VMware AIops

Disclaimer: This is a community-maintained open-source project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by VMware, Inc. or Broadcom Inc. "VMware" and "vSphere" are trademarks of Broadcom. Source code is publicly auditable at github.com/zw008/VMware-AIops under the MIT license.

VMware family entry point — AI-powered VM lifecycle, deployment, and alarm management — 34 MCP tools.

Start here: install vmware-aiops first, then add modules as needed. Run vmware-aiops hub status to see which family members are installed. Family: vmware-monitor (inventory/health), vmware-storage (iSCSI/vSAN), vmware-vks (Tanzu Kubernetes), vmware-nsx (NSX networking), vmware-nsx-security (DFW/firewall), vmware-aria (metrics/alerts/capacity), vmware-avi (AVI/ALB/AKO). | vmware-pilot (workflow orchestration) | vmware-policy (audit/policy)

What This Skill Does

Category	Tools	Count
VM Lifecycle	power on/off, TTL auto-delete, clean slate	6
Deployment	OVA, template, linked clone, batch clone/deploy	8
Guest Ops	exec commands, upload/download files, provision	5
Plan/Apply	multi-step planning with rollback	4
Cluster	create, delete, HA/DRS config, add/remove hosts	6
Datastore	browse files, scan for images	2
Alarm Management	list alarms, acknowledge, reset	3

Quick Install

uv tool install vmware-aiops
vmware-aiops doctor
vmware-aiops hub status   # see which family members are installed

VMware Family — Install What You Need

vmware-aiops is the entry point. Add modules for additional capabilities:

Module	Install	Adds
vmware-monitor	uv tool install vmware-monitor	Read-only inventory, alarms, events
vmware-storage	uv tool install vmware-storage	iSCSI, vSAN, datastore management
vmware-vks	uv tool install vmware-vks	Tanzu Kubernetes (vSphere 8.x+)
vmware-nsx	uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt	NSX networking: segments, gateways, NAT
vmware-nsx-security	uv tool install vmware-nsx-security	DFW microsegmentation, security groups
vmware-aria	uv tool install vmware-aria	Aria Ops metrics, alerts, capacity
vmware-avi	uv tool install vmware-avi	AVI load balancer, ALB, AKO, Ingress

Each module stays independent — small tool count keeps local models (Ollama, Qwen) accurate.

When to Use This Skill

• Power on/off, create, delete, snapshot, clone, or migrate VMs
• Deploy VMs from OVA, templates, linked clones, or batch specs
• Run commands or transfer files inside a VM (Guest Operations)
• Create/configure clusters (HA/DRS)
• Browse datastores for deployable images
• Plan and execute multi-step operations with rollback
• List, acknowledge, and reset vCenter triggered alarms

Use companion skills for:

• Inventory, health, alarms, VM info → vmware-monitor
• iSCSI, vSAN, datastore management → vmware-storage
• Tanzu Kubernetes (Supervisor, Namespace, TKC) → vmware-vks
• Load balancing, AVI/ALB, AKO, Ingress → vmware-avi

Related Skills — Skill Routing

User Intent	Recommended Skill
Read-only monitoring, zero risk	vmware-monitor (uv tool install vmware-monitor)
Storage: iSCSI, vSAN, datastores	vmware-storage (uv tool install vmware-storage)
VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops	vmware-aiops ← this skill
Tanzu Kubernetes (vSphere 8.x+)	vmware-vks (uv tool install vmware-vks)
NSX networking: segments, gateways, NAT	vmware-nsx (uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt)
NSX security: DFW rules, security groups	vmware-nsx-security (uv tool install vmware-nsx-security)
Aria Ops: metrics, alerts, capacity	vmware-aria (uv tool install vmware-aria)
Multi-step workflows with approval	vmware-pilot
Load balancer, AVI, ALB, AKO, Ingress	vmware-avi (uv tool install vmware-avi)
Audit log query	vmware-policy (vmware-audit CLI)

Common Workflows

Deploy a Lab Environment

1. Browse datastore for OVA images → vmware-aiops datastore browse <ds> --pattern "*.ova"
2. Deploy VM from OVA → vmware-aiops deploy ova ./image.ova --name lab-vm --datastore ds1
3. Run provisioning script inside VM → vmware-aiops vm guest-exec lab-vm --cmd /usr/bin/python3 --args "setup.py" --user admin
4. Create baseline snapshot → vmware-aiops vm snapshot-create lab-vm --name baseline
5. Set TTL for auto-cleanup → vmware-aiops vm set-ttl lab-vm --minutes 480

Batch Clone for Testing

1. Create plan: vm_create_plan with multiple clone + reconfigure steps
2. Review plan with user (shows affected VMs, irreversible warnings)
3. Apply: vm_apply_plan executes sequentially, stops on failure
4. If failed: vm_rollback_plan reverses executed steps
5. Set TTL on all clones for auto-cleanup

Migrate VM to Another Host

1. Check VM info via vmware-monitor → verify power state and current host
2. Migrate: vmware-aiops vm migrate my-vm --to-host esxi-02
3. Verify migration completed

Usage Mode

Scenario	Recommended	Why
Local/small models (Ollama, Qwen)	CLI	~2K tokens vs ~8K for MCP
Cloud models (Claude, GPT-4o)	Either	MCP gives structured JSON I/O
Automated pipelines	MCP	Type-safe parameters, structured output

MCP Tools (34 — 20 read, 14 write)

Category	Tools	R/W
VM Lifecycle (6)	vm_list_ttl	Read
	vm_power_on, vm_power_off, vm_set_ttl, vm_cancel_ttl, vm_clean_slate	Write
Deployment (8)	deploy_vm_from_ova, deploy_vm_from_template, deploy_linked_clone, attach_iso_to_vm, convert_vm_to_template, batch_clone_vms, batch_linked_clone_vms, batch_deploy_from_spec	Write
Guest Ops (5)	vm_guest_exec_output, vm_guest_download	Read
	vm_guest_exec, vm_guest_upload, vm_guest_provision	Write
Plan/Apply (4)	vm_list_plans, vm_create_plan	Read
	vm_apply_plan, vm_rollback_plan	Write
Datastore (2)	browse_datastore, scan_datastore_images	Read
Cluster (6)	cluster_info	Read
	cluster_create, cluster_delete, cluster_add_host, cluster_remove_host, cluster_configure	Write
Alarm Management (3)	list_vcenter_alarms	Read
	acknowledge_vcenter_alarm, reset_vcenter_alarm	Write

Read/write split: 20 tools are read-only, 14 modify state. All write tools require explicit parameters and are audit-logged. Destructive operations (delete, force power-off) require double confirmation.

CLI Quick Reference

# VM operations
vmware-aiops vm power-on <name> [--target <t>]
vmware-aiops vm power-off <name> [--force]
vmware-aiops vm create <name> --cpu 4 --memory 8192 --disk 100
vmware-aiops vm delete <name>
vmware-aiops vm clone <name> --new-name <new>
vmware-aiops vm migrate <name> --to-host <host>

# Guest operations (requires VMware Tools)
vmware-aiops vm guest-exec <name> --cmd <script-path> --args "<args>" --user <username>
vmware-aiops vm guest-upload <name> --local ./script.sh --guest /tmp/script.sh --user <username>

# Deploy
vmware-aiops deploy ova <path> --name <vm> --datastore <ds>
vmware-aiops deploy linked-clone --source <vm> --snapshot <snap> --name <new>

# Cluster
vmware-aiops cluster create <name> --ha --drs
vmware-aiops cluster info <name>

# Datastore
vmware-aiops datastore browse <ds> --pattern "*.ova"

# Alarm management
vmware-aiops alarm list [--target <t>]
vmware-aiops alarm acknowledge <entity_name> <alarm_name> [--target <t>]
vmware-aiops alarm reset <entity_name> <alarm_name> [--target <t>]

# Family
vmware-aiops hub status        # show installed family members + install commands

Full CLI reference: see references/cli-reference.md

Troubleshooting

"VM not found" error

VM names are case-sensitive in vSphere. Use exact name from vmware-monitor inventory vms.

Guest exec returns empty output

Use vm_guest_exec_output instead of vm_guest_exec — it auto-captures stdout/stderr. Basic vm_guest_exec only returns exit code.

Deploy OVA times out

Large OVA files (>10GB) may exceed the default 120s timeout. The upload happens via HTTP NFC lease — ensure network between the machine running vmware-aiops and ESXi is stable.

Plan apply fails mid-way

Run vmware-aiops plan list to see failed plan status. Ask user if they want to rollback with vm_rollback_plan. Irreversible steps (delete_vm) are skipped during rollback.

Connection refused / SSL error

1. Verify target is reachable: vmware-aiops doctor
2. For self-signed certs: set disableSslCertValidation: true in config.yaml (lab environments only)

Setup

uv tool install vmware-aiops
mkdir -p ~/.vmware-aiops
vmware-aiops init  # generates config.yaml and .env templates
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-aiops/.env

All tools are automatically audited via vmware-policy. Audit logs: vmware-audit log --last 20

Full setup guide, security details, and AI platform compatibility: see references/setup-guide.md

Audit & Safety

All operations are automatically audited via vmware-policy (@vmware_tool decorator):

• Every tool call logged to ~/.vmware/audit.db (SQLite, framework-agnostic)
• Policy rules enforced via ~/.vmware/rules.yaml (deny rules, maintenance windows, risk levels)
• Risk classification: each tool tagged as low/medium/high/critical
• View recent operations: vmware-audit log --last 20
• View denied operations: vmware-audit log --status denied

vmware-policy is automatically installed as a dependency — no manual setup needed.

License

MIT — github.com/zw008/VMware-AIops