6.0
Table Of Contents
- vSphere Command-Line Interface Concepts and Examples
- Contents
- About This Book
- vSphere CLI Command Overviews
- Introduction
- List of Available Host Management Commands
- Targets and Protocols for vCLI Host Management Commands
- Supported Platforms for vCLI Commands
- Commands with an esxcfg Prefix
- ESXCLI Overview
- Connection Options for vCLI Host Management Commands
- Connection Options for DCLI Commands
- vCLI Host Management Commands and Lockdown Mode
- Managing Hosts
- Managing Files
- Managing Storage
- Introduction to Storage
- Examining LUNs
- Detaching Devices and Removing a LUN
- Working with Permanent Device Loss
- Managing Paths
- Managing Path Policies
- Scheduling Queues for Virtual Machine I/O
- Managing NFS/NAS Datastores
- Monitoring and Managing SAN Storage
- Monitoring and Managing Virtual SAN Storage
- Monitoring vSphere Flash Read Cache
- Monitoring and Managing Virtual Volumes
- Migrating Virtual Machines with svmotion
- Configuring FCoE Adapters
- Scanning Storage Adapters
- Retrieving SMART Information
- Managing iSCSI Storage
- iSCSI Storage Overview
- Protecting an iSCSI SAN
- Command Syntax for esxcli iscsi and vicfg-iscsi
- iSCSI Storage Setup with ESXCLI
- iSCSI Storage Setup with vicfg-iscsi
- Listing and Setting iSCSI Options
- Listing and Setting iSCSI Parameters
- Enabling iSCSI Authentication
- Setting Up Ports for iSCSI Multipathing
- Managing iSCSI Sessions
- Managing Third-Party Storage Arrays
- Managing NMP with esxcli storage nmp
- Path Claiming with esxcli storage core claiming
- Managing Claim Rules
- Managing Users
- Managing Virtual Machines
- vmware-cmd Overview
- Listing and Registering Virtual Machines
- Retrieving Virtual Machine Attributes
- Managing Virtual Machine Snapshots with vmware-cmd
- Powering Virtual Machines On and Off
- Connecting and Disconnecting Virtual Devices
- Working with the AnswerVM API
- Forcibly Stopping Virtual Machines with EXCLI
- Managing vSphere Networking
- Introduction to vSphere Networking
- Retrieving Basic Networking Information
- Network Troubleshooting
- Setting Up vSphere Networking with vSphere Standard Switches
- Setting Up Virtual Switches and Associating a Switch with a Network Interface
- Retrieving Information About Virtual Switches
- Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches
- Checking, Adding, and Removing Port Groups
- Managing Uplinks and Port Groups
- Setting the Port Group VLAN ID
- Managing Uplink Adapters
- Adding and Modifying VMkernel Network Interfaces
- Setting Up vSphere Networking with vSphere Distributed Switch
- Managing Standard Networking Services in the vSphere Environment
- Setting the DNS Configuration
- Adding and Starting an NTP Server
- Managing the IP Gateway
- Setting Up IPsec
- Managing the ESXi Firewall
- Monitoring VXLAN
- Monitoring ESXi Hosts
- Index
Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces
108 VMware, Inc.
Thereturnvalueisesx(VMwareESX),embeddedESX(VMwareESXi),orunknown.
Thegetproductinfo platformoptionliststheplatformthatthevirtualmachinerunson.
vmware-cmd -H <vc_system> -U <user> -P <password> --vihost <esx_host>
/vmfs/volumes/Storage2/testvm/testvm.vmx getproductinfo platform
Thereturnvalueiswin32-x86(x86‐basedWindowssystem),linux-x86(x86‐basedLinuxsystem),or
vmnix-x86(x86‐basedESXimicrokernel).
Thegetproductinfo build,getproductinfo majorversion,orgetproductinfo minorversion
optionsretrieveversioninformation.
Thegetstateoptionretrievestheexecutionstateofthevirtualmachine,whichcanbeon,off,
suspended,orunknown.
vmware-cmd -H <vc_system> -U <user> -P <password> --vihost <esx_host>
/vmfs/volumes/Storage2/testvm/testvm.vmx getstate
getstate() = on
ThegettoolslastactiveoptionindicateswhetherVMwareToolsisinstalledandwhethertheguest
operatingsystemisrespondingnormally.
vmware-cmd -H <vc_system> -U <user> -P <password> --vihost <esx_host>
/vmfs/volumes/Storage2/testvm/testvm.vmx gettoolslastactive
Thecommandreturnsanintegerindicatinghowmuchtimehaspassed,inseconds,sincethelast
heartbeatwasdetectedfromtheVMwareToolsservice.Thisvalueisinitializedtozerowhenavirtual
machinepowerson.Thevaluestaysatzerountilthefirstheartbeatisdetected.Afterthefirstheartbeat,
thevalueisalwaysgreaterthanzerountilthevirtualmachineispowercycledagain.Thecommand
returnsoneofthefollowingvalues:
0–VMwareToolsisnotinstalledornotrunning.
1–Guestoperatingsystemisrespondingnormally.
5–Intermittentheartbeat.Theremightbeaproblemwiththeguestoperatingsystem.
100–Noheartbeat.Guestoperatingsystemmighthavestoppedresponding.
Managing Virtual Machine Snapshots with vmware-cmd
Asnapshotcapturestheentirestateofthevirtualmachineatthetimeyoutakethesnapshot.
Virtualmachinestateincludesthefollowingaspectsofthevirtualmachine.
Memorystate.Contentsofthevirtualmachine’smemory.
Settingsstate.Virtualmachinesettings.
Diskstate.Stateofallthevirtualmachine’svirtualdisks.
Whenyoureverttoasnapshot,youreturntheseitemstothestatetheywereinatthetimethatyoutookthe
snapshot.Ifyouwantthevirtualmachinetoberunningortobeshutdownwhenyoustart
it,makesurethat
itisinthatstatewhenyoutakethesnapshot.
Youcanusesnapshotsasrestorationpointswhenyouinstallupdatepackages,orduringabranchingprocess,
suchasinstallingdifferentversionsofaprogram.Takingsnapshotsensuresthateachinstallationbeginsfrom
anidenticalbaseline.The
vSphereVirtualMachineAdministrationdocumentationdiscussessnapshotsindetail.
N
OTEYouusuallyusethevmware-cmd guestinfooptiononlywhenVMwareSupportinstructsyoutodo
so.Thecommandisthereforenotdiscussedinthisdocument.
IMPORTANTUsethevSphereWebClienttoreverttoanamedsnapshot.vmware-cmdonlysupportsreverting
tothecurrentsnapshot.