pyats-linux-vmware

VMware ESXi Host Operations

Testbed Requirements

ESXi hosts must be defined in the pyATS testbed with os: linux (ESXi shell is Linux-based):

devices:
  esxi-host-01:
    os: linux
    type: esxi
    connections:
      cli:
        protocol: ssh
        ip: 10.0.0.100
        port: 22
    credentials:
      default:
        username: "%ENV{NETCLAW_USERNAME}"
        password: "%ENV{NETCLAW_PASSWORD}"

Note: SSH must be enabled on the ESXi host (disabled by default). Enable via vSphere Client → Host → Configure → System → Services → SSH → Start.

How to Call

All commands use pyats_run_linux_command:

PYATS_TESTBED_PATH=$PYATS_TESTBED_PATH python3 $MCP_CALL "${PYATS_PYTHON:-python3} -u $PYATS_MCP_SCRIPT" pyats_run_linux_command '{"device_name":"esxi-host-01","command":"<command>"}'

Commands

VM Inventory

List All Virtual Machines

PYATS_TESTBED_PATH=$PYATS_TESTBED_PATH python3 $MCP_CALL "${PYATS_PYTHON:-python3} -u $PYATS_MCP_SCRIPT" pyats_run_linux_command '{"device_name":"esxi-host-01","command":"vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms"}'

Returns a table of all VMs on the ESXi host:

Column	Description
Vmid	Unique VM identifier (used as parameter for other vim-cmd operations)
Name	VM display name
File	Path to the VMX configuration file on the datastore
Guest OS	Configured guest OS type (e.g., ubuntu64Guest, windows9Server64Guest)
Version	Virtual hardware version (e.g., vmx-19, vmx-20)
Annotation	VM description/notes

What to check:

• All expected VMs are present and registered
• VMX file paths reference expected datastores
• Virtual hardware versions are current (old versions may lack features)
• Guest OS type matches actual installed OS
• No orphaned or unexpected VMs

Snapshot Management

Get VM Snapshots

PYATS_TESTBED_PATH=$PYATS_TESTBED_PATH python3 $MCP_CALL "${PYATS_PYTHON:-python3} -u $PYATS_MCP_SCRIPT" pyats_run_linux_command '{"device_name":"esxi-host-01","command":"vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.get 1"}'