VMware: govcsim

govcsim (vCenter Server Simulator)

Following page will provide guide to install and configure govcsim which is used in testing Ansible VMware modules.

This guide is helpful if you are -

• testing VMware module,
• writing a new VMware module,
• exploring VMware module for example,

You can go through already developed Ansible VMware test playbooks here.

What is govcsim (vCenter Server Simulator)

govcsim (vCenter Server Simulator) is an open source vCenter Server and ESXi API based simulator written in go language using govmomi library. govcsim simulates vCenter Server model by creating various vCenter related objects e.g., datacenter, hosts, clusters, resource pools, networks and datastores etc.

Easy way -

There is a prebuild image available - https://quay.io/repository/ansible/vcenter-test-container

You can download this image using docker pull

# systemctl start docker
# docker pull quay.io/ansible/vcenter-test-container
Using default tag: latest
Trying to pull repository quay.io/ansible/vcenter-test-container ...
sha256:14662ffcb0adaa2e7004454ab27c3d104dba14488cfe5b289e9e8e363c96b05f: Pulling from quay.io/ansible/vcenter-test-container

ff3a5c916c92: Pull complete
f32d2ea73378: Pull complete
c6678747892c: Pull complete
16b5f22d8b23: Pull complete
8c65927af47b: Pull complete
e9febdafba6b: Pull complete
6356452f2069: Pull complete
Digest: sha256:14662ffcb0adaa2e7004454ab27c3d104dba14488cfe5b289e9e8e363c96b05f
Status: Downloaded newer image for quay.io/ansible/vcenter-test-container:latest

Start container using

# docker run -i quay.io/ansible/vcenter-test-container:latest
 * Running on http://0.0.0.0:5000/ (Press CTRL+C to quit)

From another terminal, you get IP address of newly built container

# docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID        IMAGE                                           COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS                    PORTS                                           NAMES
67638dd8bfeb        quay.io/ansible/vcenter-test-container:latest   "/root/flask_control."   23 seconds ago      Up 22 seconds             80/tcp, 443/tcp, 5000/tcp, 8080/tcp, 8989/tcp   infallible_leakey
# docker inspect 67638dd8bfeb  | jq -r '.[0].NetworkSettings.IPAddress'
172.17.0.2
# curl 'http://172.17.0.2:5000' ; echo ''
vcsim controller

Other way - Installing everything on virtual machine

Install Golang

Refer detailed steps from Official Golang Page

Installing govcsim

% export GOPATH=<your_go_path>
% go get -u github.com/vmware/govmomi/vcsim
% cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/vmware/govmomi/vcsim
% go install 
% $GOPATH/bin/vcsim -h

If you see help page of govcsim, then you have successfully installed govcsim on your system.

Configuring govcsim

Ansible VMware module communicates with govcsim through a Flask controller app.

Starting Flask controller app

% export ANSIBLE_SRC=<path_to_your_ansible_src_dir>
% cd $ANSIBLE_SRC/test/utils/docker/vcenter-simulator
% python flask_control.py

This will start a Flask instance which will serve on localhost with port 5000 by-default.

---

Once you have vcsim installation on your local machine

You can test this using,

% curl -k http://0.0.0.0:5000/

This command will return plain string vcsim controller on stdout. This means your flask controller is working.

Spawn govcsim instance through flask_control.py

In order to start govcsim using Flask controller use following command,

% curl -k 'http://0.0.0.0:5000/spawn?username=user&password=pass&hostname=localhost&cluster=2&port=443'

This will start a govcsim server with user as username, pass as password, localhost as hostname and 443 as port. The newly created govcsim will have by-default values of all VMware objects and cluster values as 2. You can configure these values as per your requirement.

Killing govcsim

If you want to kill govcsim and start new instance, then you can kill it using flask routes

• http://0.0.0.0:5000/kill/<process_id_of_govcsim_to_be_killed>
• http://0.0.0.0:5000/killall

Available Flask routes

• '/' - returns string vcsim simulator
• '/kill/int:number' - kill particular instance of govcsim running on given system
• '/killall' - kill all instances of govcsim
• '/spawn' - spawn a new instance of govcsim
• '/govc_find' - find VMware objects using govc command
• '/govc_vm_info' - get details about Virtual Machine(s)
• '/govc_host_info' - get details about host system(s)