Error trying to create a new vm in ansible

ansibleansible-playbookvmware-esxivmware-vcenter

I just started learning Ansible. It has been a pain so far. I have this code to create a new vm. I followed this tutorial. 

    ---
- hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  tasks:
    - vsphere_guest:
            vcenter_hostname:1.1.1.12
            username: root
            password: pasword
            guest: newvm001
            state: powered_on
            validate_certs: no
            vm_extra_config:
                vcpu.hotadd: yes
                mem.hotadd:  yes
                notes: This is a test VM
                folder: MyFolder
            vm_disk:
                disk1:
                        size_gb: 10
                        type: thin
                        datastore: storage001
            vm_nic:
                nic1:
                    type: vmxnet3
                    network: VM Network
                    network_type: standard
            vm_hardware:
                memory_mb: 256
                num_cpus: 1
                osid: ubuntu64Guest
                scsi: paravirtual
            esxi:
                datacenter: 1.1.1.12
                hostname: 1.1.1.12

I however keep getting this error.

[WARNING]: Host file not found: /etc/ansible/hosts

[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available

PLAY [localhost]

TASK [setup]
******************************************************************* ok: [localhost]

TASK [vsphere_guest]
*********************************************************** fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failed": true, "msg":
"Cannot find datacenter named: 9.1.142.86"}

NO MORE HOSTS LEFT
************************************************************* [WARNING]: Could not create retry file 'testing.retry'. [Errno 2] No
such file or directory: ''

PLAY RECAP
********************************************************************* localhost : ok=1 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1

Why is that so? What is a datacenter? How can i find the appropriate datacenter to use? And what is the difference between a host file and an inventory file?

Best Answer

You have one major problem and one minor problem.

First, the major problem: You haven't supplied the correct datacenter name.

            esxi:
                datacenter: 1.1.1.12

This is supposed to be set to the name of the Datacenter object in vSphere. (And, as specified in the Ansible documentation, it should be set to ha-datacenter if you're talking to a standalone ESXi host.)

The minor problem is that you've used IP addresses rather than hostnames for connection information. What to do about this is obvious.

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