6.5.1

Performance Monitoring Utilities:
resxtop and esxtop 7
The resxtop and esxtop command-line utilities provide a detailed look at how ESXi uses resources in real
time. You can start either utility in one of three modes: interactive (default), batch, or replay.
The fundamental dierence between resxtop and esxtop is that you can use resxtop remotely, whereas you
can start esxtop only through the ESXi Shell of a local ESXi host.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n
“Using the esxtop Utility,” on page 129
n
“Using the resxtop Utility,” on page 130
n
“Using esxtop or resxtop in Interactive Mode,” on page 130
n
“Using Batch Mode,” on page 144
n
“Using Replay Mode,” on page 145
Using the esxtop Utility
You can run the esxtop utility using the ESXi Shell to communicate with the management interface of the
ESXi host. You must have root user privileges.
Type the command, using the options you want:
esxtop [-h] [-v] [-b] [-s] [-a] [-c config file] [-R vm-support_dir_path] [-d delay] [-n
iterations]
The esxtop utility reads its default conguration from .esxtop50rc on the ESXi system. This conguration
le consists of nine lines.
The rst eight lines contain lowercase and uppercase leers to specify which elds appear in which order on
the CPU, memory, storage adapter, storage device, virtual machine storage, network, interrupt, and CPU
power panels. The leers correspond to the leers in the Fields or Order panels for the respective esxtop
panel.
The ninth line contains information on the other options. Most important, if you saved a conguration in
secure mode, you do not get an insecure esxtop without removing the s from the seventh line of
your .esxtop50rc le. A number species the delay time between updates. As in interactive mode, typing c,
m, d, u, v, n, I, or p determines the panel with which esxtop starts.
N Do not edit the .esxtop50rc le. Instead, select the elds and the order in a running esxtop process,
make changes, and save this le using the W interactive command.
VMware, Inc.
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