DCLI Options

You can run each DCLI command with connection or formatting options preceded by a + sign.

For many of the options, you can instead use variables. See Using DCLI with Variables.

dcli   [+server SERVER_IP]
       [+vmc-server]
       [+nsx-server [NSX_T_SERVER_ADDRESS]]
       [+org-id NSX_ORG_ID]
       [+sddc-id NSX_SDDC_ID]
       [+interactive]
       [+prompt PROMPT]
       [+skip-server-verification]
       [+cacert-file CACERT_FILE]
       [+username USERNAME]
       [+password PASSWORD]
       [+logout]
       [+filter FILTER]
       [+formatter {yaml, json, table, csv, html, xml, yamlc, jsonc, htmlc, xmlc}]
       [+verbose]
       [+log-level {debug, info, warning, error}]
       [+log-file LOG_FILE]
       [+generate-json-input]
       [+generate-required-json-input]
       [+json-input JSON_INPUT]
       [+credstore-file CREDSTORE_FILE]
       [+credstore-add | +credstore-list | +credstore-remove]
       [+session-manager SESSION_MANAGER]
       [+configuration-file CONFIGURATION_FILE]
       [+more]
       [args [args …]]

With these options, you can provide the following information. If you are entering options in DCLI interactive mode, tab completion is supported on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS systems. In all cases, you can specify a partial option if the option is not ambiguous. For example, +i indicates interactive, but you have to specify, at least, +credstore-a to disambiguate option +credstore-add.

The following table describes the DCLI options.

Option	Description	Default	Available in Interactive Mode
server	The vCenter Server system to which DCLI connects.	`localhost`	Yes
vmc-server	The VMware Cloud on AWS server to which DCLI connects.	https://vmc.vmware.com	Yes
nsx-server	The NSX-T server to which DCLI connects. If not specified, +org-id and +sddc-id must be specified.		Yes
org-id	Use this option along with +nsx, specified as a flag, and +sddc-id. Specifies the organization ID of the NSX-T server you want to connect to on the VMware Cloud on AWS service.		Yes
sddc-id	Use this option along with +nsx, specified as a flag, and +org-id. Specifies the organization SDDC of the NSX-T server you want to connect to on the VMware Cloud on AWS service.		Yes
interactive	Runs DCLI in interactive shell mode, which supports tab completion of commands, options, and some option values. It also supports saving the command history across DCLI sessions. Interactive mode is faster because DCLI caches the list of commands available on a vCenter Server system.		No
prompt	Prompt that the interactive shell uses.	`dcli>`	No
skip-server-verification	Skips the server SSL verification process.	`False`	Yes
cacert-file	Specifies the certificate authority certificates for validating SSL connections.		Yes
username	If you run from the local shell, most DCLI commands do not require the user name. If you are running vCLI commands, the user you specify must be able to authenticate to the vCenter Server system. The user you specify must have the privileges to perform the task, as specified through vCenter Server roles. You are prompted for the password. The password is not echoed to screen. Note: Only available when DCLI connects to a vCenter Server system.		Yes
password	You can use this option to provide your password explicitly instead of waiting for the DCLI password prompt. Important: Providing the value explicitly presents a security risk. Note: Only available when DCLI connects to a vCenter Server system.		Yes
logout	Use this option to request logout from vCenter Server and remove the session ID and authentication tokens from the credential store. Note: It is a good practice to use this option at the end of your script to destroy the used session and prevent overflowing the server with session objects.		No
filter	Provides JMESPath expressions to filter command output.		Yes
formatter	Output formatter, which has one of the following possible values. `yaml` `json` `table` `csv` `html` `xml` `yamlc` `jsonc` `htmlc` `xmlc` The `yamlc`, `jsonc`, `htmlc`, and `xmlc` formatters are colorized versions of the `yaml`, `json`, `html`, and `xml` formatters.	Default is `table` for lists of structures and `yaml` for all other output including `json`.	Yes
verbose	Prints verbose output.	`False`	Yes
log-level	The log level, which has one of the following possible values. debug info warning error	`info`	Yes
log-file	Specifies the log file to be used for detailed DCLI execution information.	$HOME/.dcli/.dcli_log	Yes
generate-json-input	When provided and used along with a command, DCLI outputs empty JSON input for the command, which you can populate and provide back as an input by using the +json-input option.	`False`	Yes
generate-required-json-input	When provided and used along with a command, DCLI outputs empty JSON input for the required fields of the command, which you can populate and provide back as an input by using the +json-input option.	`False`	Yes
json-input	Specifies a JSON string value or a .json file that you can use as command input.		Yes
credstore-file	Path to the credential store file to use for credential store operations or for reading login credentials. Use this option only if the default credential store filename does not work in your environment. By default, the credential store file is in the .dcli/.dcli_credstore directory inside the home directory.	$HOME/.dcli/.dcli_credstore	Yes
credstore-add	Adds login credentials entered for a command to the DCLI credential store file. If the provided credentials are valid, this option stores the server IP address, session manager, user name, and password for the command being run. If an entry exists, the command updates the entry.		Yes
credstore-list	Lists all entries stored in the DCLI credential store file. Each entry includes the server IP address, session manager, and user name.		Yes
credstore-remove	Removes an entry from the DCLI credential store file. This option removes the entry for a specified server IP address and user name if only one session manager is present for a target server and user. In rare cases, information about multiple session manager entries is present. You must provide the session manager with the session-manager option.		Yes
session-manager	Use this option if you use the credstore-remove option the same user name and password are stored through multiple session managers. Not usually required.		Yes
configuration-file	Path to the configuration store file to use for options and profile-related internal commands.	$HOME/.dcli/.dcli_configuration	Yes
more	Displays page-wise output.		Yes