Configure VyOS vm with ansible vmware_shell - ansible

Question

I am trying to configure a VyOS vm that I"ve built from a template. The template is a fresh install without any configuration.
The vm doesn't have an IP configured, so I can't use the ssh options or the vyos ansible module. So I'm trying to use the vmware_vm_shell module, which will let me execute commands but I can't enter conf mode for VyOS.
I've tried bash and vbash for my shell. I've tried setting the conf commands to environment vars to execute, I've tried with_item but it doesn't seem that will work with vmware_vm_shell.
The bear minimum I need is to configure an IP address so that I can then ssh or use the vyos ansible module to complete the configuration.
conf
set interfaces ethernet eth0 address 192.168.1.251/24
set service ssh port 22
commit
save
---
- hosts: localhost
gather_facts: no
connection: local
vars:
vcenter_hostname: "192.168.1.100"
vcenter_username: "administrator#vsphere.local"
vcenter_password: "SekretPassword!"
datacenter: "Datacenter"
cluster: "Cluster"
vm_name: "router-01"
tasks:
- name: Run command inside a virtual machine
vmware_vm_shell:
hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
validate_certs: False
vm_id: "{{ vm_name }}"
vm_username: 'vyos'
vm_password: 'abc123!!!'
vm_shell: /bin/vbash
vm_shell_args: 'conf 2> myFile'
vm_shell_cwd: "/tmp"
delegate_to: localhost
register: shell_command_output
This throws the error:
/bin/vbash: conf: No such file or directory

Answer 1

I have an EdgeRouter, which uses a Vyatta-derived operating system. The issue you're having is caused by the fact that conf (or configure for me) isn't actually the name of a command. The cli features are implement through a complex collection of bash functions that aren't loaded when you log in non-interactively.
There is a wiki page on vyos.net that suggests a solution. By sourcing in /opt/vyatta/etc/functions/script-template, you prepare the shell environment such that vyos commands will work as expected.
That is, you need to execute a shell script (with vbash) that looks like this:
source /opt/vyatta/etc/functions/script-template
conf
set interfaces ethernet eth0 address 192.168.1.251/24
set service ssh port 22
commit
save
exit
I'm not familiar with the vmware_vm_shell module, so I don't know exactly how you would do that, but for example this works for me to run a single command:
ssh ubnt#router 'vbash -c "source /opt/vyatta/etc/functions/script-template
configure
show interfaces
"'
Note the newlines in the above. That suggests that this might work:
- name: Run command inside a virtual machine
vmware_vm_shell:
hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
datacenter: "{{ datacenter }}"
validate_certs: False
vm_id: "{{ vm_name }}"
vm_username: 'vyos'
vm_password: 'abc123!!!'
vm_shell: /bin/vbash
vm_shell_cwd: "/tmp"
vm_shell_args: |-
-c "source /opt/vyatta/etc/functions/script-template
configure
set interfaces ethernet eth0 address 192.168.1.251/24
set service ssh port 22
commit
save"
delegate_to: localhost
register: shell_command_output