community.vmware.vsphere_copy module – Copy a file to a VMware datastore

Note

This module is part of the community.vmware collection (version 6.2.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.vmware.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.vmware.vsphere_copy.

Synopsis
Parameters
Notes
Examples

Synopsis

Upload files to a VMware datastore through a vCenter REST API.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
datacenter string	The datacenter on the vCenter server that holds the datastore.
datastore string / required	The datastore to push files to.
diskformat string added in community.vmware 4.2.0	Optional argument - Set a diskformat for certain uploads like stream optimized VMDKs There is no official documentation, but it looks like `StreamVmdk` needs to be set for stream optimized VMDKs that are uploaded to vSAN storage Setting this for non-VMDK files might lead to undefined behavior and is not supported. Choices: `"StreamVmdk"`
hostname string	The hostname or IP address of the vSphere vCenter server. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `VMWARE_HOST` will be used instead.
password aliases: pass, pwd string	The password of the vSphere vCenter server. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `VMWARE_PASSWORD` will be used instead.
path aliases: dest string / required	The file to push to the datastore.
port integer	The port number of the vSphere vCenter server. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `VMWARE_PORT` will be used instead. Default: `443`
proxy_host string	The address of a proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them. The format is a hostname or a IP. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `VMWARE_PROXY_HOST` will be used instead.
proxy_port integer	The port of the HTTP proxy that will receive all HTTPS requests and relay them. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `VMWARE_PROXY_PORT` will be used instead.
src aliases: name string / required	The file to push to vCenter.
timeout integer	The timeout in seconds for the upload to the datastore. Default: `10`
username aliases: admin, user string	The username of the vSphere vCenter server. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `VMWARE_USER` will be used instead.
validate_certs boolean	Allows connection when SSL certificates are not valid. Set to `false` when certificates are not trusted. If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable `VMWARE_VALIDATE_CERTS` will be used instead. Choices: `false` `true` ← (default)

Notes

Note

This module ought to be run from a system that can access the vCenter or the ESXi directly and has the file to transfer. It can be the normal remote target or you can change it either by using transport: local or using delegate_to.
All modules require API write access and hence are not supported on a free ESXi license.
All variables and VMware object names are case sensitive.
Modules may rely on the ‘requests’ python library, which does not use the system certificate store by default. You can specify the certificate store by setting the REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE environment variable. Note having this variable set may cause a ‘false’ value for the ‘validate_certs’ option to be ignored in some cases. Example: ‘export REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE=/path/to/your/ca_bundle.pem’

Examples

- name: Copy file to datastore using delegate_to
  community.vmware.vsphere_copy:
    hostname: '{{ vcenter_hostname }}'
    username: '{{ vcenter_username }}'
    password: '{{ vcenter_password }}'
    src: /some/local/file
    datacenter: DC1 Someplace
    datastore: datastore1
    path: some/remote/file
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Copy file to datastore when datacenter is inside folder called devel
  community.vmware.vsphere_copy:
    hostname: '{{ vcenter_hostname }}'
    username: '{{ vcenter_username }}'
    password: '{{ vcenter_password }}'
    src: /some/local/file
    datacenter: devel/DC1
    datastore: datastore1
    path: some/remote/file
  delegate_to: localhost

- name: Copy file to datastore using other_system
  community.vmware.vsphere_copy:
    hostname: '{{ vcenter_hostname }}'
    username: '{{ vcenter_username }}'
    password: '{{ vcenter_password }}'
    src: /other/local/file
    datacenter: DC2 Someplace
    datastore: datastore2
    path: other/remote/file
  delegate_to: other_system

- name: Copy file to datastore using other_system
  community.vmware.vsphere_copy:
    hostname: '{{ vcenter_hostname }}'
    username: '{{ vcenter_username }}'
    password: '{{ vcenter_password }}'
    src: /other/local/streamOptimized.vmdk
    datacenter: DC2 Someplace
    datastore: datastore2
    path: disk_imports/streamOptimized.vmdk
    timeout: 360
    diskformat: StreamVmdk
  delegate_to: other_system

Authors

Dag Wieers (@dagwieers)

Collection links

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2025 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/projects/ansible/latest/collections/community/vmware/vsphere_copy_module.html