Add support to check the power state of r/virtual_machine

[uutest74]

Hi
How to check power state of VM and power on using terraform?
in this issue #327
you say that no plan to add power state of vm to terraform. I dont know why it so difficult to add this property to tfstate, simple option in vsphere_virtual_machine and 2 function from govmomi to power control vm...

But may be we can use null_resource for that? i dont know how to check power sate in triggers

P.S. In infrastructure as code concept if VM crashes and poweroff, how we power on it? Ansible not capable, Terraform aslo say all OK.... only manual...

[hashibot]

This issue has been open 180 days with no activity. If this issue is reproducible with the latest version of the provider and with Terraform 0.12, please comment. Otherwise this issue will be closed in 30 days.

[arizvisa]

As per referenced issue, Terraform doesn't understand the concept of power off versus on. It's either on, or non-existent.

Nonetheless, you can use a null resource with the govc client using the vm.power command to flip it back on.

[bill-rich]

Given some recent changes and new use cases, we will actually be supporting power state management in VMs soon. It is high on our backlog.

[eizedev]

@bill-rich
Any updates on this?
We also need the ability to change power state of a virtual machine during runtime and/or keep specific VMs powered off by default so they can be powered on later.
Thanks

[sumitmaggo]

@bill-rich Any idea by when this enhancement will be taken up or already in progress?

[sumitmaggo]

@uutest74 Have you been able to get around this power state management issue? Also, do you know what all changes will be needed to get this functionality into vsphere provider? Any help here would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[arizvisa]

@sumitmaggo, you might be able to use a provisioner in a "null_resource" (https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/null/latest/docs/resources/resource) which uses the govc client (like govc vm.power) to power on the VM.

To determine the vm properties (and check the vm state), you'd combine that "null_resource" provisioner with an "external" provider (https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/external/latest/docs/data-sources/data_source) that queries the vm properties using govc vm.info with its -json=true parameter, so that you can access vm properties via the "result" output.

I haven't fiddled with tf v0.13 or v0.14's new lifecycle stuff, though (still on v0.12), so I'm not exactly 100% on this...

[sumitmaggo]

@arizvisa Thanks for the details. Meanwhile I have created a pull request for checking the power state for VM and will wait for any feedback for the same.

[eizedev]

@bill-rich

Any updates on this?

We also need the ability to change power state of a virtual machine during runtime and/or keep specific VMs powered off by default so they can be powered on later.

Thanks

Anything new here?
Thanks

[lostplan]

+1 to this 🥺

I also have a use-case where I need to keep VMs powered down until required.

[arizvisa]

@lostplan, it seems that PR #1407 is working on that. It might be beneficial to help facilitate the merging of that particular PR by testing it and giving opinions so that people don't lose interest and it stalls out.

[github-actions]

This functionality has been released in v2.1.1 of the Terraform Provider. Please see the Terraform documentation on provider versioning or reach out if you need any assistance upgrading.

For further feature requests or bug reports with this functionality, please create a new GitHub issue following the template. Thank you!

[github-actions]

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