You can download the vCenter Server root certificate by using a Web browser and add it to the trusted certificates on the machine where you plan to run ESXCLI commands.

Procedure
1

Enter the URL of the vCenter Server system or vCenter Server Appliance into a Web browser.

2

Click the Download trusted root certificates link.

3

Change the extension of the downloaded file to .zip. (The file is a ZIP file of all certificates in the TRUSTED_ROOTS store).

4

Extract the ZIP file.

A certificates folder is extracted. The folder includes files with the extension .0. .1, and so on, which are certificates, and files with the extension .r0, r1, and so on which are CRL files associated with the certificates.

5

Add the trusted root certificates to the list of trusted roots.

The process differs depending on the platform that you are on.

What to do next

You can now run ESXCLI commands against any host that is managed by the trusted vCenter Server system without supplying additional information if you specify the vCenter Server system in the --server option and the ESXi host in the --vihost option.