Knowledge Base : VMWare ESX CLI

Common command line interface command of VMWare ESXi

vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

Lists all vm’s running on hypervisor and provides vmid

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.off vmid

Powers off vmid referenced from getallvms command

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on vmid

Powers off vmid referenced from getallvms command

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.reboot vmid

Reboots vmid referenced from getallvms command

vim-cmd vmsvc/destroy vmid

Deletes the vmdk and vmx files from disk

vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

Puts hypervisor into maintenance mode

vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit

Takes hypervisor out of maintenance mode

vim-cmd solo/registervm /vmfs/vol/datastore/dir/vm.vmx

Registers vm in hypervisor inventory

vim-cmd vmsvc/unregister vmid

Unregisters vm with hypervisor

vim-cmd vmsvc/tools.install vmid

Starts vmware tools installation for VM

vim-cmd hostsvc/net/info

Provides information about hypervisor networking

chkconfig -l

Shows daemons running on hypervisor. Can also be used for configuration.

esxtop

Same as linux top for vmware

vmkerrcode -l

List of vmkernel errors

esxcfg-info

Lists a LOT of information about the esx host

esxcfg-nics -l

Lists information about NIC’s. Can also be used for configuration.

esxcfg-vswitch -l

Lists information about virtual switching. Can also be used for configuration.

dcui

Provides console screen to ssh session

vsish

Vmware interactive shell

decodeSel /var/log/ipmi_sel.raw

Read System Event Log of server