VMWare tools sets vm.guest.guestFamily as None for any Windows newer than Windows 7

[Akasurde]

From @AlexDaciuk on Sep 02, 2019 17:46

SUMMARY

I'm trying to upgrade VMWare Tools on our Windows guests using vmware_guest_tools_upgrade and it fails with the error msg: Guest Operating System is other than Linux and Windows.

This just happens with guests with outdated tools because of the way the python code is written

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

• vmware_vm_inventory

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible 2.8.4
  config file = /home/alex/Source_Code/CommitIt/Playbooks/vmware-playbooks/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/home/alex/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages/ansible
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.7.4 (default, Jul 16 2019, 07:12:58) [GCC 9.1.0]

CONFIGURATION

DEFAULT_HOST_LIST(/home/alex/Source_Code/CommitIt/Playbooks/vmware-playbooks/ansible.cfg) = ['/home/alex/Source_Code/CommitIt/Playbooks/vmware-playbooks/inventory/commit.vmware.yml']
DEFAULT_STDOUT_CALLBACK(/home/alex/Source_Code/CommitIt/Playbooks/vmware-playbooks/ansible.cfg) = yaml
INVENTORY_ENABLED(/home/alex/Source_Code/CommitIt/Playbooks/vmware-playbooks/ansible.cfg) = ['vmware_vm_inventory']

inventory file:

plugin: vmware_vm_inventory
strict: False
hostname: 172.30.0.11
username: administrator@vsphere.local
password: genericPassword
validate_certs: False
with_tags: True

OS / ENVIRONMENT

Ansible control node : Arch Linux with latest updates

Managed node: ESXi 6.7.0 with vCenter 6.7.0 on a IBM x3250 M4

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

Use a dynamic VMWare inventory using vmware_vm_inventory as described here

Power on a Windows guest newer than 7 and use vmware_guest_tools_upgrade to upgrade vmtools with:

vmware_guest_tools_upgrade:
    hostname: vcsa6.7.commit.local
    username: administrator@vsphere.local
    password: genericPasswrd
    datacenter: Datacenter
    validate_certs: yes
    folder: "/Datacenter/vm/"
    name: "Windows-2012-R2"

EXPECTED RESULTS

To get VMTools upgraded in case of outdated guest version or nothing in case of updated version already running

ACTUAL RESULTS

If you edit ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_tools_upgrade.py in line 126, concatenating vm.guest.guestFamily to the result mesage you get None

TASK [Upgrade VMTools] ***********************************************************************************************************************************************
task path: /home/alex/Source_Code/CommitIt/Playbooks/vmware-playbooks/tasks/upgrade-vmtools.yml:25
<127.0.0.1> ESTABLISH LOCAL CONNECTION FOR USER: alex
<127.0.0.1> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'echo ~alex && sleep 0'
<127.0.0.1> EXEC /bin/sh -c '( umask 77 && mkdir -p "` echo /home/alex/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1567446047.572839-35641239422065 `" && echo ansible-tmp-1567446047.572839-35641239422065="` echo /home/alex/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1567446047.572839-35641239422065 `" ) && sleep 0'                                                      
Using module file /usr/lib/python3.7/site-packages/ansible/modules/cloud/vmware/vmware_guest_tools_upgrade.py
<127.0.0.1> PUT /home/alex/.ansible/tmp/ansible-local-22830mm9hnw15/tmpd4ggw0p8 TO /home/alex/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1567446047.572839-35641239422065/AnsiballZ_vmware_guest_tools_upgrade.py                                                                                                                                             
<127.0.0.1> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'chmod u+x /home/alex/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1567446047.572839-35641239422065/ /home/alex/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1567446047.572839-35641239422065/AnsiballZ_vmware_guest_tools_upgrade.py && sleep 0'                                                                                                       
<127.0.0.1> EXEC /bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/python /home/alex/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1567446047.572839-35641239422065/AnsiballZ_vmware_guest_tools_upgrade.py && sleep 0'
<127.0.0.1> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'rm -f -r /home/alex/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1567446047.572839-35641239422065/ > /dev/null 2>&1 && sleep 0'
ok: [localhost] => changed=false 
  invocation:
    module_args:
      datacenter: Datacenter
      folder: /Datacenter/vm
      hostname: vcsa6.7.commit.local
      name: Windows-2012-R2
      name_match: first
      password: VALUE_SPECIFIED_IN_NO_LOG_PARAMETER
      port: 443
      username: administrator@vsphere.local
      uuid: null
      validate_certs: true
  msg: Guest Operating System is other than Linux and Windows. None

Copied from original issue: ansible/ansible#61690

[Akasurde]

From @AlexDaciuk on Jan 13, 2020 19:48

Still not working @Akasurde

ansible 2.9.2
  config file = /home/alex/Source_Code/CommitIt/Ansible/Playbooks/vmware-playbooks/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/home/alex/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ansible
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.8.1 (default, Dec 21 2019, 20:57:38) [GCC 9.2.0]

[Akasurde]

@AlexDaciuk Thanks for reporting this. GuestFamily is not set by VMware inventory but it is set by VMware tools installed in the guest operating system.

We can add a parameter in the module called force_upgrade to override the operating system check and upgrade the VMware tools.

let me know your views on this.

[Akasurde]

resolved_by_pr #76

[Akasurde]

@AlexDaciuk, Could you please check PR #76 and let us know if it works for you? Thanks.

[AlexDaciuk]

Hello!

Sorry for the late response, I'm not working in that company anymore and I don't have access to a VMWare cluster now

But if the problem is only outdated VMWare Tools, a one time force upgrade should fix it, so it looks good to me

Cheers
Alex

[markatdxb]

hello i just tested force_upgrade option in playbook but getting error

- name: Upgrade VMWare Tools
  vmware_guest_tools_upgrade:
    datacenter: "{{ vdi_vm_site }}"
    name: '{{ vdi_vm_name }}'
    force_upgrade: yes
    delegate_to: localhost
    register: vm_tool_upg
  ignore_errors: yes

error is - "msg": "Unsupported parameters for

in which version this has been fixed?

[Akasurde]

@markatdxb Could you please copy-paste the whole error message? Are you using the patched version of vmware_guest_tools_upgrade?

Thanks.

[markatdxb]

{
"msg": "Unsupported parameters for (vmware_guest_tools_upgrade) module: force_upgrade Supported parameters include: datacenter, folder, hostname, moid, name, name_match, password, port, proxy_host, proxy_port, username, uuid, validate_certs",
"invocation": {
"module_args": {
"datacenter": "DC",
"name": "TEST",
"force_upgrade": true,
"hostname": "hostname",
"username": "test",
"password": "VALUE_SPECIFIED_IN_NO_LOG_PARAMETER",
"validate_certs": "False"
}
},
"_ansible_no_log": false,
"changed": false,
"_ansible_delegated_vars": {
"ansible_host": "localhost"
}
}

Please advice in which collection version was this fixed?