VMware vSphere Provider

The VMware vSphere Provider enables Terraform to manage infrastructure within a VMware vSphere environment, including virtual machines, networks, datastores, and resource pools. It is widely used for automating on-premises infrastructure in enterprise environments.

Key Features:

  • Automate the provisioning of virtual machines.
  • Manage resource pools, networks, and datastores.
  • Configure advanced VM settings, including CPU, memory, and disk options.
  • Integrate with vSphere features like snapshots and templates.

Example Use Case: Creating a Virtual Machine
Here’s how to create a virtual machine in a VMware vSphere environment using Terraform:

provider "vsphere" {
  user           = "user"
  password       = "password"
  vsphere_server = "vsphere.example.com"

  allow_unverified_ssl = true
}

data "vsphere_datacenter" "dc" {
  name = "Datacenter"
}

data "vsphere_compute_cluster" "cluster" {
  name          = "Cluster"
  datacenter_id = data.vsphere_datacenter.dc.id
}

data "vsphere_network" "network" {
  name          = "VM Network"
  datacenter_id = data.vsphere_datacenter.dc.id
}

data "vsphere_datastore" "datastore" {
  name          = "Datastore"
  datacenter_id = data.vsphere_datacenter.dc.id
}

resource "vsphere_virtual_machine" "vm" {
  name             = "example-vm"
  resource_pool_id = data.vsphere_compute_cluster.cluster.resource_pool_id
  datastore_id     = data.vsphere_datastore.datastore.id

  num_cpus = 2
  memory   = 4096
  guest_id = "otherGuest64"

  network_interface {
    network_id   = data.vsphere_network.network.id
    adapter_type = "vmxnet3"
  }

  disk {
    label            = "disk0"
    size             = 20
    thin_provisioned = true
  }
}

What’s Happening Here?

  • The provider block connects Terraform to the vSphere environment.
  • data resources retrieve information about the vSphere datacenter, cluster, network, and datastore.
  • The vsphere_virtual_machine resource creates a virtual machine with 2 CPUs, 4 GB of memory, and a 20 GB thin-provisioned disk.
  • The VM is connected to the specified network using the vmxnet3 adapter type.

Advanced Tip:
Clone a VM from an existing template for faster provisioning:

resource "vsphere_virtual_machine" "cloned_vm" {
  name             = "cloned-vm"
  resource_pool_id = data.vsphere_compute_cluster.cluster.resource_pool_id
  datastore_id     = data.vsphere_datastore.datastore.id

  clone {
    template_uuid = "template-uuid"

    customize {
      linux_options {
        host_name = "cloned-vm"
        domain    = "example.com"
      }

      network_interface {
        ipv4_address = "192.168.1.100"
        ipv4_netmask = 24
      }

      ipv4_gateway = "192.168.1.1"
    }
  }
}

This configuration clones a VM from a template and customizes its hostname, domain, and network settings.

Glossary