Important Vmware ESXI Dedicated Server Commands
If command traces are your bread and butter, you probably already understand about esxcli instructions and how they’re used to carry out control and configuration duties on ESXi. If on the other hand, that is all new to you, this post will hopefully provide you with a head start. For the time being, you just need to understand that esxcli instructions are run from the ESXi shell. If the command line is some thing you need to delve into, take into account having a take a look at the PowerCLI Primer series. With that out the way, let’s get on with the show.
ESXi Shell and ESXCLI
If it’s not already, the primary thing you would like to try to to is enable shell on ESXi, something that’s generally disabled for security reasons. To enable Shell, follow the steps provided in KB 2004746. Once you enable it, you’ll use a tool like putty to access Shell via an SSH session. Alternatively, pressing ALT-F1 while in DCUI is one other way of accessing Shell. To run commands in shell, log in as root or with an account having similar privileges.
The esxcli command exposes variety of namespaces against which you’ll run queries to retrieve information about ESXi also as configure it. the subsequent table lists the available namespaces on ESXi 6.5 along side an outline for every (source: VMware). For earlier ESXi releases, consult the relevant online documentation or run esxcli with no parameters to ascertain which namespaces are available.
| Command | Description |
| esxcli device | Lists descriptions of device commands. |
| esxcli elxnet | Lists descriptions for commands that manage Emulex elxnet drivers. |
| esxcli esxcli | Lists descriptions of esxcli commands. |
| esxcli fcoe | FCOE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) commands |
| esxcli graphics | Graphics commands |
| esxcli hardware | Hardware namespace. Used primarily for extracting information about the current system setup. |
| esxcli iscsi | iSCSI namespace for monitoring and managing hardware and software iSCSI. |
| esxcli network | Network namespace for managing virtual networking including virtual switches and VMkernel network interfaces. |
| esxcli nvme | Commands for managing NVMe devices. |
| esxcli rdma | Commands for monitoring RDMA devices. |
| esxcli sched | Manage the shared system-wide swap space. |
| esxcli software | Software namespace. Includes commands for managing and installing image profiles and VIBs. |
| esxcli storage | Includes core storage commands and other storage management commands. |
| esxcli system | System monitoring and management command. |
| esxcli vm | Namespace for listing virtual machines and shutting them down forcefully. |
| esxcli vsan | Namespace for Virtual SAN management commands. See the vSphere Storage publication for |
The Top 20 ESXCLI Commands
The following may be a compilation of esxcli commands, sorted by namespace, I tend to use on a daily basis. it’s by no means exhaustive as there are too many examples to say . If you would like the entire Matter , have a glance at VMware’s documentation site.
System related commands
Exsi Commands
1 :esxcli system version get
Description: Returns the ESXi build and version numbers.
2: esxcli system hostname get
Description: Returns the hostname, domain and FQDN for the host.
3: esxcli system stats installtime get
Description: Returns the date and time of when ESXi was installed.
4: esxcli system account list
Description: Lists the local users created on the ESXi host.
5: esxcli system account add -d=”Altaro Guest” -i=”altaro” -p=”dsfewfewf3!4404″ -c=”dsfewfewf3!4404″
Description: This command allows you to create local ESXi users. All the parameters used in the example are mandatory.
6: esxcli system maintenanceMode set –enable true
Description: Use this command to put ESXi in maintenance mode or take it out.
7: esxcli system shutdown reboot -d 10 -r “Patch Updates”
Description: Use this command to reboot or shutdown ESXi. The -d parameter is a countdown timer; minimum 10 seconds. ESXi must be in maintenance mode before you can use the command.
8: esxcli network firewall get
Description: Returns the status of the ESXi firewall. The default action is to drop traffic unless allowed through by a specific firewall rule. The Enabled field indicates whether the firewall is enabled. The Loaded field shows whether the firewall module is active or not (see esxcli firewall load | unload commands).
9: esxcli network firewall set –enabled true | false
Description: Use this command to disable the ESXi firewall for troubleshooting purposes. Note that disabling the firewall on ESXi is highly discouraged.
10: esxcli network firewall ruleset list | awk ‘$2 ==”true”‘
Description: Generates a list of all enabled firewall rules on ESXi. The command is piped to awk which will matches the value from the second column to “true” so only enabled rules are displayed
11: esxcli network ip interface ipv4 get
Description: Displays the IPv4 configuration for all the interfaces present on ESXi.
12: esxcli software vib list
Description: Lists all the currently installed VIBs on ESXi. A VIB is a file packaging format used to distribute software on ESXi.
13: esxcli software vib update -d “/tmp/update.zip”
Description: Use this command to update an installed VIB on ESXi. Note that the command does not install any new software. Instead it only updates what’s currently installed. Use esxcli software vib install instead when installing new software.
14: esxcli vm process list
Description: Lists all the running VMs on the hosts. The World ID can be used with other commands to carry out various tasks related to VMs.
15: esxcli vm process kill -w 69237 -t soft
Description: Use this command to kill a running VM such as one that fails to respond to commands. You must first retrieve the VM’s World ID (see command #14) and pass it on using the -w parameter. The -t mandatory parameter sets the type of kill operation.
Conclusion:
We’ve seen how you’ll use esxcli to question ESXi also because it for configuration tasks. it’s an excellent command to master, so confirm you familiarize yourself with it. Also Check out our blog how to install CentOs in Vmware Esxi Dedicated Server. & check out our Pricing Plans for VMware Dedicated Server
