6.0

VMware, Inc. 3
Command-Line Management in vSphere 5 and vSphere 6 for Service Console Users
Figure 1. Command-Line Interfaces in ESX 4.1 and ESXi 5.0 and later
Using vSphere Client Interfaces
MosttasksyouperformintheESXServiceConsolecanbeperformedbyoneofthegraphicaluserinterfaces
toESXiorvCenterServersystems.Theinterfacesallowyoutomanageyourinfrastructure,andtoperform
operationsonmultiplehostsatthesametime.
 InstallthevSphereClientontheWindowssystemofyourchoiceandconnecttoanESXiorvCenterServer
system.Performmanagementoperationsusingtheclient.
 UsethevSphereWebClientfromoneofthesupportedbrowsers.ThevSphereWebClientisanew
interfaceandsupportsprimarilyoperationsonvirtualmachines.
vSphere5documentationexplainshowtoperformtasksbyusingoneoftheclientUIs.Onlinehelpisavailable
frombothclientUIs.
Running vCLI or PowerCLI Commands from Remote Hosts
IfyouhavescriptsthatuseESX4.xserviceconsolecommandsorruncommandsintheESX4.xserviceconsole
directly,runningvCLIcommandsorPowerCLIcmdletsfromthehostonwhichyouinstalledthosepackages
givesthebestresults.Runningoff‐hostishighlyrecommendedbecauseitfacilitatesscripting.
You
canusevCLIevenifhostsareinlockdownmodebytargetingthevCenterServersystemandspecifying
thetargetESXihostwiththe--vihostparameter,forexample:
esxcli --server <my_vc> --vihost <my_esxi> [<authentication>] storage nfs list
Ifyoudonotspecifyadditionalauthenticationparameters,thevCLIinfrastructurepromptsforausername
andpasswordforthevCenterServersystemspecifiedby--server.
vCLI Command Set
ThevCLIcommandsetincludescommonsystemadministrationcommandswhichyoucanrunagainstESXi
systemsfromanymachinewithnetworkaccesstothosesystems.YoucanalsorunmostvCLIcommands
againstavCenterServersystemandtargetanyESXisystemthatvCenterServersystemmanages.
InstallthevCLIcommand
setonasupportedversionsofWindowsorLinux.Theuserrunningacommand
againstaservermustbeauthenticatedforthatserver.ThevCLIpackageincludesseveralcommandsets.
ESXCLIESXCLI
vCLI
ESXCLI
ESXCLI
vicfg-and other
commands
vicfg-and other commands
Service console commands
esxcfg-
(deprecated)
POSIX
(subset)
ESX 4.1
ESXi 5
Commands running on host
vCLI
Commands running on host