By name: inventory-tool-guide description: Guide for querying MTV provider inventory with TSL. Covers available resources per provider, output formats, TSL syntax, common pitfalls, and using inventory for network/storage mapping. Use when querying provider inventory.
Inventory Tool Guide
Use mtv_read with get inventory RESOURCE to query provider inventory. Use mtv_help for unfamiliar commands.
For field references and ready-to-use queries, load the appropriate per-provider skill:
inventory-vsphere, inventory-ovirt, inventory-openstack, inventory-ec2, inventory-ova, inventory-hyperv, inventory-openshift.
Common Pitfalls
flagsmust be a JSON object — never pass it as a string.- Correct:
"flags": {"namespace": "mtv", "output": "markdown"} - Wrong:
"flags": "{namespace: mtv, output: markdown}"
- Correct:
fieldsis a top-level parameter, not a flag — use it onmtv_readdirectly (not insideflags) to limit response to specific top-level JSON keys (e.g.fields: ["metadata", "spec"]). Runmtv_helpto see valid flags.- Discovering fields — use
"output": "json"with"query": "limit 1"to inspect one object and see all available field names. - oVirt disk types live on a standalone resource — query
get inventory disk, not the VM'sdiskAttachments, to findstorageType = 'lun'. - EC2 and OVA use PascalCase field names — unlike vSphere/oVirt/OpenStack which use camelCase.
Provider Field Differences
| Concept | vSphere | oVirt | OpenStack | EC2 | OVA | HyperV | OpenShift |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power | powerState |
status |
status |
State.Name |
N/A | powerState |
N/A (k8s) |
| Memory | memoryMB |
memory (bytes!) |
via flavorId |
via InstanceType |
memoryMB |
memoryMB |
N/A (k8s) |
| CPU | cpuCount |
cpuSockets * cpuCores |
via flavorId |
via InstanceType |
cpuCount |
cpuCount |
N/A (k8s) |
| Disks on VM | disks[*] |
diskAttachments[*] |
attachedVolumes[*] |
BlockDeviceMappings |
disks[*] |
disks[*] |
N/A |
| Standalone | N/A | get inventory disk |
get inventory volume |
get inventory volume |
get inventory disk |
get inventory disk |
get inventory pvc |
| LUN/RDM | disks[*].rdm |
disk.storageType + lunStorage |
N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Field case | camelCase | camelCase | camelCase | PascalCase (AWS) | PascalCase (OVF) | camelCase | k8s objects |
Resource Availability Matrix
| Resource | vSphere | oVirt | OpenStack | EC2 | OVA | HyperV | OpenShift |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vm | Y | Y | Y | Y (ec2-instance) | Y | Y | Y |
| network | Y | Y | Y | Y (ec2-network) | Y | Y | Y (NAD) |
| storage | Y (datastore) | Y (storageDomain) | Y (volumeType) | Y (ec2-volume-type) | Y | Y | Y (storageClass) |
| disk | -- | Y | -- | -- | Y | Y | -- |
| volume | -- | -- | Y | Y (ec2-volume) | -- | -- | -- |
| host | Y | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| cluster | Y | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| datacenter | Y | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| folder | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| resource-pool | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| disk-profile | -- | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| nic-profile | -- | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| flavor | -- | -- | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| image | -- | -- | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| project | -- | -- | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| subnet | -- | -- | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| snapshot | -- | -- | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| volumetype | -- | -- | Y | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| namespace | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | Y |
| pvc | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | Y |
| data-volume | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | Y |
Output Formats
| Format | Use when |
|---|---|
markdown |
Presenting results to the user (default). |
json |
Parsing results or discovering fields. |
table |
Compact display. |
yaml |
Structured output. |
planvms |
Export for create plan --vms @file. |
TSL Query Syntax
Use the query flag to filter, sort, and project results. use pipe output to jq, grep, or other post-processing tools only in cases --query does not handle.
The query flag handles filtering, field selection, sorting, and limiting natively.
TSL (Tree Search Language) supports four optional clauses, in this order:
[select <field>, ...] [where <condition>] [order by <field> [asc|desc]] [limit N]
All clauses are optional and can be combined freely.
select -- choose which fields to return
Use select to project only the fields you need (like SQL SELECT):
select name, cpuCount, memoryMB
select name, powerState, len(disks) as diskCount
select name, disks[*].capacity as diskSizes
where -- filter rows
where name ~= 'prod-.*'
where powerState = 'poweredOn' and memoryMB > 4096
where cpuCount > 4 and len(disks) > 1
where any(concerns[*].category = 'Critical')
where name in ['vm1', 'vm2', 'vm3']
where memoryMB between 2048 and 8192
where not (powerState = 'poweredOff')
where name is not null
order by -- sort results
order by name asc
order by memoryMB desc
order by cpuCount desc
limit -- cap the number of results
limit 10
limit 5
Combining clauses
select name, cpuCount, memoryMB where powerState = 'poweredOn' order by memoryMB desc limit 10
where name like '%web%' order by memoryMB desc limit 10
select name, powerState where cpuCount > 4 order by name asc
where memoryMB > 4096 limit 5
select name where any(concerns[*].category = 'Critical') order by name asc limit 20
Operators
- Comparison:
=,!=,<>,<,<=,>,>= - String:
like(% wildcard),ilike(case-insensitive),~=(regex),~!(regex not) - Logical:
and,or,not - Set:
in [...],not in [...],between X and Y - Null:
is null,is not null
Array Functions
len(field)-- array length:where len(disks) > 1any(field[*].sub = 'val')-- any element matches:where any(concerns[*].category = 'Critical')all(field[*].sub >= N)-- all elements matchsum(field[*].sub)-- sum of values:where sum(disks[*].capacity) > 100Gi
Array Access
field[0]-- index accessfield[*].sub-- wildcard across elementsfield.sub-- implicit traversal (same asfield[*].sub)
SI Units
Ki (1024), Mi (1024^2), Gi (1024^3), Ti (1024^4)
Using Inventory for Mapping
Network mapping
- List source networks:
get inventory networkwith source provider - List target NADs:
get inventory networkwithprovider: "host" - Match by name, use in
create mapping network
mtv_read { "command": "get inventory network", "flags": { "provider": "<SOURCE>", "namespace": "<NS>", "output": "json" } }
Storage mapping
- List source datastores:
get inventory datastorewith source provider - List target StorageClasses:
get inventory storagewithprovider: "host" - Match by name, use in
create mapping storage
mtv_read { "command": "get inventory datastore", "flags": { "provider": "<SOURCE>", "namespace": "<NS>", "output": "json" } }