ansible/docs/docsite/rst/scenario_guides/guide_vmware.rst
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Getting Started with VMware
===========================
Introduction
````````````
Ansible provides various modules to manage VMware infrastructure, which includes datacenter, cluster,
host system and virtual machine.
Requirements
````````````
Ansible VMware modules are written on top of `pyVmomi <https://github.com/vmware/pyvmomi>`_.
pyVmomi is the Python SDK for the VMware vSphere API that allows user to manage ESX, ESXi,
and vCenter infrastcture. You can install pyVmomi using pip:
.. code-block:: bash
$ pip install pyvmomi
vmware_guest module
```````````````````
The :ref:vmware_guest <vmware_guest>module is used to manage various operations related to virtual machines in
the given ESXi or vCenter server.
Prior to Ansible version 2.5, ``folder`` was an optional parameter with a default value of ``/vm``. The folder parameter
was used to discover information about virtual machines in the given infrastructure.
Starting with Ansible version 2.5, ``folder`` is still an optional parameter with no default value.
This parameter will be now used to identify a user's virtual machine, if multiple virtual machines or virtual
machine templates are found with same name. VMware does not restrict the system administrator from creating virtual
machines with same name.
Debugging
`````````
When debugging or creating a new issue, you will need information about your VMware infrastructure. You can get this information using
`govc <https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/tree/master/govc>`_, For example:
.. code-block:: bash
$ export GOVC_USERNAME=ESXI_OR_VCENTER_USERNAME
$ export GOVC_PASSWORD=ESXI_OR_VCENTER_PASSWORD
$ export GOVC_URL=https://ESXI_OR_VCENTER_HOSTNAME:443
$ govc find /
.. seealso::
`pyVmomi <https://github.com/vmware/pyvmomi>`_
The GitHub Page of pyVmomi
`pyVmomi Issue Tracker <https://github.com/vmware/pyvmomi/issues>`_
The issue tracker for the pyVmomi project
`govc <https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/tree/master/govc>`_
govc is a vSphere CLI built on top of govmomi
:doc:`playbooks`
An introduction to playbooks