Introduction

Ansible provides powerful tools to automate tasks in VMware environments. One of the most useful operations is gathering information about datastores, including their tags. This guide walks you through using the vmware_datastore_info module from the community.vmware collection to list datastore tags efficiently.

Prerequisites

  1. Install the community.vmware collection:

    ansible-galaxy collection install community.vmware

  2. Set up your Ansible environment to connect to VMware (e.g., vCenter). Ensure the credentials and configurations are correct.

Example Playbook

The playbook below gathers information about datastores, including their tags:

---
- name: List VMware Datastore Tags
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no
  tasks:
    - name: Gather datastore information
      community.vmware.vmware_datastore_info:
        hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
        username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
        password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
        validate_certs: no
      register: datastore_info

    - name: Display datastore tags
      debug:
        msg: "{{ datastore_info.datastores | map(attribute='tags') | list }}"

Variables Explanation

  • vcenter_hostname: The hostname or IP address of your vCenter server.
  • vcenter_username: Username for vCenter authentication.
  • vcenter_password: Password for vCenter authentication.

Playbook Execution

Run the playbook with the appropriate inventory file and variables:

ansible-playbook vmware_datastore_tags.yml -e "vcenter_hostname='vcenter.example.com' vcenter_username='admin' vcenter_password='password'"

Output

The playbook outputs the list of tags associated with the datastores, helping you quickly review and manage datastore metadata.

Notes

  • Replace validate_certs: no with yes if your VMware server uses a valid SSL certificate.
  • Modify the datastore_info.datastores output to filter or customize the results as needed.

Conclusion

Using the vmware_datastore_info module in Ansible simplifies the process of retrieving datastore tags in VMware environments. Adjust the playbook as required for your specific infrastructure and enjoy seamless automation.