VMware ESXI ESXI 6.0 Getting Started

Brand: VMware ESXI

Model: ESXI 6.0

Category: Software manuals

Type: Getting Started

This manual is also suitable for

vCenter Server 6.0

Getting Started with vSphere

Command-Line Interfaces

ESXi 6.0

vCenter Server 6.0

This document supports the version of each product listed and

supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced

by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this

document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

EN--001469-00

VMware, Inc.

3401 Hillview Ave.

Palo Alto, CA 94304

www.vmware.com

2 VMware, Inc.

Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:

http://www.vmware.com/support/

The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:

docfeedback@vmware.com

VMware, Inc. 3

Contents

AboutThisBook 5

1 ManagingvSpherewithCommand‐LineInterfaces 7

OverviewofvSphereCommand‐LineInterfaces 8

UsingESXCLIforHostManagement 10

ESXCLISyntax 10

RunningESXCLIvCLICommands 10

ESXCLICommandSupportwhenHostandvCLIVersionDoNotMatch 11

UsingPowerCLItoManageHostsandVirtualMachines 11

UsingDCLItoManagevCenterServices 11

DCLISyntax 12

vCLIPackageContents 12

2 InstallingvCLI 15

InstallationOverview 15

OverviewofLinuxInstallationProcess 16

InstallingthevCLIPackageonRedHatEnterpriseLinux 18

InstallingRequiredPrerequisiteSoftwareforRedHatEnterpriseLinux 18

InstallingthevCLIPackageonRHEL(NoInternetAccess) 18

InstallingvCLIonLinuxSystemswithInternetAccess 19

InstallingRequiredPrerequisiteSoftwareforLinuxSystemswithInternetAccess 19

Installingthe

vCLIPackageonaLinuxSystemwithInternetAccess 20

UninstallingthevCLIPackageonLinux 21

InstallingandUninstallingvCLIonWindows 21

UninstallingthevCLIPackageonWindows 22

EnablingCertificateVerification 22

DeployingvMA 22

3 RunningHostManagementCommandsintheESXiShell 23

ESXiShellAccesswiththeDirectConsole 23

EnablingLocalESXiShellAccess 23

ESXiShellTimeout 24

UsingtheESXiShell 24

RemoteESXiShellAccesswithSSH 24

EnablingSSHfortheESXiShell 25

UsingtheESXiShellwithSSH 25

LockdownMode 26

RunningESXCLICommandsintheESXiShell 26

4 RunningvCLIHostManagementCommands 27

OverviewofRunningvCLIHostManagementCommands 27

TargetingtheHostDirectly 27

TargetaHostThatisManagedbyavCenterServerSystem 28

ProtectingPasswords 28

OrderofPrecedenceforvCLIHostManagementCommands 29

AuthenticatingThroughvCenterServerandvCenterSingleSign‐On 29

Examples 29

Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces

4 VMware, Inc.

AuthenticatingDirectlytotheHost 30

UsingaSessionFile 30

UsingEnvironmentVariables 30

UsingaConfigurationFile 31

UsingCommand‐LineOptions 31

UsingMicrosoftWindowsSecuritySupportProviderInterface 32

vCLIandLockdownMode 32

TrustRelationshipRequirementforESXCLICommands 33

DownloadingandInstallingthevCenterServerCertificate 33

Usingthe‐‐cacertsfileOption 33

Usingthe‐‐thumbprintOption 33

UsingtheCredentialStore 34

Common

OptionsforvCLIHostManagementCommandExecution 34

UsingvCLICommandsinScripts 36

RunningHostManagementCommandsfromaWindowsSystem 37

RunningHostManagementCommandsfromaLinuxSystem 37

5 RunningDCLICommands 39

OverviewofRunningDCLICommands 39

DCLISyntax 40

DCLIOptions 40

RunningDCLICommands 41

DisplayingHelpInformationforDCLICommands 41

RunningDCLICommandsIncludedinthevCLIPackage 42

RunningDCLICommandsonthevCenterServerAppliance 42

UsingDCLIwithaCredentialStoreFile 42

OrderofPrecedenceforDCLIAuthentication 43

Input,Output,andReturnCodes 43

UsingDCLIwithVariables 43

DCLIHistoryFile 44

VMware, Inc. 5

GettingStartedwithvSphereCommand‐LineInterfacesgivesanoverviewofcommand‐lineinterfacesin

vSphere 5.0andlaterandgetsyoustartedwithESXiShellcommandsandvCLI(VMware

®

vSphere

Command‐LineInterface)commands.ThisbookalsoincludesinstructionsforinstallingvCLIandareference

toconnectionparameters.

Intended Audience

ThisbookisforexperiencedWindowsorLinuxsystemadministratorswhoarefamiliarwithvSphere

administrationtasksanddatacenteroperations.

VMware Technical Publications Glossary

VMwareTechnicalPublicationsprovidesaglossaryoftermsthatmightbeunfamiliartoyou.Fordefinitions

oftermsastheyareusedinVMwaretechnicaldocumentation,gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

Document Feedback

VMwarewelcomesyoursuggestionsforimprovingourdocumentation.Ifyouhavecomments,sendyour

feedbacktodocfeedback@vmware.com.

Related Documentation

ThedocumentationforvCLIisavailableinthevSphereDocumentationCenterandonthevCLI

documentationpage.Gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vcli.

 Command‐LineManagementinvSphere5andvSphere6forServiceConsoleUsersisatechnicalnoteforusers

whoarecurrentlyusingESXserviceconsolecommands,scripts,agents,orlogs.Youlearnhowto

transitiontoanoff‐hostimplementationortousetheESXiShellinspecialcases.

 vSphereCommand‐LineInterfaceConceptsandExamplespresentsusageexamplesformanyhost

managementcommands,andexplainshowtosetupsoftwareandhardwareiSCSI,addvirtualswitches,

placehostsinmaintenancemode,andsoon.ThedocumentincludesthesameexamplewiththeESXCLI

commandandwiththevicfg-command.



 vSphereCommand‐LineInterfaceReferenceisareferencetobothESXCLIcommandsandvicfg-commands.

Thevicfg-commandhelpisgeneratedfromthePODavailableforeachcommand,runpod2htmlfor

anyvicfg-commandtogenerateindividualHTMLfilesinteractively.TheESXCLIreferenceinformation

isgeneratedfromtheESXCLIhelp.

 DCLIReferenceisareferencetoDCLIcommandsformanagingvCenterservices.

ThedocumentationforPowerCLIisavailableinthevSphereDocumentationCenterandonthePowerCLI

documentationpage.

About This Book

Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces

6 VMware, Inc.

ThevSphereSDKforPerldocumentationexplainshowyoucanusethevSphereSDKforPerlandrelated

utilityapplicationstomanageyourvSphereenvironment.

ThevSphereManagementAssistantGuideexplainshowtoinstallandusethevSphereManagementAssistant

(vMA).vMAisavirtualmachinethatincludesvCLIandother

prepackagedsoftware.See“DeployingvMA”

onpage 22.

BackgroundinformationforthetasksdiscussedinthisbookisavailableinthevSpheredocumentationset.The

vSpheredocumentationconsistsofthecombinedVMwarevCenterServerandESXidocumentation.

Technical Support and Education Resources

Thefollowingsectionsdescribethetechnicalsupportresourcesavailabletoyou.Toaccessthecurrentversion

ofthisbookandotherbooks,gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

Online and Telephone Support

Touseonlinesupporttosubmittechnicalsupportrequests,viewyourproductandcontractinformation,and

Customerswithappropriatesupportcontractsshouldusetelephonesupportforthefastestresponseon

priority1issues.Gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.

Support Offerings

TofindouthowVMwaresupportofferingscanhelpmeetyourbusinessneeds,goto

http://www.vmware.com/support/services.

VMware Professional Services

VMwareEducationServicescoursesofferextensivehands‐onlabs,casestudyexamples,andcoursematerials

designedtobeusedason‐the‐jobreferencetools.Coursesareavailableonsite,intheclassroom,andlive

online.Foronsitepilotprograms andimplementationbestpractices,VMwareConsultingServicesprovides

offeringsto helpyouassess,plan,

build,andmanageyourvirtualenvironment.Toaccessinformationabout

educationclasses,certificationprograms,andconsultingservices,gotohttp://www.vmware.com/services.

VMware, Inc. 7

vSpheresupportsseveralcommand‐lineinterfacesformanagingyourvirtualinfrastructureincludingasetof

ESXiShellcommands,PowerCLIcommands,andDCLIcommandsformanagementofvCenterservices.You

canruncommandslocally,fromanadministrationserver,orfromscripts.

YoucanchoosetheCLIbestsuitedforyourneeds,and

writescriptstoautomateyourmanagementtasks.

Thischapterincludesthefollowingtopics:

 “OverviewofvSphereCommand‐LineInterfaces”onpage 8

 “UsingESXCLIforHostManagement”onpage 10

 “UsingPowerCLItoManageHostsandVirtualMachines”onpage 11

 “UsingDCLItoManagevCenterServices”onpage 11

 “vCLIPackageContents”onpage 12

Managing vSphere with

Command-Line Interfaces

Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces

8 VMware, Inc.

Overview of vSphere Command-Line Interfaces

vSphereincludescommandsformanagingdifferentaspectsofyourenvironment.ThefollowingCLIsare

availableformanaginghosts,eitherdirectlyorthroughthevCenterServersystemthatmanagesthehost.

Figure 1-1. vSphere CLIs for host management.

ThefollowingcommandsetsareavailableandarediscussedeitherinthismanualorotherVMware

documentation.

Command set Description See

ESXCLIcommands ManagemanyaspectsofanESXihost.YoucanrunESXCLI

commandsremotelyorintheESXiShell.

 vCLIpackage.InstallthevCLIpackageontheserverofyour

choice,ordeployavMAvirtualmachineandtargettheESXi

systemthatyouwantmanipulate.Youcanrun

ESXCLI

commandsagainstavCenterServersystemandtargetthe

hostindirectly.RunningagainstvCenterServersystemsby

usingthe-vihostparameterisrequiredifthehostisin

lockdownmode.

 ESXiShell.RunESXCLIcommandsinthelocalESXishell

tomanagethathost.

YoucanalsorunESXCLIcommandsfromthevSpherePowerCLI

promptbyusingtheGet-EsxClicmdlet.

“UsingESXCLIforHost

Management”onpage 10

“InstallingvCLI”on

page 15

vSphereCommand‐Line

ConceptsandExamples

vSphereManagement

AssistantGuide

vSphereCommand‐Line

InterfaceReference

vicfg-

andother

vCLIcommands

Allowuserstomanagehostsremotely.InstallthevCLIpackage

onaWindowsorLinuxsys temordeployavMAvirtualmachine,

andtargettheESXisystemthatyouwantmanipulate.

YoucanrunthecommandsagainstESXisystemsoragainsta

vCenterServersystem.Ifyou

targetavCenterServersystem,use

the--vihostoptiontospecifythetargetESXisystem.

Note:IftheESXisystemisinstrictlockdownmode,youmustrun

commandsagainstthevCenterServersystemthatmanagesyour

ESXisystem.

“InstallingvCLI”onpage 15

vSphereCommand‐Line

ConceptsandExamples

vSphereCommand‐

Line

InterfaceReference

ESXi ESXi

vCenter Server

API

API API

ESXCLI

esxcfg-*

ESXCLI

esxcfg-*

Linux vSphere

Management

Assistant

Windows

vCLI

vicfg-*

ESXCLI

Others (esxtop, vimcmd, vsish, rvc...)

PowerCLI

VMware, Inc. 9

Chapter 1 Managing vSphere with Command-Line Interfaces

esxcfg-commands AvailableintheESXiShell.esxcfg-commandsarestillincluded

inthisreleasebutaredeprecated.Migrateto

ESXCLIwhere

possible.

Command‐LineManagement

ofvSphere5andvSphere6

forServiceConsoleUsers

DCLIcommands ManageVMwareSDDCservices.

DCLIisaCLIclienttothevCloudSuiteSDKinterfacefor

managingVMwareSDDCservices.ADCLIcommandtalkstoa

vCloudSuiteAPIendpointtolocaterelevantinformation,and

thenexecutesthecommandanddisplaysresulttotheuser.

YoucanrunDCLIcommandsasfollows.

 vCenterServerappliance.RunDCLIcommandsfromthe

vCenterServerApplianceshell.See“RunningDCLI

CommandsonthevCenterServerAppliance”onpage 42.

 vCenterServerWindowscommandprompt.InstallvCenter

ServeronasupportedWindowssystemandrunDCLI

commandsfromthecommandprompt.

 vCLIpackage.

 OpenacommandpromptonaLinuxorWindows

systemonwhichyouinstalledvCLI.Entercommands

intothatcommandprompt,specifyingconnection

options.See“RunningDCLICommands”onpage 41.

 AccessthevMALinuxconsole.DCLIdoesnotsupport

thevi‐fastpassconnections.

 PreparescriptsthatincludeDCLIcommandsandrunthe

scriptsasvCLIscriptsfromthevCenterServerWindows

commandpromptorfromthevCenterServerAppliance

shell.

“RunningDCLI

Commands”onpage 39

SeethevCloudSuiteSDK

documentationfor

informationabout

currentlysupported

servicesandhowthey

interact.

VMwarePowerCLI

cmdlets

VMware

vSpherePowerCLIprovidesaWindowsPowerShell

interfacetothevSphereAPI.vSpherePowerCLIincludes

PowerShellcmdletsforadministeringvSpherecomponents.

vSpherePowerCLIincludesmorethan370cmdlets,asetof

samplescripts,andafunctionlibraryformanagementand

automation.ThevSphereImageBuilderPowerCLIandthe

vSphereAutoDeploy

PowerCLIareincludedwhenyouinstall

vSpherePowerCLI.

VMwarePowerCLI

documentationset.

localclicommands SetofcommandsforusewithVMwareTechnicalSupport.

localclicommandsareequivalentto

ESXCLIcommands,but

bypassthehostedaemon(hostd).Thelocalclicommandsare

onlyforsituationswhenhostdisunavailableandcannotbe

restarted.Afteryourunalocalclicommand,youmustrestart

hostd.Run

ESXCLIcommandsaftertherestart.

Warning:Ifyouusealocalclicommand,aninconsistent

systemstateandpotentialfailurecanresult.

pktcap-uwutility Enablesyoutomonitorthetrafficthatflowsthroughphysical

networkadapters,VMkerneladapters,andvirtualmachine

adapters,andtoanalyze thepacketinformationbyusing

conventionalnetworkanalysis

toolssuchasWireshark.

vSphereNetworking

documentation

dir-cli

vecs-cli

certool

CommandsformanagingthevCenterSingleSign‐Onand

certificateinfrastructure.

vSphereSecurity

documentation

appliancesh EnablesyoutoconfigureandtroubleshootthevCenterServer

Applianceandtomonitortheprocessesandservicesrunningin

theappliance.

vCenterServerAppliance

Configuration

documentation

Command set Description See

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10 VMware, Inc.

Using ESXCLI for Host Management

YoucanmanagemanyaspectsofanESXihostwithcommandsintheESXCLIcommandset.Youcanrun

ESXCLIcommandsasvCLIcommands,orrunthemintheESXiShellintroubleshootingsituations.

YoucanalsorunESXCLIcommandsfromthePowerCLIshellbyusingtheGet-EsxClicmdlet.Seethe

vSphere

PowerCLIAdministrationGuideandthevSpherePowerCLIReference.

ThesetofESXCLIcommandsthatareavailableonahostdependsonthehostconfiguration.ThevSphere

Command‐LineInterfaceReferencelistshelpinformationforallESXCLIcommands.Youcanrunesxcli

--server <MyESXi> --helpbeforeyourunacommandona

hosttomakesurethatthecommandisdefined

onthehostyouaretargeting.

ESXCLI Syntax

EachESXCLIcommandusesthesamesyntax.

esxcli [dispatcher options] <namespace> [<namespace> ...] <cmd> [cmd options]



dispatcheroptions.Predefinedoptionsforconnectioninformationsuchastargethost,username,andso

on.SeeChapter 4,“RunningvCLIHostManagementCommands,”onpage 27.Notrequiredwhenyou

runthecommandintheESXiShell.IfthetargetserverisavCenterServersystem,specifythetargetESXi

host

beforeanyESXCLInamespaces,commands,andsupportedoptions.

ManyESXCLIcommandsgenerateoutputyoumightwanttouseinyourapplication.Youcanrunesxcli

withthe--formatterdispatcheroptionandsendtheresultingoutputasinputtoaparser.

 namespace.GroupsESXCLIcommands.vSphere5.0andlatersupportnestednamespaces.

 command.Reportsonormodifiesstateonthesystem.

Examples

esxcli --server myESXi --username user1 --password 'my_password' storage nfs list

esxcli --server myVCServer --username user1 --password 'my_pwd' --vihost myESXi.mycompany.com

storage nfs list



options.Manycommandssupportoneormoreoptions,displayedinthehelporthevCLIReference.For

somecommands,multipleoptionvalues,separatedbyspaces,arepossible.

Example

esxcli system module parameters set -m <module> -p "a=1 b=1 c=1"

Running ESXCLI vCLI Commands

YoucanrunanESXCLIvCLIcommandintheESXiShellfortroubleshootingandremotelyagainstaspecific

hostoragainstavCenterServersystem.Youhavethefollowingchoices:

 DeploythevMAapplianceonanESXisystemandauthenticateagainstasetoftargetservers.Youcan

thenrunESXCLIcommandsagainstanytargetserverbyspecifyingthe--hostdispatcheroption.No

additionalauthenticationisrequired.SeethevSphereManagementAssistantGuide.

MPORTANTStartingwithvSphere6.0,ESXCLIexpectsatrustrelationshipbetweenthetargethostand

thesystemonwhichyourunthecommand.Youcanestablishthisrelationshipinoneoftheseways:

 Usethe--cacertsfileoptionorVI_CACERTFILE variable

 Storethethumbprintinthesessionfile.

 Specifythethumbprintwiththe--thumbprintoptionorVI_THUMBPRINTvariable.

Youcanpassinthethumbprintthatisreturnedintheerrorifyoutrustthehostyouaretargeting.See

“TrustRelationshipRequirementforESXCLICommands”onpage 33foranexample.

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Chapter 1 Managing vSphere with Command-Line Interfaces

 InstallthevCLIpackageononeofthesupportedWindowsorLinuxsystems.TheESXCLIcommandset

isincluded.SpecifyconnectionoptionstoruncommandsagainstanESXihostdirectly,ortargetavCenter

ServersystemandspecifytheESXihosttorunthecommandagainst.See“InstallingvCLI”onpage 15.

SeeChapter 4,“RunningvCLIHostManagementCommands,”onpage 27.

ESXCLI Command Support when Host and vCLI Version Do Not Match

WhenyourunanESXCLIvCLIcommand,youmustknowthecommandssupportedonthetargethost

specifiedwith--serverorasavMAtarget.Forexample:

 IfyouruncommandsagainstESXi4.xhosts,ESXCLI4.xcommandsaresupported.

 IfyouruncommandsagainstESXi5.0hosts,ESXCLI5.0commandsaresupported.ESXCLI5.1

commandsthatwereincludedinESXCLI5.0arealsosupported.

 IfyouruncommandsagainstESXi5.1hosts,ESXCLI5.1andESXCLI5.0commandsaresupported.

VMwarepartnersmightdevelopcustomESXCLIcommandsthatyoucanrunonhostswherethepartnerVIB

isinstalled.

Runesxcli --server <target> --helpforalistofnamespacessupportedonthetarget.Youcandrill

downinto

thenamespacesforadditionalhelp.

Using PowerCLI to Manage Hosts and Virtual Machines

VMwarevSpherePowerCLIcontainssnap‐insandmodulesbasedonMicrosoftPowerShellforautomating

vSphereandvCloudDirectoradministration.PowerCLIprovidesC#andPowerShellinterfacestovSphere

andotherVMwareproductadministration.

vSpherePowerCLIisbasedonMicrosoftPowerShellandusesthePowerShellbasicsyntaxandconcepts.

MicrosoftPowerShellisboth

acommand‐lineandscriptingenvironment,designedforWindows.Itusesthe

.NETobjectmodelandprovidesadministratorswithsystemadministrationandautomationcapabilities.To

workwithPowerShell,youruncommands,whicharecalledcmdlets.

PowerShellsupportsfeaturessuchaspipelines,wildcards,andeasyaccesstocommand‐linehelp.

Youcan

useESXCLIcommandsfromthevSpherePowerCLIconsole,asfollows:

 Throughthecmdlet,whichprovidesdirectaccesstotheESXCLInamespaces,applications,and

commands.

 Through.NETmethods,whichyouusetocreatemanagedobjectsthatcorrespondtospecificESXCLI

applications.ToaccesstheESXCLI,youcancallmethodsonthesemanagedobjects.

SeethevSpherePowerCLIUser’sGuideinthevSpheredocumentationcenter.

Using DCLI to Manage vCenter Services

TheDCLIcommandsetallowsyoutomanagevCenterservicesthatarenewinvSphere6.0.Youcannot

manageservicesthatwerepartofvSphere5.5fromDCLI.DCLIisnotahostmanagementCLI.

DCLI(DatacenterCLI)isaCLIclientofthevCloudSuiteSDK.DCLIworkslikethis:



1TheuserrunsacommandintheDCLIdirectoryandspecifiesausername.

OTEStartingwithvSphere6.0,atrustrelationshipmustexistbetweenthehostfromwhichyourun

ESXCLIcommandsandthetargetESXihostorvCenterServersystem.SeeAppendix 4,“Trust

RelationshipRequirementforESXCLICommands,”onpage 33.

NOTETorunanESXCLIcommandfromPowerCLI,youmustprovidevaluesforallparameters.Ifyou

wanttoomitagivenparameter,pass$nullasitsargument.

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12 VMware, Inc.

2Iftheuserisnotyetauthenticated,DCLIpromptsforapassword.

3Theuserspecifiesapassword.

4ThecommandconnectstothevCenterSingleSign‐Onserviceandcheckswhethertheuserspecifiedon

thecommand‐lineorinacertificatestorefilecanauthenticate.

5Iftheusercanauthenticate,DCLI

communicateswiththevCenterServerandexecutethevCloudSuite

SDKcommandthatcorrespondstotheDCLIcommand.DifferentvCenterServersystemssupport

differentservices.

6DCLIdisplaystheresultoranerrortotheuser.

YoucanrunDCLIcommandsasfollows.

 vCLIpackage.InstallthevCLIpackageontheserverofyourchoice,ordeployavMAvirtualmachine.

YoucanthenrunDCLIcommandsagainstanendpoint.See“RunningDCLICommands”onpage 41.

 vCenterServerappliance.RunDCLIcommandsfromthevCenterServerApplianceshell.See“Running

DCLICommandsonthevCenterServerAppliance”onpage 42.

 vCenterServerWindowscommandprompt.InstallvCenterServeronasupportedWindowssystemand

runDCLIcommandsfromthecommandprompt.

DCLI Syntax

EachDCLIcommandusesthesamesyntax.

Thecommandnamecanbefollowedbyconnectionandformattingoptions,eachprecededbya+sign.You

alsospecifythenamespace,thecommand,andthecommandoptions.Namespacesarenested.

dcli +[DCLI options] <namespace> [<namespace> ...] <cmd> --[cmd option] [option value]



DCLIoptions.PredefinedoptionsforconnectioninformationincludingthevCloudSuiteSDKendpoint

andformattingoptions.Alwaysprecededbya+sign.

NotrequiredwhenyourunthecommandinthevCenterServerApplianceshellorfromthecommand

promptofavCenterServerWindowsinstallation.

 namespace.GroupsDCLIcommands.NamespacescorrespondtothevCloudSuiteSDKnamespacesand

arenested.

 command.Reportsonormodifiesstateonthesystem.

 optionandvalue.Commandoptionandvaluepairs.

Example

$dcli +server <vcenter-IP> com vmware cis tagging tag list

vCLI Package Contents

vCLIisnotacommandsetbutapackageofseveralcommandsets.YouusuallyinstallvCLIonan

administrationserverandrunscriptsfromthereagainstotherhostsor,forDCLI,againstvCenterServer

systems.SomevCLIcommandscanalsoberunlocallyontheESXihostorthevCenter

Serversystem.

WhenyouinstallthevCLIpackage,thefollowingcommandsetsbecomeavailable.

 DCLICommands.TheDCLIcommandsarenewinvSphere6.0,andareavailableformanagingvCenter

servicesthatarenewinvSphere6.0.ThesecommandsareavailableaspartofvCLI,fromthevCenter

ServerVirtualAppliance,andfromthecommand‐promptofavCenterServerWindowsinstallation.

 HostManagementCommands.Includesthefollowingcommandsets.

NOTETheorderinwhichDCLIoptionsareprovidedonthecommandlineisnotimportant.However,you

mustspecifyDCLIoptionswithaplus(+)andcommand‐specificoptionswithaminus(‐).

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Chapter 1 Managing vSphere with Command-Line Interfaces

 ESXCLIcommands.TheESXCLIcommandsincludedinthevCLIpackageareequivalenttothe

ESXCLIcommandsavailableintheESXiShell.

 vicfg‐commands.Thevicfg-commandsetissimilartothedeprecatedesxcfg-commandsetin

theESXiShell.

 Miscellaneouscommands.AsmallsetofcommandsformanagingandmonitoringESXihosts,

includingvmkfstoolsandresxtop.Inmanycases,equivalentbutslightlydifferentcommandsare

availableintheESXiShell.

YoucanrunvCLIcommandsfromaWindowsorLinuxsystem,orusevMA.

 InstallthevCLIcommandsetontheWindowsorLinuxsystemfromwhichyouwanttoadministeryour

ESXisystemsandrunvCLIcommands.See“InstallingvCLI”onpage 15.

 DeployavMAvirtualmachinetoanESXisystemandrunvCLIcommandsfromthere.

AfteryouhaveinstalledthevCLIpackage,youcanrunthehostmanagementcommandsinthesetagainst

ESXihosts.YoucanruntheDCLIcommandsagainstaserverbyspecifyingtheIPaddressandcan

managethe

servicesassociatedwiththatserver.

YoumustspecifyconnectionparameterswhenyourunavCLIcommand.Theconnectionparametersdiffer

forDCLIcommandsandforothercommands.See“RunningvCLIHostManagementCommands”onpage 27

and“RunningDCLICommands”onpage 41.

MPORTANTESXiShellisintendedforexperiencedusersonly.Minorerrorsintheshellcanresultin

seriousproblems.InsteadofrunningcommandsdirectlyintheESXiShell,usevCLIorPowerCLI.

Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces

14 VMware, Inc.

VMware, Inc. 15

YoucaninstallavCLIpackageonaLinuxoraMicrosoftWindowssystem,ordeploythevSphere

ManagementAssistant(vMA)onanESXihost.

Thischapterincludesthefollowingtopics:

 “InstallationOverview”onpage 15

 “OverviewofLinuxInstallationProcess”onpage 16

 “InstallingthevCLIPackageonRedHatEnterpriseLinux”onpage 18

 “InstallingvCLIonLinuxSystemswithInternetAccess”onpage 19

 “UninstallingthevCLIPackageonLinux”onpage 21

 “InstallingandUninstallingvCLIonWindows”onpage 21

 “UninstallingthevCLIPackageonWindows”onpage 22

 “EnablingCertificateVerification”onpage 22

 “DeployingvMA”onpage 22

Installation Overview

YoucaninstallavCLIpackageonasupportedplatformordeploythevMAvirtualmachineonanESXihost.

 InstallablePackage.InstallavCLIpackageonaphysicalorvirtualmachine.See“InstallingthevCLI

PackageonRedHatEnterpriseLinux”onpage 18,“InstallingvCLIonLinuxSystemswithInternet

Access”onpage 19,and“InstallingandUninstallingvCLIonWindows”onpage 21.

ThevCLIinstallerinstallsbothvSphereSDKfor

PerlandvCLIbecausemanyvCLIcommandsrunontop

ofthevSphereSDKforPerl.Thecontentsoftheinstallerpackagediffersfordifferentplatforms.

Installing vCLI

Platform Installation Process

Windows TheinstallationpackageincludesvCLI,vSphereSDKforPerl,andprerequisitePerl

modules.

RedHatEnterprise

Linux

Youmustinstallrequiredsoftware.See“InstallingRequiredPrerequisiteSoftwareforRed

HatEnterpriseLinux”onpage 18.

TheinstallerforRHELpromptsyouwhetheryouwanttoinstallothermissingmodules

fromtheInternet

orfromthepackage.

 IfyouhaveInternetaccess,youcanhavetheinstallerdownloadPerlmodulesfrom

CPAN.

 TheinstallercaninsteadinstallPerlmodulesthatitdoesnotfindonyoursystemfrom

theinstallerpackage.

SLESandUbuntu YoumustinstallrequiredsoftwareandyoumusthaveInternetaccess.See“Installing

RequiredPrerequisiteSoftwareforLinuxSystemswithInternetAccess”onpage 19.

TheinstallerdownloadsotherPerlmodules

fromCPAN.

Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces

16 VMware, Inc.

Afterinstallation,youcanrunvCLIcommandsandvSphereSDKforPerlutilityapplicationsfromthe

operatingsystemcommandline.Eachtimeyourunacommand,youspecifythetargetserverconnection

optionsdirectlyorindirectly.YoucanalsowritescriptsandmanageyourvSphereenvironmentusing

thosescripts.

 vSphereManagementAssistant(vMA).DeployvMA,avirtualmachinethatadministratorscanuseto

runscriptsthatmanagevSphere,onanESXihost.vMAincludesvCLI,vSphereSDKforPerl,andother

prepackagedsoftwareinaLinuxenvironment.

vMAsupportsnoninteractivelogin.IfyouestablishanESXihostasatarget

server,youcanrunvCLIhost

managementcommandsandvSphereSDKforPerlcommandsagainstthatserverwithoutadditional

authentication.IfyouestablishavCenterServersystemasatargetserver,youcanrunmostvCLI

commandsagainstallESXisystemsthatservermanageswithoutadditionalauthentication.See

“DeployingvMA”

onpage 22.

Overview of Linux Installation Process

TheinstallationscriptforvCLIissupportedontheLinuxdistributionsthatarelistedintheReleaseNotes.

ThevCLIpackageinstallerinstallsthevCLIscriptsandthevSphereSDKforPerl.Theinstallationproceedsas

follows.

1Theinstallercheckswhetherthefollowingrequiredprerequisitepackagesareinstalledonthesystem:

2Iftherequiredsoftwareisfound,theinstallerproceeds.Otherwise,theinstallerstopsandinformsyou

thatyoumustinstallthesoftware.See“InstallingRequiredPrerequisiteSoftwareforRedHatEnterprise

Linux”onpage 18and“InstallingRequiredPrerequisiteSoftwa reforLinuxSystemswithInternet

Access”onpage 19forinstructions.

3Theinstaller

checkswhetherthefollowingPerlmodulesarefound,andwhetherthecorrectversionis

installed.

 Crypt‐SSLeay‐0.55(0.55‐0.9.7or0.55‐0.9.8)

 IO‐Compress‐Base‐2.037

 Compress‐Zlib‐2.037

 IO‐Compress‐Zlib‐2.037

 Compress‐Raw‐Zlib‐2.037

 Archive‐Zip‐1.28

 Data‐Dumper‐2.121

 XML‐LibXML‐1.63

 libwww‐perl‐5.805

 LWP‐Protocol‐https‐6.02

 XML‐LibXML‐Common‐0.13

 XML‐NamespaceSupport‐1.09

Perl Perlversion5.8.8orversion5.10mustbeinstalledonyoursystem.

OpenSSL ThevCLIrequiresSSLbecausemostconnectionsbetweenthesystemonwhichyourunthecommand

andthetargetvSpheresystemareencryptedwithSSL.

TheOpenSSLlibrary(libssl-develpackage)isnotincludedinthedefaultLinuxdistribution.See



“InstallingRequiredPrerequisiteSoftwareforRedHatEnterpriseLinux”onpage 18and“Installing

RequiredPrerequisiteSoftwareforLinuxSystemswithInternetAccess”onpage 19.

LibXML2 UsedforXMLparsing.ThevCLIclientrequires2.6.26orhigherversion.Ifyouhaveanolderversion

installed,pleaseupgradeto2.6.26orhigher.

Thelibxml2

packageisnotincludedinthedefaultLinuxdistribution.See“InstallingRequired

PrerequisiteSoftwareforRedHatEnterpriseLinux”onpage 18and“InstallingRequiredPrerequisite

SoftwareforLinuxSystemswithInternetAccess”onpage 19.

uuid Includedinuuid-develforSLES11andine2fsprogs-develforotherLinuxplatforms.Requiredby

theUUID

Perlmodule.

VMware, Inc. 17

Chapter 2 Installing vCLI

 XML‐SAX‐0.16

 Data‐Dump‐1.15

 URI‐1.37

 UUID‐0.03

 SOAP‐Lite‐0.710.08

 HTML‐Parser‐3.60

 version‐0.78

 Class‐MethodMaker‐2.10

 JSON‐PP‐2.27203

 Devel‐StackTrace‐131

 Class‐Data‐Inheritable‐0.08

 Convert‐ASN1‐0.26

 Cyrpt‐OpenSSL‐RSA‐0.28

 Crypt‐X509‐0.51

 Exception‐Class‐1.37

 MIME‐Base64‐3.14

 UUID‐Random‐0.04

 Socket6‐023

 IO‐Socket‐INET6‐2.71

 Net‐INET6Glue‐0.600_1

Earlierversionsoflibwww‐perlincludetheLWP‐Protocol‐httpsmodule.Morerecentversionsof

libwww‐perldonotincludetheLWP‐Protocol‐httpsmoduleandyouhavetoinstallthatmodule.

4TheinstallerproceedsdependingontheLinuxdistribution.

NOTEIfyouintendtorunvCLIcommandswithSSLcertification,be suretocheckthatLWP::UserAgent

6.00orlaterisinstalled.Theinstallerdoesnotcheckthismodule,andearlierversionsdonotworkwith

SSL.

Linux distribution Installer behavior

RHEL(NoInternet

access)

OnRHEL,theinstallerallowsyoutoinstallPerlmoduleswithCPANifInternetaccessis

available.

IfnoInternetaccessisavailable,andamoduleisnotcurrentlyonyoursystem,theinstaller

installsit.Ifadifferentversionofamoduleisfound,theinstaller

doesnotinstallitand

proceedswithinstallation.Attheendoftheinstallationprocess,theinstallerinformsyou

iftheversiononthesystemdoesnotmatchtherecommendedversion,andrecommends

thatyouinstalltheversionthatvCLIwastestedwith.Youcaninstallthemodulesusingthe

packageinstallerforyourplatform,theinstallationCD,orCPAN.

Note:TheinstallerdoesnotoverwriteexistingversionsofrecommendedPerlmodules. 

Youmustexplicitlyupdatethosemodulesyourself.

AllLinux

distributions

(Internetaccess)

TheinstallerproceedsdependingonwhetherthePerlmodulesarefound.

 IfarecommendedPerlmoduleisnotfoundatall,theinstallerinstallsitusingCPAN.

YoumustmeettheinstallationprerequisitesortheinstallercannotinstallthePerl

modulesandstops.See“InstallingvCLIonLinuxSystemswithInternetAccess”on

page 19.

 Ifalowerversionofarecommendedmoduleisfound,theinstallerdoesnotinstalla

differentversionfromCPANandproceedswithinstallation.Aftercompleting

installation,theinstallerdisplaysamessagethattheversiononthesystemdoesnot

matchtherecommendedversion,andrecommendsthatyouinstalltheversion

vCLI

wastestedwith.Youcaninstallthemodulesusingthepackageinstallerforyour

platform,theinstallationCD,orCPAN.

 Ifahigherversionofarecommendedmoduleisfound,theinstallerproceedswith

installationanddoesnotdisplayamessageafterinstallation.

Note:TheinstallerdoesnotoverwriteexistingversionsofrecommendedPerlmodules. 

Youmustexplicitlyupdatethosemodulesyourself.

Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces

18 VMware, Inc.

5AfterallrequiredsoftwareandallprerequisitePerlmodulesareinstalled,youcaninstallvCLI.See

“InstallingthevCLIPackageonRedHatEnterpriseLinux”onpage 18and“InstallingthevCLIPackage

onaLinuxSystemwithInternetAccess”onpage 20.

IfapreviousversionofvCLI,RemoteCLI,orvSphere

SDKforPerlisinstalledonyoursystem,andyouinstall

vCLIinadifferentdirectory,youmustresetthePATHenvironmentvariable.Youcandosobeforeorafterthe

installation,usingthecommandappropriateforyourdistributionandshell(setenv,export,andsoon).If

youdo

notresetthepath,thesystemmightstilllookforexecutablesintheoldlocation.

Installing the vCLI Package on Red Hat Enterprise Linux

vCLIissupportedonRedHatEnterpriseLinuxversionsthatarelistedintheReleaseNotes.OnRHEL,the

vSphereSDKforPerlinstallerpromptsyouwhetheryouwanttoinstallrequiredPerlmodulesfromthe

installationpackageorfromCPAN.Followthesestepstoinstallthesoftware.

1Installrequired

prerequisitesoftware.See“InstallingRequiredPrerequisiteSoftwareforRedHat

EnterpriseLinux”onpage 18.

2Whenprompted,directtheinstallertoinstalladditionalprerequisitesfromtheinstallationpackage(see

“InstallingthevCLIPackageonRHEL(NoInternetAccess)”onpage 18)orfromCPAN(see“Installing

thevCLIPackageonaLinuxSystem

withInternetAccess”onpage 20).

Installing Required Prerequisite Software for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

PrerequisitesoftwareonRHELincludesrequiredsoftwareandrecommendedPerlmodules.

Required Software

Ifrequiredsoftwareisnotinstalled,thevCLIinstallerstops.Youcaninstallprerequisitesusingyum,theRHEL

packageinstaller(recommended),orfromtheinstallationDVD,asfollows:

Recommended Perl Modules

Whentheinstallerfinishes,itmightissueawarningthatthe

versionofamoduleinstalledonyoursystemdoes

notmatchtheversionwithwhichvCLIwastested.InstallthatversionusingyumorCPANtoresolvetheissue.

See“OverviewofLinuxInstallationProcess”onpage 16foracompletelistofmodules.

Installing the vCLI Package on RHEL (No Internet Access)

BeforeyouinstallvCLI,youmustremoveallpreviousversionsofthatsoftware.Theprocessdiffersfrom

simplyuninstallingvCLI.

To remove previous versions of vCLI

1Runtheuninstallscript,forexample,ifyouinstalledvCLIinthedefaultlocation,runthefollowing

command:

/usr/bin/vmware-uninstall-vSphere-CLI.pl

2 DeleteexistingversionsofvSphere-CLI.xxxx.tar.gzanddeletethevmware-vsphere-cli-distrib

directory.

RHEL6.332bit

yum install e2fsprogs-devel libuuid-devel

yum install perl-XML-LibXML

RHEL6.364bit

yum install e2fsprogs-devel libuuid-devel

yum install glibc.i686

yum install perl-XML-LibXML

NOTETheinstallerdoesnotoverwriteexistingPerlmodules.

VMware, Inc. 19

Chapter 2 Installing vCLI

To install vCLI on RHEL

1UntarthevCLIbinarythatyoudownloaded.

tar –zxvf VMware-vSphere-CLI-6.X.X-XXXXX.XXXX.x86_64.tar.gz

Avmware-vsphere-vcli-distribdirectoryiscreated.

2Loginassuperuserandruntheinstaller:

/<location>/sudo vmware-vsphere-cli-distrib/vmware-install.pl

3Toacceptthelicenseterms,typeyesandpressEnter.

4ToinstallPerlmoduleslocally,typeyesandpressEnter.

5Specifyaninstallationdirectory,orpressEntertoacceptthedefault,whichis/usr/bin.

Acompleteinstallationprocesshasthefollowingresult:

 Asuccessmessageappears.

 Theinstallerlistsdifferentversionnumbersforrequiredmodules(ifany).

 Thepromptreturnstotheshellprompt.

Ifyouacceptedthedefaultsduringinstallation,youcanfindtheinstalledsoftwareinthefollowinglocations:

 vCLIscripts–/usr/bin

 vSphereSDKforPerlutilityapplications–/usr/lib/vmware-vcli/apps

 vSphereSDKforPerlsamplescripts–/usr/share/doc/vmware-vcli/samples

SeethevSphereSDKforPerldocumentationforareferencetoallutilityapplications.

AfteryouinstallthevCLI,youcantesttheinstallationbyrunningacommandfromthecommandprompt.See

“RunningHostManagementCommandsfromaLinuxSystem”onpage 37.

Installing vCLI on Linux Systems with Internet Access

BeforeyoucaninstallthevCLIpackageonaLinuxsystemwithInternetaccess,thatsystemmustmeet

followingprerequisites.

 Internetaccess.YoumusthaveInternetaccesswhenyouruntheinstallerbecausetheinstallerusesCPAN

toinstallprerequisitePerlmodules.

 DevelopmentToolsandLibraries.YoumustinstalltheDevelopmentToolsandLibrariesfortheLinux

platformthatyouareworkingwithbeforeyouinstallvCLIandprerequisitePerlmodules.

 Proxysettings.IfyoursystemisusingaproxyforInternetaccess,youmustsetthehttp://andftp://

proxies,asfollows:

export http_proxy=<proxy_server>:port

export ftp_proxy=<proxy_server>:port

Installing Required Prerequisite Software for Linux Systems with Internet

Access

Ifrequiredprerequisitesoftwareisnotinstalled,theinstallerstopsandrequeststhatyouinstallit.Installation

ofprerequisitesoftwaredependsontheplatformthatyouareusing.SeetheReleaseNotesforthesupported

versionsofeachLinuxplatform.

Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces

20 VMware, Inc.

Installing the vCLI Package on a Linux System with Internet Access

InstallthevCLIpackageandrunacommandtoverifyinstallationwassuccessful.

To install vCLI

1Loginasroot.

2UntarthevCLIbinarythatyoudownloaded.

tar –zxvf VMware-vSphere-CLI-6.X.X-XXXXX.i386.tar.gz

Avmware-vsphere-vcli-distribdirectoryiscreated.

3 (Optional)IfyourserverusesaproxytoaccesstheInternet,andifyourhttp://andftp://proxywere

notsetwhenyouinstalledprerequisitesoftware,setthemnow.

export http_proxy=<proxy_server>:port

export ftp_proxy=<proxy_server>:port

4Runtheinstaller:

sudo vmware-vsphere-cli-distrib/vmware-install.pl

5Toacceptthelicenseterms,typeyesandpressEnter.

TheinstallerconnectstoCPANandinstallsprerequisitesoftware.Establishingaconnectionmighttakea

longtime.

6OnRHEL,whenpromptedtoinstallprecompiledPerlmodules,typenoandpressEntertouseCPAN

TheinstallerconnectstoCPANandinstallsprerequisitesoftware.Establishingaconnectionmighttakea

longtime.

7Specifyaninstallationdirectory,orpressEntertoacceptthedefault,whichis/usr/bin.

Table 2-1. Installing Required Prerequisite Software

Platform Installation

RHEL6.332bit FindtherequiredmodulesontheinstallationDVD,oruseyumtoinstallthem.

yum install e2fsprogs-devel libuuid-devel

yum install perl-XML-LibXML

RHEL6.364bit FindtherequiredmodulesontheinstallationDVD,oruseyumtoinstallthem.

yum install e2fsprogs-devel libuuid-devel

yum install glibc.i686

yum install perl-XML-LibXML

SUSEEnterprise InstalltheprerequisitepackagesfromtheSLESSDKDVD.WhenyouinserttheDVD,itoffersto

autorun.CanceltheautorundialogboxandusetheyastpackageinstallertoinstallOpenSSLor

othermissingrequiredpackages.

 SLES1164bit.yast -i openssl-devel libuuid-devel libuuid-devel-32bit

 SLES1132bit.yast -i openssl-devel libuuid-devel

SomeusersmightbeauthorizedtousetheNovellCustomerCenteranduseyasttoretrieve

missingpackagesfromthere.

Ubuntu 1.ConnecttotheInternet.

2.Updatethelocalrepositoryoflibrariesfromaterminalwindow.

sudo apt-get update

3.Installtherequiredlibrariesfromaterminalwindow.



 32bit.sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc uuid uuid-dev perl libssl-dev

perl-doc liburi-perl libxml-libxml-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl

 64bit.sudo apt-get install ia32-libs build-essential gcc uuid uuid-dev perl

libssl-dev perl-doc liburi-perl libxml-libxml-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl

ForUbuntu10.0464bit,theresxtopand

ESXCLIcommandsdonotworkifyoudonotinstall

the32‐bitcompatibilitylibraries.

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VMware ESXI ESXI 6.0 Getting Started

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Model: ESXI 6.0

Category: Software manuals

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