Modifying Scripts

You can modify service console scripts to run from vMA.

■	Linux commands – Scripts running in vMA cannot use Linux commands in the way that they do on the ESX service console because the Linux commands are running on vMA and not on the ESX host.

■	Access to ESXi files – If you need access to folders or files on an ESXi host, you can make that host a target server and use the vifs vSphere CLI command to view, retrieve, or modify folders and files.

■	References to localhost – Scripts cannot refer to localhost.

■	If vi-fastpass is initialized, all commands that do not specify --server apply to the default target.

■	If vi-fastpass is initialized, all commands that specify hostname or IP of the target apply to the target specified.

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Programmatic connection – In Perl scripts or Java programs, you can call VmaTarget.login() method of VmaTargetLib and specify the host to connect to. The directory /opt/vmware/vma/samples contains examples in Perl and Java. vMA handles authentication if the server has been established as a target server. Programs can use VmaTargetLib library commands. See Using the VmaTargetLib Library.

■	No proc nodes – Some service console scripts still use VMware proc nodes, which were officially made obsolete with ESX Server 3.0 and are not available in ESX/ESXi 4.0 and later. You can extract information that was available in VMware proc nodes using the vSphere CLI commands available on vMA.

■	Target specification – You must specify the target server when you run commands or scripts.

vMA Components for Use in Scripts lists the vMA components that you can use for modifying scripts that include proc nodes and Linux commands.

vMA Components for Use in Scripts 

vMA Component	Description	For more information
vSphere CLI commands	Manage ESXi hosts and virtual machines.	vSphere Command‑Line Interface Installation and Reference Guide.
vifs vSphere CLI command	Perform common operations, such as copy, remove, get, and put, on files and directories.	vSphere Command‑Line Interface Installation and Reference Guide.
vSphere SDK for Perl	Access the vSphere API, a Web services based API for managing, monitoring, and controlling the lifecycle of all vSphere components.	vSphere SDK for Perl Programming Guide.
vSphere SDK for Perl utility applications	Perform common administrative tasks.	vSphere SDK for Perl Utility Applications Reference. Commands are on vMA in /usr/lib/vmware-vcli/apps
vSphere SDK for Perl WS Management component	Access CIM/SMASH data. ESXi supports many Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) profiles, enabling system management client applications to check the status of underlying server components such as CPU, fans, power supplies, and so on.	vSphere SDK for Perl Programming Guide.