'allocated': {}}) => {
    "msg": "server03"
}

Two questions, if you don't mind..:

01 - How, if even possible, could I have the output looking like something like this?

ok: [localhost]

    msg": "server01"

ok: [localhost]

    msg": "server02"

ok: [localhost]

    msg": "server03"

02 - Would it be possible to send the loop output to a file?

I know that the whole "{{ vm_list }}" content can be send to a file using:

- name: Copy list to file

  ansible.builtin.copy:
          content: "{{ vm_list | to_yaml }}"
          dest: "{{ path_to_file }}"

But I'd like to create a file with the already parsed content

Thanks a lot,

Alex

--

 

Alex Wanderley Application and Infrastructure Analyst II Server Solutions & Automation Financial and Corporate Services | Open City and Technology     780-496-4156  Office 780-819-0273  Mobile   City of Edmonton Century Place, 19th Floor 9803 102A Avenue NW Edmonton AB, T5J 3A3   All information contained in this email post is proprietary to the City of Edmonton, confidential and intended only for the addressed recipient. If you have received this post in error, please disregard the contents, inform the sender of the misdirection, and remove it from your system. The copying, dissemination or distribution of this email, if misdirected, is strictly prohibited.

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[Alex Wanderley]

Hi,

OK, answering my own question, I was able to send the parsed vm_list content to a file using this task:

     - name: Copy list to file
       ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
          dest: <path_to_file_here>
          line: "{{ item['guest_name'] }}"
          state: present
          create: yes
       loop: "{{ vm_list.virtual_machines }}"

There would be a different/better way of accomplishing that...?

Thanks again,

Alex

[Vladimir Botka]

On Tue, 20 Aug 2024 16:16:17 -0600
Alex Wanderley <alex.wa...@edmonton.ca> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> OK, answering my own question, I was able to send the parsed vm_list
> content to a file using this task:
>
> - name: Copy list to file
> ansible.builtin.lineinfile:
> dest: <path_to_file_here>
> line: "{{ item['guest_name'] }}"
> state: present
> create: yes
> loop: "{{ vm_list.virtual_machines }}"
>
> There would be a different/better way of accomplishing that...?

Try this

- copy:
dest: <path_to_file_here>
content: |
{% for i in vm_list.virtual_machines %}
{{ i.guest_name }}
{% endfor %}

See
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/playbook_guide/playbooks_templating.html

--
Vladimir Botka

[Nitesh Dudhe]

Dear Alex,

For your output minimisation:

you can arrange your task like this:

- name: Collect list of VMs in cluster
  community.vmware.vmware_vm_info:
     validate_certs: false
  register: vm_list
       
- name: Print list
  ansible.builtin.debug:
     msg: "{{ item['guest_name'] }}"
  loop: "{{ vm_list.virtual_machines }}"

    loop_control:

     label:  "Collected vm-name"  # either you put empty string or some relevant string

output will be like this:

 
ok: [localhost] => (item=Collected vm-name)

    msg": "server01"

ok: [localhost] => (item=Collected vm-name)

    msg": "server02"

ok: [localhost] => (item=Collected vm-name)

    msg": "server03"

no more unwanted text during the debug for each iteration:
eg.  (item={'guest_name': 'xxxxxx', 'guest_fullname': 'Microsoft Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)', 'power_state': 'poweredOn', 'ip_address': 'xxxxxx', 'mac_address': ['xxxxxx'], 'uuid': 'xxxxxx', 'instance_uuid': 'xxxxxx', 'vm_network': {'xxxxxx': {'ipv4': ['xxxxxx'], 'ipv6': []}}, 'esxi_hostname': 'xxxxxx', 'datacenter': 'xxxxxx', 'cluster': 'xxxxxx', 'resource_pool': None, 'attributes': {}, 'tags': [], 'folder': 'xxxxxx', 'moid': 'xxxxxx', 'datastore_url': [{'name': 'xxxxxx', 'url': 'xxxxxx'}], 'allocated': {}}) =>

I hope this helps 

Regards 

Nitesh Dudhe

 

[Alex Wanderley]

Thanks, Nitesh...!

I now have a much cleaner printout!

Alex

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[Alex Wanderley]

Thanks, Vladimir!

That worked really well.
It generated the file much faster than the lineinfile alternative. 

Thank you as well for the templating doc/link.
After I figure out what info my "client" wants to extract from VMware, building a report will be the next step and so far I'm planning to use templates for that.

Alex