vmware_drs_group - Add VM to DRS Group

[vMarkusK]

Currently only a new Group von be created or overwritten. If you want to add a single VM, a workarounds needs to be applied.

- name: Get all DRS VM groups
  vmware_drs_group_facts:
      hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
      password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
      username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
      datacenter_name: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
  delegate_to: localhost    
  register: drs_groups
- name: Display DRS Group Object
  debug:
    msg: "{{ drs_groups }}"
- name: Filter existing VMs from DRS Group Object
  set_fact: 
    vmnames: "{{ drs_groups | json_query( vmnames_query ) }}"
  vars:
    vmnames_query: 'drs_group_facts.{{ clustername }}[?group_name==`{{ vm_group }}`].vms'
- name: Display DRS Group VM List
  debug:
    msg: "{{ vmnames[0] }}"
  when: vmnames | list | count  > 0
- name: Display new DRS Group VM List
  debug:
    msg: "{{ vmnames[0] + [ vm_name ] }}"
  when: vmnames | list | count  > 0  
- name: Build full VM  List
  set_fact:
    all_vmnames: "{{ vmnames[0] + [ vm_name ] }}"
  when: vmnames | list | count  > 0
- name: Add {{ vm_name }} to exiting DRS VM group
  vmware_drs_group:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    cluster_name: "{{ clustername }}" 
    datacenter_name: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    group_name: "{{ vm_group }}"
    vms: "{{ all_vmnames }}"
    state: present
  delegate_to: localhost  
  when: vmnames | list | count > 0
- name: Add {{ vm_name }} to new DRS VM group
  vmware_drs_group:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    cluster_name: "{{ clustername }}"
    datacenter_name: "{{ datacenter_name }}"
    group_name: "{{ vm_group }}"
    vms:
      - "{{ vm_name }}"
    state: present
  delegate_to: localhost  
  when: vmnames | list | count == 0

This is verry complex and not pretty stable.

[mariolenz]

For the record: vmware_drs_group does not update group - it overwrites

[alexsuppanz]

Hi
ran into the same issue. Since this module seems to work as expected (which I do not agree, anyway), maybe it would be a solution to create a new module which will add vms to existing DRS groups?
As @mycloudrevolution mentioned, any workaround is pretty unstable and error prone

[alexsuppanz]

What would be the proper way to resolve this issue?
Create a new module which will add VMs to existring groups, or change the current one to add the new VM to the group?

[vMarkusK]

I would prefer a single module with three different methods.

Set, add, remove

Set method should be the current behavior.

[alexsuppanz]

Maybe we should do the following:
state: present will add the provided VM names to the group
state: replace will overwrite the group with the provided VM names (as it is currently the case)
state: absent will remove the group

So the states are alligned to the Ansible convention. I also think that current plays which use any kind of workaround will be not affected by this change.

[mariolenz]

state: present will add the provided VM names to the group
state: replace will overwrite the group with the provided VM names (as it is currently the case)
state: absent will remove the group

This would break the current behavior of the module... never a good idea. Anyway, you missed a use case: If we provide a way to add a VM to a DRS group, we also should provide a way to remove a VM.

I think it would be better to leave state: present and state: absent as is. The module is named vmware_drs_group and it makes sense that present means the DRS group should be present as defined.

I think it would be better to add states like:

state: contains will add the provided VMs to the group
state: does_not_contain will remove the provided VMs from the group

So the states are alligned to the Ansible convention.

Is there some explicit convention / best practice for states? I wasn't able to find one. But maybe I was just too stupid to find it or there's some implicit convention I don't know about.

I also think that current plays which use any kind of workaround will be not affected by this change.

All playbooks that use the module as it's meant to be used will break! Let's pretend someone defines a DRS group with vm1, vm2 and vm3. Then they decide that they only want to have vm1 and vm2 in this group. At the moment, the DRS group won't contain vm3 any more; with your solution, it would: vm1 and vm2 are added to this DRS group (no change, they are already part of it) but vm3 won't be removed. So (and this is really problematic) your solution breaks existing playbooks.

[alexsuppanz]

@mariolenz You are absolutely right, thanks for pointing it out. I missed these cases and forgot how this module is intended to work. Maybe it would be better to create a new module, as already suggested by @mycloudrevolution called something like vmware_drs_group_member
So we can leave the module vmware_drs_group as it is (and we won't break stuff, even by accident) and keep the modules simple. Adding all these cases to the current module would make it very complex and may lead to various bugs.
In the new module we can use the well known states present to ensure the vm is member ob the group, and absent to remove the vm.
What do you guys think about that?

[vMarkusK]

I fully agree with @mariolenz point to make sure not to break existing playbooks with a new module version.

I also see the need for the four types of behavior: Create Group (with a list of VMs), remove group add VM, remove VM.

If the dedicated modules for Group and VM operations are created (which is likely), I would like to see that a specific workflow is possible without much fuss:

• Add VM to Group, if Group does not exist create the Group with this VM

[alexsuppanz]

@mycloudrevolution I totally see the use case for the workflow you mentioned, but we do have a problem. We can create a group with vmware_drs_group and add members to a group with the new module vmware_drs_group_member. So a play with the mentioned workflow will look like this:

  - name: Ensure {{ vcenter_vm_group }} is present
    vmware_drs_group:
      hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
      password: "{{ user_password }}"
      username: "{{ user_name }}"
      cluster_name: "{{ vcenter_cluster }}"
      datacenter_name: "{{ vcenter_datacenter }}"
      group_name: "{{ vcenter_vm_group }}"
      state: present

  - name: Add vm {{ vm_name }} to group {{ vcenter_vm_group }}
    vmware_drs_group_member:
      hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
      password: "{{ user_password }}"
      username: "{{ user_name }}"
      cluster_name: "{{ vcenter_cluster }}"
      datacenter_name: "{{ vcenter_datacenter }}"
      group_name: "{{ vcenter_vm_group }}"
      vm: {{ vm_name }}
      state: present

But the problem is, vmware_drs_group requires either the parameter vms or hosts to be set, which will (as it is currently the case) all current members of that group exept of the ones provides as parameter.

I do not know your exact use case, but if you already know that you have to create a group because it does not exist yet you can use the current module vmware_drs_group and provide the group member. If you just want to add a newly provisioned vm to an existing group, use the new module.

You can also check if the group already exists using the module vmware_drs_group_facts and check if it contains the group. If not, the group must be created first.

Another option would be to 'simply' change the behaviour of the module vmware_drs_group to not have vms or hosts as mandatory parameter and add a new parameter type, which says the group is either a 'VM Group' or a 'Host Group' (and make the parameter vms, hosts and type mutial exclusive)

I know, it is getting complex, but we should make the workflow as simple as possible and do not break existing playbooks. What do you think about that? Do I missed something and there may be a simpler solution?

[vMarkusK]

For my opinion the new modules should work like that:

• The original module works as before (for Hosts and VMs)
  NOTE: Creating empty Groups in not allowed

- name: "Create DRS VM group"
  delegate_to: localhost
  vmware_drs_group:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    cluster_name: DC0_C0
    datacenter_name: DC0
    group_name: TEST_VM_01
    vms:
      - DC0_C0_RP0_VM0
      - DC0_C0_RP0_VM1
    state: present

- name: "Create DRS Host group"
  delegate_to: localhost
  vmware_drs_group:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    cluster_name: DC0_C0
    datacenter_name: DC0
    group_name: TEST_HOST_01
    hosts:
      - DC0_C0_H0
      - DC0_C0_H1
      - DC0_C0_H2
    state: present

- name: "Delete DRS Host group"
  delegate_to: localhost
  vmware_drs_group:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    cluster_name: DC0_C0
    datacenter_name: DC0
    group_name: TEST_HOST_01
    state: absent

• A new Module for add and remove of VMs should be created
  NOTE: force_create switch should create the Group if it does not exist, like the vmware_drs_group module

- name: "Add VMs to DRS VM group"
  delegate_to: localhost
  vmware_drs_group_member:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    cluster_name: DC0_C0
    datacenter_name: DC0
    group_name: TEST_VM_01
    force_create: true
    vms:
      - DC0_C0_RP0_VM0
      - DC0_C0_RP0_VM1
    state: present

- name: "remove VMs from DRS VM group"
  delegate_to: localhost
  vmware_drs_group_member:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    cluster_name: DC0_C0
    datacenter_name: DC0
    group_name: TEST_VM_01
    vms:
      - DC0_C0_RP0_VM0
      - DC0_C0_RP0_VM1
    state: absent

- name: "Add hosts to DRS Host group"
  delegate_to: localhost
  vmware_drs_group_member:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    cluster_name: DC0_C0
    datacenter_name: DC0
    group_name: TEST_HOST_01
    hosts:
      - DC0_C0_H0
      - DC0_C0_H1
      - DC0_C0_H2
    state: present

- name: "remove Hosts to DRS Host group"
  delegate_to: localhost
  vmware_drs_group_member:
    hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
    password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
    username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
    cluster_name: DC0_C0
    datacenter_name: DC0
    group_name: TEST_HOST_01
    state: absent

[ansibullbot]

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[richardlock]

Hi. Are there any plans to look at this issue? Thanks.

[danielmhi]

Another call for this to be looked at? The introduction of vmware_drs_group_member to add VMs to an already existing DRS Group would be great.

[vMarkusK]

Sadly I am only able to test and verify. My Python skills are not on a level that makes the development possible.

[Akasurde]

@vMarkusK @danielmhi @richardlock @alexsuppanz I added a new parameter called operation with values set, add and remove to manage existing members of DRS group. Please check and test #475, let me know your views. Thanks,

[Akasurde]

resolved_by_pr #512

[danielmhi]

@Akasurde will test when i can, thx

[Akasurde]

I added a new module to manage VMs/Hosts in DRS group - vmware_drs_group_manager. Please review and let me know.

[Akasurde]

resolved_by_pr #512