vmware_guest: Cloning with disk customization fails

[ralphie02]

SUMMARY

Cloning from a template that has disk set to non-persistent fails when the disk for the new machine is set to persistent.

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

vmware_guest

ANSIBLE VERSION

ansible 2.8.0
  config file = /home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = [u'/home/ralphie02/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/ansible
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible
  python version = 2.7.13 (default, Sep 26 2018, 18:42:22) [GCC 6.3.0 20170516]

CONFIGURATION

ANSIBLE_NOCOWS(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = True
ANSIBLE_PIPELINING(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = True
ANSIBLE_SSH_ARGS(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = -C -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=1800s
ANSIBLE_SSH_CONTROL_PATH(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = /tmp/ansible-ssh-%%h:%%p-%%r
COLOR_VERBOSE(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = bright blue
DEFAULT_CALLBACK_WHITELIST(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = [u'profile_tasks', u'log_plays_capture', u'actionable', u'skippy', u'task_timer', u'vers
DEFAULT_FORKS(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = 20
DEFAULT_HASH_BEHAVIOUR(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = merge
DEFAULT_HOST_LIST(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = [u'/home/ralphie02/Shared/Ansible/staging']
DEFAULT_REMOTE_USER(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = razucena
DEFAULT_ROLES_PATH(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = [u'/home/ralphie02/Shared/Ansible/roles']
DEFAULT_TIMEOUT(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = 30
DEFAULT_VAULT_PASSWORD_FILE(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = /home/ralphie02/ansible-vault-key
INJECT_FACTS_AS_VARS(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = False
RETRY_FILES_ENABLED(/home/ralphie02/.ansible.cfg) = False

OS / ENVIRONMENT

Target:
debian 7,8,9
centos 6,7

Controlled:
debian 9

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

Step 1:
Set a machine/template's disk to non-persistent
Step 2:
Create machine wish disk set to persistent

- hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: no

- vmware_guest:
    hostname: my_hostname
    datacenter: my_datacenter
    name: test-vm
    user: my_user
    pass: my_pass
    esxi_hostname: my_esxi_hostname
    folder: my_folder
    template: template_of_machine_with_non_persistent_vdisk
    hardware: my_hardware
    disk:
    - { size_gb: 200, type: thin, datastore: my_datastore, disk_mode: persistent }
    networks: []
    state: poweredon
    validate_certs: no
    wait_for_ip_address: yes

EXPECTED RESULTS

Machine created without issues

ACTUAL RESULTS

task fails with the following message below

"msg": "Failed to create a virtual machine : Cannot complete the operation because the file or folder /vmfs/volumes/5751fd49-060f2861-6489-1c98ec2b9b94/test-vm/test-vm.vmdk already exists"

This used to work perfectly fine before 2.8.0.
I didn't see any major changes as per the changelog concerning vmware_guest/disk but I did find these commits: 8eff4ca and 7c8b5a4
These are the only commits I found regarding disks/2.8 that might be causing this.

[ralphie02]

Current workaround is changing the template's disk from non-persistent to persistent THEN cloning it.
To me this seems like a regression bug since it used to work fine in ansible 2.7.8 at least.

Edit: mentioned that it used to work on 2.7

[ansibot]

cc @Akasurde @Tomorrow9 @dav1x @goneri @lparkes @nerzhul @pdellaert @pgbidkar @warthog9
click here for bot help

[Tomorrow9]

I'll try to reproduce this issue in my env if there is no one else working on it. Thanks.

[m3300b]

getting similar behavior, though without specifying persistent disk_mode for cloned vm.
with ansible 2.7.8, cloning from template and disk resize works like a charm.

with the below it fails with:
" Failed to create a virtual machine : Cannot complete the operation because the file or folder /vmfs/XXX.vmdk already exists"

ansible 2.8.1 config file = /home/matm300b/work/talend/ansible.cfg configured module search path = ['/home/matm300b/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules'] ansible python module location = /home/matm300b/work/python/lib/python3.7/site-packages/ansible executable location = /home/matm300b/work/python/bin/ansible python version = 3.7.3 (default, May 11 2019, 00:38:04) [GCC 9.1.1 20190503 (Red Hat 9.1.1-1)]
AND
pyvmomi 6.7.1

[m3300b]

removing the fileOperation seems to do the trick under Asnible 2.8.1 vmware_guest.py:

@@ -1805,7 +1805,7 @@
                 continue
             elif vm_obj is None or self.params['template']:
                 # We are creating new VM or from Template
-                diskspec.fileOperation = vim.vm.device.VirtualDeviceSpec.FileOperation.create
+                pass

             # which datastore?
             if expected_disk_spec.get('datastore'):

[Akasurde]

resolved_by_pr #58737

[Akasurde]

Closing this issue as PR #58737 is merged. If issue persists, please feel free to open a new issue.