vmware_host_datastore state absent seems to try to add instead of delete the datastore.

[Pigi-102]

SUMMARY

vmware_host_datastore state absent seems to try to add instead of delete the datastore.

ISSUE TYPE

• Bug Report

COMPONENT NAME

vmware_host_datastore

ANSIBLE VERSION

[root@srvansibledr01 VmWare]# ansible --version
ansible [core 2.16.14]
  config file = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg
  configured module search path = ['/root/.ansible/plugins/modules', '/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules']
  ansible python module location = /usr/lib/python3.12/site-packages/ansible
  ansible collection location = /root/.ansible/collections:/usr/share/ansible/collections
  executable location = /usr/bin/ansible
  python version = 3.12.9 (main, Sep  2 2025, 00:00:00) [GCC 14.2.1 20250110 (Red Hat 14.2.1-7)] (/usr/bin/python3)
  jinja version = 3.1.6
  libyaml = True

COLLECTION VERSION

[root@srvansibledr01 VmWare]# ansible-galaxy collection list | grep vmware
community.vmware  6.1.0  
vmware.vmware     2.5.0  

CONFIGURATION

[root@srvansibledr01 VmWare]# ansible-config dump --only-changed
CONFIG_FILE() = /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg

OS / ENVIRONMENT

[root@srvansibledr01 VmWare]# cat /etc/os-release 
NAME="Oracle Linux Server"
VERSION="10.0"
ID="ol"
ID_LIKE="fedora"
VARIANT="Server"
VARIANT_ID="server"
VERSION_ID="10.0"
PLATFORM_ID="platform:el10"
PRETTY_NAME="Oracle Linux Server 10.0"
ANSI_COLOR="0;31"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:oracle:linux:10:0:server"
HOME_URL="https://linux.oracle.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://github.com/oracle/oracle-linux"

ORACLE_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT="Oracle Linux 10"
ORACLE_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT_VERSION=10.0
ORACLE_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Oracle Linux"
ORACLE_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION=10.0

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

I need to remove some datastores from my environment ( as they can come from a clone or similar )

    - name: Gather datastore to be detached
      community.vmware.vmware_host_datastore:
        hostname: "{{ vcenter_hostname }}"
        username: "{{ vcenter_username }}"
        password: "{{ vcenter_password }}"
        esxi_hostname : "{{ esxi_name }}"
        datastore_name: "{{ item }}"
        state: absent
        validate_certs: false
      loop: "{{ datastore_clusters }}"
      register: datastore_result
      delegate_to: localhost

EXPECTED RESULTS

I expect the datastores to be removed.

ACTUAL RESULTS

TASK [Gather datastore to be detached] *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
failed: [localhost] (item=vmds01) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": "vmds01", "msg": "Cannot umount datastore vmds01 from host esxdr01: A VMFS volume with the same UUID '5e8c8d3c-01e5e182-3307-0025b5a00000' is already mounted in the datacenter."}
failed: [localhost] (item=vmds08) => {"ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": "vmds08", "msg": "Cannot umount datastore vmds08 from host esxdr01: A VMFS volume with the same UUID '5e84b0e1-1512bc6e-8391-0025b5a00003' is already mounted in the datacenter."}

Also from vmware I see that the error is :

From ansible-playbook with -vvvv

<localhost> ESTABLISH LOCAL CONNECTION FOR USER: root
<localhost> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'echo ~root && sleep 0'
<localhost> EXEC /bin/sh -c '( umask 77 && mkdir -p "` echo /root/.ansible/tmp `"&& mkdir "` echo /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1764674230.153249-25407-138854913799296 `" && echo ansible-tmp-1764674230.153249-25407-138854913799296="` echo /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1764674230.153249-25407-138854913799296 `" ) && sleep 0'
Loading collection vmware.vmware from /root/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/vmware/vmware
Using module file /root/.ansible/collections/ansible_collections/community/vmware/plugins/modules/vmware_host_datastore.py
<localhost> PUT /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-local-25373r0nzufuw/tmpiryali7z TO /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1764674230.153249-25407-138854913799296/AnsiballZ_vmware_host_datastore.py
<localhost> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'chmod u+x /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1764674230.153249-25407-138854913799296/ /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1764674230.153249-25407-138854913799296/AnsiballZ_vmware_host_datastore.py && sleep 0'
<localhost> EXEC /bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/python3 /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1764674230.153249-25407-138854913799296/AnsiballZ_vmware_host_datastore.py && sleep 0'
<localhost> EXEC /bin/sh -c 'rm -f -r /root/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1764674230.153249-25407-138854913799296/ > /dev/null 2>&1 && sleep 0'
The full traceback is:
  File "/tmp/ansible_community.vmware.vmware_host_datastore_payload_4g33jgd5/ansible_community.vmware.vmware_host_datastore_payload.zip/ansible_collections/community/vmware/plugins/modules/vmware_host_datastore.py", line 298, in umount_datastore_host
    self.esxi.configManager.datastoreSystem.RemoveDatastore(ds)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyVmomi/VmomiSupport.py", line 601, in <lambda>
    self.f(*(self.args + (obj,) + args), **kwargs)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyVmomi/VmomiSupport.py", line 376, in _InvokeMethod
    return self._stub.InvokeMethod(self, info, args)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/pyVmomi/SoapAdapter.py", line 1518, in InvokeMethod
    raise obj  # pylint: disable-msg=E0702
    ^^^^^^^^^
failed: [localhost] (item=vmds01) => {
    "ansible_loop_var": "item",
    "changed": false,
    "invocation": {
        "module_args": {
            "auto_expand": true,
            "datastore_name": "vmds01",
            "datastore_type": null,
            "esxi_hostname": "esxdr01",
            "hostname": "192.168.100.253",
            "nfs_path": null,
            "nfs_ro": false,
            "nfs_server": null,
            "password": "VALUE_SPECIFIED_IN_NO_LOG_PARAMETER",
            "port": 443,
            "proxy_host": null,
            "proxy_port": null,
            "resignature": false,
            "state": "absent",
            "username": "administrator@vsphere.local",
            "validate_certs": false,
            "vasa_provider": null,
            "vmfs_device_name": null,
            "vmfs_version": null
        }
    },
    "item": "vmds01",
    "msg": "Cannot umount datastore vmds01 from host esxdr01: A VMFS volume with the same UUID '5e8c8d3c-01e5e182-3307-0025b5a00000' is already mounted in the datacenter."
}

[mikemorency]

The module is executing the right block of code/vim method. I think something else is wrong with your vcenter environment, and vmware just has a bad error message.
This seems like a vim.fault.ResourceInUse for what its worth

[Pigi-102]

Well, resource ( almost ) was in use in the sense that was mounted on all hosts of the cluster, but no VM or other stuff were either using it or evene there wer no registered vm ( on it ).
If I execute the umount from the vcenter manually she get umounted as expected.

Is there something I can provide you to evaluate what's happening ?

[mikemorency]

I was just reading the docs, but theye not super helpful.
https://developer.broadcom.com/xapis/vsphere-web-services-api/8.0.3/vim.host.DatastoreSystem.html#removeDatastore

The only idea I have would be to try to get the full error output, which may or may not help. You would need to edit the module code here to like

import json
self.module.fail_json(**json.dumps(fault))

If that doesn't work, you could try

self.module.fail_json(msg="%s: %s" % (error_message_umount, to_native(fault.msg)), error_type=str(type(fault)))

If the type() doesn't work, you can do fault.__class__.__name__. I can't remember what does and doesn't work with these error objects