# RE: RE: Knife-vSphere plugin (windows)

**URL:** <https://discourse.chef.io/t/re-re-knife-vsphere-plugin-windows/3104>\
**Category:** Chef Infra (archive)\
**Created:** [September 12, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/re-re-knife-vsphere-plugin-windows/3104 "2012-09-12T18:31:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Van\_Fossan\_Randy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8797f3/32.png) [@Van\_Fossan\_Randy](https://discourse.chef.io/u/Van_Fossan_Randy)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://discourse.chef.io/t/re-re-knife-vsphere-plugin-windows/3104/1 "2012-09-12T18:31:06Z")

</div>

Hi Jesse,

I do see all my VLANs from the datacenter an example is shown below:

C:\opscode\chef\bin\>knife vsphere vlan list  
VLAN: 123VLAN  
VLAN: 456VLAN  
VLAN: 789VLAN  
VLAN: VLAN077  
VLAN: VLAN088  
VLAN: VLAN199

Note: for security reasons, I have sanitized the list above. Suffices  
me to say that the VLAN I specified in the knife vsphere command is in  
the list of returned VLANs.

The chef-client version is 0.14.2

Randy

-----Original Message-----  
From: Jesse Campbell [[mailto:hikeit@gmail.com](mailto:hikeit@gmail.com)]  
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 5:27 PM  
To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Knife-vSphere plugin  
(windows)

what do you get from "knife vsphere vlan list"?

On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 3:22 PM, Van Fossan,Randy [vanfossr@oclc.org](mailto:vanfossr@oclc.org)  
wrote:

> Hi Jesse,
> 
> Well, I got a little farther. However the option for --cvlan do not  
> seem to work. I made sure the VLAN value was correct. Note: I have  
> sanitized the values so that I could publicly post the results.
> 
> C:\opscode\chef\bin\>knife vsphere vm clone --template "CentOS 5.8"  
> "mytestvm.fqdn" --cvlan "123VLAN" -VV  
> DEBUG: Using configuration from C:/Users/myacct/.chef/knife.rb  
> DEBUG: value for config item bootstrap:  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_host: myvcenter.fqdn  
> DEBUG: value for config item vshere\_path:  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_port: 443  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_nossl:  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_user: myacct  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_pass: mypassword  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_insecure: true  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_dc: myvspheredc  
> DEBUG: value for config item folder:  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_dc: myvspheredc  
> DEBUG: value for config item resource\_pool:  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_dc: myvspheredc  
> DEBUG: value for config item datastore:  
> DEBUG: value for config item customization\_cpucount:  
> DEBUG: value for config item customization\_memory:  
> DEBUG: value for config item customization\_vlan: 123VLAN  
> DEBUG: value for config item customization\_vlan: 123VLAN  
> DEBUG: value for config item vsphere\_dc: myvspheredc  
> C:/opscode/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/knife-vsphere-0.2.3/  
> li b/chef/knife/vsphere\_vm\_clone.rb:256:in `rescue in generate_clo ne_spec': undefined method `deviceName=' for  
> #\<RbVmomi::VIM::VirtualEthernetCardDistributedVirtualPortBackingInfo:0  
> x4  
> 63e4e0\> (NoMethodE  
> rror)  
> from  
> C:/opscode/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/knife-vsphere-0.2.3/  
> li b/chef/knife/vsphere\_vm\_clone.rb:251:in `generate_ clone_spec' from C:/opscode/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/knife-vsphere-0.2.3/ li b/chef/knife/vsphere_vm_clone.rb:188:in `run'  
> from  
> C:/opscode/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.12.0/lib/che  
> f/ knife.rb:402:in `run_with_pretty_exceptions' from C:/opscode/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.12.0/lib/che f/ knife.rb:168:in `run'  
> from  
> C:/opscode/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.12.0/lib/che  
> f/  
> application/knife.rb:123:in `run' from C:/opscode/chef/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/chef-10.12.0/bin/kni fe :25:in `\<top (required)\>'  
> from C:/opscode/chef/bin/knife:19:in `load' from C:/opscode/chef/bin/knife:19:in `'
> 
> -----Original Message-----  
> From: Jesse Campbell [[mailto:hikeit@gmail.com](mailto:hikeit@gmail.com)]  
> Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 12:02 PM  
> To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
> Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: Knife-vSphere plugin (windows)
> 
> the documentation for mixlib::CLI is terrible, and I'm not even sure  
> why not specifying something after ":long --vshost" switches from a  
> boolean to a string, given that there is a :boolean element in the  
> option hash...  
> still digging...
> 
> -jesse
> 
> On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 11:55 AM, Van Fossan,Randy [vanfossr@oclc.org](mailto:vanfossr@oclc.org)  
> wrote:
> 
> > Thanks Jesse, that worked..
> > 
> > Randy
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----  
> > From: Jesse Campbell [[mailto:hikeit@gmail.com](mailto:hikeit@gmail.com)]  
> > Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 11:34 AM  
> > To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
> > Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Re: RE: Knife-vSphere plugin (windows)
> > 
> > looks like a bug in BaseVsphereCommand.rb I have changed the relevant

> > section to this:
> > 
> > ```
> > option :vsphere_host,
> > :long => "--vshost HOST",
> > :description => "The vsphere host"
> > 
> > ```
> > 
> > You can update your own for now until a new rubygem is created.
> > 
> > What other changes did you need to make to run on windows?
> > 
> > -Jesse
> > 
> > On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Van Fossan,Randy  
> > [vanfossr@oclc.org](mailto:vanfossr@oclc.org)  
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > Hi Jesse,
> > > 
> > > The following does not work, I get the error "can't convert true  
> > > into
> 
> > > String"
> > > 
> > > # knife vsphere -u myaccount -p mypassword --vshost myhost.fqdn -d
> > > 
> > > "mydatacenter" --vsinsecure vm list # ERROR: TypeError: can't  
> > > convert
> 
> > > true into String
> > > 
> > > If I change my knife.rb to include "knife[:vsphere\_host] =  
> > > "myhost.fqdn" " and then run the following, it works.
> > > 
> > > # knife vsphere -u myaccount -p mypassword -d "mydatacenter"
> > > 
> > > --vsinsecure vm list
> > > 
> > > I need to be able to specify the --vshost as we have many Virtual  
> > > Center Servers.
> > > 
> > > I looked at the code here:  
> > > [https://github.com/ezrapagel/knife-vsphere/blob/master/lib/chef/knif](https://github.com/ezrapagel/knife-vsphere/blob/master/lib/chef/knif)  
> > > e  
> > > /  
> > > Ba  
> > > seVsphereCommand.rb
> > > 
> > > Randy
> > > 
> > > -----Original Message-----  
> > > From: Jesse Campbell [[mailto:hikeit@gmail.com](mailto:hikeit@gmail.com)]  
> > > Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 10:55 AM  
> > > To: [chef@lists.opscode.com](mailto:chef@lists.opscode.com)  
> > > Subject: [chef] Re: RE: Knife-vSphere plugin (windows)
> > > 
> > > What have you had work vs. not work?  
> > > I'm pretty sure I tested both of those options back when I coded  
> > > them,
> > 
> > > but it was many months ago, and I currently only test on mac os...  
> > > but documentation around the "option" specifications is sparse or  
> > > nonexistent, so some pieces may have been missed.
> > > 
> > > however, what variable is missing in what you posted? the first  
> > > option
> > 
> > > sets config[:vsphere\_dc], the second option sets  
> > > config[:vsphere\_host]
> > > 
> > > -jesse
> > > 
> > > On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 2:30 PM, Van Fossan,Randy [vanfossr@oclc.org](mailto:vanfossr@oclc.org)  
> > > wrote:
> > > 
> > > > Well, I spoke too soon. I thought I tried the --vshost correctly  
> > > > but, I still had the entry in my knife.rb file for the vsphere\_host.  
> > > > Looking at the source for knife-vsphere; specifically, the  
> > > > BaseVsphereCommand.rb file, it shows the --vshost but it doesn't  
> > > > look
> 
> > > like it is coded correctly.?.?.?
> > > 
> > > > If you look at the vsphere\_dc section versus the vsphere\_host  
> > > > section,  
> > > > it looks like a variable is missing.?.?.?
> > > > 
> > > > option :vsphere\_dc,  
> > > > :short =\> "-d DATACENTER",  
> > > > :long =\> "--vsdc DATACENTER",  
> > > > :description =\> "The Datacenter for vsphere"
> > > > 
> > > > option :vsphere\_host,  
> > > > :long =\> "--vshost",  
> > > > :description =\> "The vsphere host"
> > > > 
> > > > Anyone concur?
> > > > 
> > > > Randy
> > > > 
> > > > -----Original Message-----  
> > > > From: Van Fossan,Randy  
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2012 2:12 PM  
> > > > To: 'chef@lists.opscode.com'  
> > > > Subject: RE: Knife-vSphere plugin (windows)
> > > > 
> > > > After looking at the source, I see you can specify the Datacenter  
> > > > and  
> > > > vSphere host. I tried it "-d" and --vshost options and they do  
> > > > work.
> > > > 
> > > > -----Original Message-----  
> > > > From: Van Fossan,Randy  
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2012 1:59 PM  
> > > > To: 'chef@lists.opscode.com'  
> > > > Subject: Knife-vSphere plugin (windows)
> > > > 
> > > > All,
> > > > 
> > > > I am having some success with the knife-vsphere (0.2.3) plugin in  
> > > > windows. We have the Chef 0.10.12 Omnibus package for Windows  
> > > > installed  
> > > > and we then installed the knife-vsphere plugin. The plugin seems  
> > > > to  
> > > > work ok in windows after I did a little gem cleanup.. My question  
> > > > is,  
> > > > is there a way to pass the vsphere\_dc and vspere\_host via the  
> > > > command  
> > > > line? I have tried setting windows environment variables as  
> > > > follows  
> > > > and it isn't working.
> > > > 
> > > > vsphere\_host="mvcenter.fqdn"  
> > > > vshrere\_dc="mydatacenter"
> > > > 
> > > > We have many Data Centers on multiple Virtual Center servers.
> > > > 
> > > > We need to run knife-vsphere on a windows chef management console  
> > > > due  
> > > > to using VMware Orchestrator and PowerCLI as a wrapper around the  
> > > > "knife vsphere" command.
> > > > 
> > > > Any suggestions?
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks  
> > > > Randy