vmfusion-python
vmfusion-python is a low-level python interface for the VMware Fusion command line tools vmrun and vmware-vdiskmanager. It aims to be human readable (because I still have no idea why -k is shrink, -n is rename and -r is convert) and easy to use.
The vmrun command comes with a ton of command line options. At the moment, only the common commands are implemented because I have yet to find an actual use case for the rest. If you have need for a non-implemented command, open an issue or send me a pull request.
Installation
$ pip install vmfusion
Overview
vmrun
The vmrun
tool can be used to control the runtime state of a VM.
Note: Contrary to the behavior of vmrun, the API will work with both absolute and relative VMX paths.
list
Return information about all running VMs.
Usage: vmrun.list()
Example:
>>> from vmfusion import vmrun
>>> print vmrun.list()
{
'count': 3,
'machines': [
'/Users/msteinhoff/Documents/Virtual Machines/test1/test1.vmx',
'/Users/msteinhoff/Documents/Virtual Machines/test1/test2.vmx',
'/Users/Shared/Virtual Machines/test3/test3.vmx',
]
}
Note: This will only return actual running VMs and is not the same als the Virtual Machine Library from the VMware Fusion GUI, which also displays halted and suspended VMs.
start
Power on a VM.
Usage:
vmrun.start( vmx )
Note/Warning: There is an optional gui
parameter which can be set to False
to launch the VM in nogui mode.
The nogui mode is weird. In nogui mode, the VM window will not be visible but displayed in VMware Fusion.app when its already running. If the Fusion GUI is not running and you launch it or close/launch it, the VM gets converted back to gui mode. Oh and if you then close VMware Fusion.app the VM gets suspended. (at least thats whats happening on my system).
stop
Shutdown a VM.
Usage:
vmrun.stop( vmx, soft=True )
When soft
is set to True (default), configured shutdown scripts will be
executed and an shutdown signal will be sent to the guest OS. For this to work,
vmware tools need to be installed. Otherwise, the VM is killed with no mercy.
reset
Reboot a VM.
Usage:
vmrun.reset( vmx, soft=True )
When soft
is set to True (default), configured shutdown/power-on scripts will
be executed and an shutdown signal will be sent to the guest OS. For this to
work, vmware tools need to be installed. Otherwise, the VM is killed with no
mercy.
suspend
Suspend VM state to disk.
Usage:
vmrun.suspend( vmx, soft=True )
When soft
is set to True (default), configured suspend scripts will be
executed before the system is suspended.
pause
Halt the CPU execution of a VM.
Usage:
vmrun.pause( vmx )
unpause
Continue CPU execution of a M.
Usage:
vmrun.unpause( vmx )
list_snapshots
List the snapshots in a VM.
Usage:
vmrun.list_snapshots( vmx )
snapshot
Take a new snapshot of the VM.
Usage:
vmrun.snapshot( vmx, name )
revert_to_snapshot
Revert the VM to a snapshot.
Usage:
vmrun.revert_to_snapshot( vmx, name )
delete_snapshot
Delete a snapshot.
Usage:
vmrun.delete_snapshot( vmx, name )
VM
The VM class represents a virtual machine, and is used as a convenient wrapper
for the vmrun
commands to operate on a common VM. The same functions that
vmrun
provides that take a vmx
parameter are exposed through this class.
Usage:
vm = VM('/path/to/virtual_machine.vmx')
vm.start()
vm.suspend()
vm.stop()
vm.snapshot('some snapshot')
vm.revert_to_snapshot('some snapshot')
vm.delete_snapshot('some snapshot')
vdiskmanager
With the vdiskmanager
tool VMDK disks can be managed. For all methods, the vmdk
parameter always expects a relative path to the vmdk file.
create
Creates a new VMDK file with the given parameters.
Usage:
vdiskmanager.create( vmdk, size, disk_type=None, adapter_type=None )
Arguments:
-
size
A size specification readable by the tool, e.g.
100MB
,20GB
,1TB
. No validation is performed. -
disk_type
Optional type of the disk to be created, one of the following:
-
SPARSE_SINGLE
: A single growable VMDK file -
SPARSE_SPLIT
: Many growable VMDK files, split into 2 GB slices -
PREALLOC_SINGLE
: A single preallocated VMDK file -
PREALLOC_SPLIT
: Many preallocated 2 GB VMDK files
Default is
SPARSE_SPLIT
. -
-
adapter_type
Optional type of the disk adapter, one of the following:
IDE
LSILOGIC
BUSLOGIC
Default is
LSILOGIC
.
defragment
Defragments VMDK files on the VMware level (not to be confused with guest filesystem defagmentation).
Usage:
vdiskmanager.defragment( vmdk )
shrink
This will perform a shrink of the VMDK on the VMware level (The guest filesystem must be prepared for this to work, e.g. with the zerofill tool on Linux.).
Usage:
vdiskmanager.shrink( vmdk )
rename
This will rename a VMDK file. Useful for large split disks with over 9000 2GB slices.
Usage:
vdiskmanager.rename( source_vmdk, destination_vmdk )
convert
This will convert the disk type of the given VMDK file.
Usage:
vdiskmanager.convert( vmdk, disk_type )
The disk_type
parameter is the same as in create() and must be one of the
following:
-
SPARSE_SINGLE
: A single growable VMDK file -
SPARSE_SPLIT
: Many growable VMDK files, split into 2 GB slices -
PREALLOC_SINGLE
: A single preallocated VMDK file -
PREALLOC_SPLIT
: Many preallocated 2 GB VMDK files
expand
This will expand the VMDK to the given size.
Usage:
vdiskmanager.convert( vmdk, new_size )
The new_size
parameter must be a size specification readable by the tool, e.g.
100MB
, 20GB
, 1TB
. No validation is performed.
vmnet_*
It is often handy to gather certain information about the local VMware networks.
By default VMware creates a host-only network and a NAT network. Those are
represented by vmnet_hostonly
and vmnet_nat
.
To retrieve the vnet-name (e.g. useful in VMX config files), use the following:
>>> from vmfusion import vmnet_nat
>>> print vmnet_nat.name
vmnet8
There is a DHCP server running on both networks. To access the lease information, use the following:
>>> from vmfusion import vmnet_nat
>>> print vmnet_nat.leases
{
'00:50:56:00:23:40': '192.168.128.130'
'00:50:56:00:19:12': '192.168.128.129'
'00:50:56:00:46:93': '192.168.128.136'
}
The dhcp server stores lease information in a file on disk. The data in the
leases dictionary is read-only and not automatically updated. To reload the
latest data from the file, use the reload()
method:
vmnet_nat.leases.reload()
Custom tool locations
The vmrun
and vdiskmanager
use the default location at /Applications/VMware Fusion.app
. This can be changed by instantiating a custom _cli object.
vmrun at a custom location:
>>> from vmfusion import vmrun_cli
>>> vmrun_custom = vmrun_cli( '/Volumes/External/Applications/VMware Fusion.app' )
Same goes with vdiskmanager:
>>> from vmfusion import vdiskmanager_cli
>>> vdiskmanager_custom = vdiskmanager_cli( '/Volumes/External/Applications/VMware Fusion.app' )
To create a custom vmnet, use vnet_cli
:
>>> from vmfusion import vnet_cli
>>> vmnet_custom = vnet_cli( 'vmnet6' )
>>> print vmnet_custom.name
vmnet6
Contribution
Fork, code, pull request :)
License
See LICENSE.txt