Ansible: winrm timeout issues running vsphere_guest

Question

My enviroment:  RHEL 7.4 ansible host
ansible-playbook 2.4.0.0-0.5.rc5.el7
config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg

configured module search path = [u'/root/.ansible/plugins/modules', u'/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible
executable location = /usr/bin/ansible-playbook
python version = 2.7.5 (default, May  3 2017, 07:55:04) [GCC 4.8.5 20150623 (Red Hat 4.8.5-14)]

pysphere==0.1.7

Target vCenter server is Windows 2012R2,

I can successfully use these ansible modules (via NTLM transport protocol):

win_ping
vmware_vm_facts
vmware_guest_facts

Having verifed the connectivity, I am attempting to run a playbook with module vsphere_guest.

Within 30-40 seconds of initiating the playbook, I'm getting this timeout msg and abort of the play:

[WARNING]: FATAL ERROR DURING FILE TRANSFER: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site- packages/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py", line 273, in _winrm_exec self._winrm_send_input(self.protocol, self.shell_id, command_id, data, eof=is_last) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py", line 253, in _winrm_send_input protocol.send_message(xmltodict.unparse(rq)) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winrm/protocol.py", line 207, in send_message return self.transport.send_message(message) File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winrm/transport.py", line 202, in send_message raise WinRMTransportError('http', error_message) WinRMTransportError: (u'http', u'Bad HTTP response returned from server. Code 500')

fatal: [ndctc1-vcntr01.mso.mci.com]: FAILED! => { "failed": true, "msg": "winrm send_input failed" }

What I have done so far:
Modified: /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/winrm/protocol.py

Changing these variables:
DEFAULT_READ_TIMEOUT_SEC = 300  <-- was 30  (seconds)
DEFAULT_OPERATION_TIMEOUT_SEC = 200  <-- was 20  (seconds)
DEFAULT_MAX_ENV_SIZE = 353600  <-- 153600

Did not fix the error, it only made it show up later...

Playbook:
- hosts: all
  gather_facts: false
  connection: local

  vars_prompt:
    - name: "vcenter_hostname"
      prompt: "Enter vcenter hostname"
      private: no
      default: "vcsa"
    - name: "vcenter_user"
      prompt: "Enter vcenter username"
      private: no
    - name: "new_hostname"
      prompt: "Enter new hostname"
      private: no
    - name: "vcenter_pass"
      prompt: "Enter vcenter password"
      private: yes

  vars:
    datacenter: mydatacenter
    cluster: mycluster
    notes: 'Created by Ansible'

  tasks: 
    - vsphere_guest:
        vcenter_hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
        username: "{{ vcenter_user }}"
        password: "{{ vcenter_pass }}"
        validate_certs: no
        power_on_after_clone: no
        guest: "{{ new_hostname }}"
        from_template: yes
        template_src: mybuild-template 
        cluster: "{{ cluster }}"
        vm_extra_config:
          notes: "{{ notes }}"

Note: I was not sure about what value to put in for "template_src" I have a VM template, named "mybuild-template" Is naming it correct?

Thank you.

I don't see anything in this specific playbook that can trigger winrm connection. — Konstantin Suvorov
vsphere_guest calls it I assume. I have looked on the remote windows side, in event manager. I see a successful authentication, but code 500 can mean just about anything, except "success". I'm investigating to see if my login account has remove privs to do changes. Since I can do modules like win_ping, vmware_vm_facts, and vmware_guest_facts. I assumed I could use vsphere_guest too. — gantte
I found an added a missing parameter, exsi: hostname: and datacenter:, but it made no difference in the failure to complete the play. — gantte

gantte gantte · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-22T15:41:13

Thanks to excellent tips from Konstantin, I learned two things that fixed my problem:

Inventory only needed to be one line: localhost ansible_connection=local Because VMware has it's own API and communication protocol. Today I learned...

And also, I was attempting to use a vCenter template while it was powered on. Once I powered it off, it worked!

Ansible: winrm timeout issues running vsphere_guest

1 Answers