vSphere includes commands for managing different aspects of your environment.

The following CLIs are available for managing hosts, either directly or through the vCenter Server system that manages the host. You can also manage vCenter services by using DCLI.

vSphere CLIs for Host and vCenter Services Management
A schema that shows the vCLI components and correlations between them.

The following command sets are available. For more information about each command set, see the referenced documentation.

Command Set

Description

See

ESXCLI commands

Manage many aspects of an ESXi host. You can run ESXCLI commands remotely or in the ESXi Shell.

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vCLI package - Install the vCLI package on the server of your choice, or deploy a vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) virtual machine and target the ESXi system that you want to manipulate. You can run ESXCLI commands against a vCenter Server system and target the host indirectly. Running against vCenter Server systems by using the -vihost parameter is required if the host is in lockdown mode.

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ESXi Shell - Run ESXCLI commands in the local ESXi Shell to manage that host.

You can also run ESXCLI commands from the VMware PowerCLI prompt by using the Get-EsxCli cmdlet.

Using ESXCLI for Host Management

Installing vCLI

vSphere Command-Line Concepts and Examples

vSphere Management Assistant Guide

vSphere Command-Line Interface Reference

vicfg- and other vCLI commands

Users can manage hosts remotely. Install the vCLI package on a Windows or Linux system or deploy a vMA virtual machine, and target the ESXi system that you want to manipulate.

vicfg- commands are included in this release but are deprecated. Migrate to ESXCLI where possible.

You can run the commands against ESXi systems or against a vCenter Server system. If you target a vCenter Server system, use the --vihost option to specify the target ESXi system.

Note

If the ESXi system is in strict lockdown mode, you must run commands against the vCenter Server system that manages your ESXi system.

Installing vCLI

vSphere Command-Line Concepts and Examples

vSphere Command-Line Interface Reference

esxcfg- commands

Available in the ESXi Shell. esxcfg- commands are included in this release but are deprecated. Migrate to ESXCLI where possible.

Command-Line Management of vSphere 5 and vSphere 6 for Service Console Users

DCLI commands

Manage VMware SDDC services.

DCLI is a CLI client to the vSphere Automation SDK interface for managing VMware SDDC services. A DCLI command talks to a vSphere Automation API endpoint to locate relevant information, and then runs the command and displays the result to the user.

You can run DCLI commands as follows.

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vCenter Server Appliance - Run DCLI commands from the vCenter Server Appliance shell. See Running DCLI Commands on the vCenter Server Appliance.

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vCenter Server Windows command prompt - Install vCenter Server on a supported Windows system and run DCLI commands from the command prompt.

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vCLI package

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Open a command prompt on a Linux or Windows system on which you installed vCLI. Enter commands into that command prompt, specifying connection options. See Running DCLI Commands.

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Access the vMA Linux console. DCLI does not support the vi-fastpass connections.

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Prepare scripts that include DCLI commands and run the scripts as vCLI scripts from the vCenter Server Windows command prompt or from the vCenter Server Appliance shell.

Running DCLI Commands

See the vSphere Automation SDK documentation for information about supported services and how they interact.

VMware PowerCLI cmdlets

VMware PowerCLI provides a Windows PowerShell interface to the vSphere API. PowerCLI includes PowerShell cmdlets for administering vSphere components.

PowerCLI includes more than 500 cmdlets, a set of sample scripts, and a function library for management and automation. The vSphere Image Builder PowerCLI and vSphere Auto Deploy PowerCLI modules are included when you install PowerCLI.

VMware PowerCLI documentation

localcli commands

Set of commands for use with VMware Technical Support. localcli commands are equivalent to ESXCLI commands, but bypass the host daemon (hostd) . The localcli commands are only for situations when hostd is unavailable and cannot be restarted. After you run a localcli command, you must restart hostd. Run ESXCLI commands after the restart.

Note

If you use a localcli command, an inconsistent system state and potential failure might result.

 

pktcap-uw utility

Enables you to monitor the traffic that flows through the physical network adapters, the VMkernel adapters, and the virtual machine adapters, and to analyze the packet information by using conventional network analysis tools such as Wireshark.

vSphere Networking documentation

dir-cli

vecs-cli

certool

Commands for managing the vCenter Single Sign-On and certificate infrastructure.

vSphere Security documentation

appliancesh

Enables you to configure and troubleshoot the vCenter Server Appliance and to monitor the processes and services running in the appliance.

vCenter Server Appliance Configuration documentation