VMware Workstation REST Automation Tool

This Python-based CLI tool provides a way to manage VMware Workstation VMs via VMware's REST API. You can interact with VMware to manage virtual machines (VMs), view network configurations, and start/stop the VMware REST server easily.

The tool works both in menu-driven mode and through command-line arguments. It simplifies interacting with the VMware Workstation REST API and allows automation of common VM management tasks.

Features

• View all VMs and their power states.
• View the power state of a specific VM using its VM ID.
• Power on or off VMs by providing the VM ID.
• View all network configurations from the VMware REST API.
• Start the VMware Workstation REST server (vmrest).
• Stop the VMware Workstation REST server (vmrest).
• Configure your vmworkstation.ini file interactively.
• Argument-based flags to run tasks automatically without interactive prompts.

Requirements

• Python 3.x
• VMware Workstation Pro installed with the REST API feature (vmrest).
• vmworkstation.ini file for configuring API connection details (base URL, username, password, and executable path for vmrest).

Install and Setup

1. Clone this repository to your local machine.

   git clone <your-repository-url>

2. Make sure VMware Workstation Pro is installed and its REST API (vmrest) is enabled.

3. Install required Python packages if needed:

   pip install requests

4. Configure your vmworkstation.ini file.

   Run the configuration tool for the first setup:

   python3 vmrest.py --configure

   This will prompt you to set up:

   • The base URL (default: http://127.0.0.1:8697/api)
   • Your VMware username
   • Your VMware password
   • The path to the vmrest executable (default: /mnt/c/Program Files (x86)/VMware/VMware Workstation/vmrest.exe)

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Usage

You can either run the tool as an interactive CLI menu or provide arguments at the command line to immediately trigger specific actions.

Example Command-Line Usages

1. Show all VMs:

   python3 vmrest.py --show-vms

2. Show all VM IDs:

   python3 vmrest.py --show-vm-ids

3. Show Power State of a Specific VM (by VM ID):

   python3 vmrest.py --show-power-state <VM_ID>

4. Power On a VM (by VM ID):

   python3 vmrest.py --power-on <VM_ID>

5. Power Off a VM (by VM ID):

   python3 vmrest.py --power-off <VM_ID>

6. Show all Networks:

   python3 vmrest.py --show-net

7. Start VMware Workstation REST API Server: If you need to start the vmrest server manually:

   python3 vmrest.py --start-server

8. Stop VMware Workstation REST API Server: If you need to stop the vmrest server:

   python3 vmrest.py --stop-server

9. Configure vmworkstation.ini:

   python3 vmrest.py --configure

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Interactive Menu

If you run the script without an argument, it will launch an interactive menu where you can perform tasks manually.

python3 vmrest.py

The menu provides options such as:

• Show all VMs.
• Show all VM IDs.
• Show power state of a specific VM.
• Power on/off a VM.
• Start the VMware REST server.
• Stop the VMware REST server.
• Quit

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Shell Script

To simplify running the script, a shell script (run_vmrest.sh) is provided. It ensures that the Python script is run using the correct environment.

./run_vmrest.sh --show-vms

This command runs the Python script with the --show-vms argument using the shell script.

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Configuration and Troubleshooting

1. Rest API Connection Errors:
   Make sure that the REST API (vmrest) server is running on the given base URL and port (e.g., http://127.0.0.1:8697/api).

2. Invalid vmrest Path:
   If you get an error indicating that vmrest cannot be found, reconfigure the .ini file using the --configure flag to set the correct executable path.

3. Invalid Credentials:
   Ensure that the correct username and password are provided, and these values match those required by the VMware Workstation REST API.

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