Most Useful VMware ESXi/SSH Cli Commands

vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

List all VMs running on the host. Also provides vmid, required for commands below.

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.off vmid

Power off specified VM.

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on vmid

Power off specified VM.

vim-cmd vmsvc/power.reboot vmid

Reboot specified VM.

vim-cmd solo/registervm /vmfs/volume/datastore/subdir/vm-file.vmx

Register the VM stored at location on the ESX host inventory.

vim-cmdvmsvc/unregistervmid

Unregister VM from the host. Does not remove the VM’s files from the datastore.

vim-cmdvmsvc/destroy vmid

Delete the specified VM. The VMDK and VMX files will be deleted from storage as well.

vim-cmd vmsvc/tools.install vmid

Initiates an installation of VMWare Tools on the VM.

vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter

Put the host into maintenance mode.

vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit

Take the host out of maintenance mode.

vim-cmd hostsvc/net/info

Show networking information of the host.

chkconfig -l Show services running on the host. Can also be used to change startup configuration.

esxtop

Display list of processes and its usage of resources. Works similar to linux top. Click Here to know more about esxtop.

esxcli-info Show host’s configuration and information.
esxcli-nics -l Show current NIC configuration.

esxcli-vswitch -l Show current vSwitch configuration.

vmkerrcode -l Display a reference list of VMKernel return codes and descriptions.

dcui Start the console UI (when accessing through SSH).

vsish Run the VMWare Interactive Shell (from SSH).

decodeSel /var/log/ipmi_sel.raw Read IPMI system log of physical server.