Connection Options

vCLI Connection Options lists options that are available for all vCLI commands in alphabetical order. Examples in this book use <conn_options> to indicate the position of connection options.

For example, esxcli <conn_options> filesystem nfs list means that you could use a configuration file, a session file, or just specify a target server and respond with a user name and password when prompted.

The table includes options for use on the command line and variables for use in configuration files.

Important For connections, vCLI supports only the IPv4 protocol, not the IPv6 protocol. You can, however, configure IPv6 on the target host with several of the networking commands.

See the Getting Started with vSphere Command-Line Interfaces documentation for additional information and examples.

vCLI Connection Options 

Option and Environment Variable	Description
--cacertsfile <certsfile> -t <certs_file> VI_CACERTFILE=<cert_file_path>	ESXCLI commands only. Used to specify the CA (Certificate Authority) certificate file, in PEM format, to verify the identity of the vCenter Server system or ESXi system to run the command on. Can be used, for example, to prevent man-in-the-middle attack.
- -config <cfg_file_full_path> VI_CONFIG=<cfg_file_full_path>	Uses the configuration file at the specified location. Specify a path that is readable from the current directory.
- -credstore <credstore>	Name of a credential store file. Defaults to <HOME>/.vmware/credstore/vicredentials.xml on Linux and <APPDATA>/VMware/credstore/vicredentials.xml on Windows. Commands for setting up the credential store are included in the vSphere SDK for Perl, which is installed with vCLI. The vSphere SDK for Perl Programming Guide explains how to manage the credential store.
- -encoding <encoding> VI_ENCODING=<encoding>	Specifies the encoding to be used. The following encodings are supported. ■ cp936 (Simplified Chinese) ■ shftjis (Japanese) ■ cp850 (German and French). You can use - -encoding to specify the encoding vCLI should map to when it is run on a foreign language system.
- -passthroughauth VI_PASSTHROUGHAUTH	If you specify this option, the system uses the Microsoft Windows Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI) for authentication. Trusted users are not prompted for a user name and password. See the Microsoft Web site for a detailed discussion of SSPI. This option is supported only if you are running vCLI on a Windows system and are connecting to a vCenter Server system.
- -passthroughauthpackage <package> VI_PASSTHROUGHAUTHPACKAGE= <package>	Use this option with - -passthroughauth to specify a domain-level authentication protocol to be used by Windows. By default, SSPI uses the Negotiate protocol, which means that client and server try to negotiate a protocol that both support. If the vCenter Server system to which you are connecting is configured to use a specific protocol, you can specify that protocol using this option. This option is supported only if you are running vCLI on a Windows system and connecting to a vCenter Server system.
- -password <passwd> VI_PASSWORD=<passwd>	Uses the specified password (used with - -username) to log in to the server. ■ If - -server specifies a vCenter Server system, the user name and password apply to that server. If you can log in to the vCenter Server system, you need no additional authentication to run commands on the ESXi hosts that server manages. ■ If - -server specifies an ESXi host, the user name and password apply to that server. Use the empty string (' ' on Linux and “ “ on Windows) to indicate no password. If you do not specify a user name and password on the command line, the system prompts you and does not echo your input to the screen.
- -portnumber <number> VI_PORTNUMBER=<number>	Uses the specified port to connect to the system specified by --server. Default is 443.
- -protocol <HTTP|HTTPS> VI_PROTOCOL=<HTTP|HTTPS>	Uses the specified protocol to connect to the system specified by --server. Default is HTTPS.
- -savesessionfile <file> VI_SAVESESSIONFILE=<file>	Saves a session to the specified file. The session expires if it is not used for 30 minutes.
- -server <server> VI_SERVER=<server>	Uses the specified ESXi or vCenter Server system. Default is localhost. If - -server points to a vCenter Server system, you use the - -vihost option to specify the ESXi host on which you want to run the command. A command is supported for vCenter Server if the - -vihost option is defined.
- -servicepath <path> VI_SERVICEPATH=<path>	Uses the specified service path to connect to the ESXi host. Default is /sdk/webService.
- -sessionfile <file> VI_SESSIONFILE=<file>	Uses the specified session file to load a previously saved session. The session must be unexpired.
- -url <url> VI_URL=<url>	Connects to the specified vSphere Web Services SDK URL.
- -username <u_name> VI_USERNAME=<u_name>	Uses the specified user name. ■ If - -server specifies a vCenter Server system, the user name and password apply to that server. If you can log in to the vCenter Server system, you need no additional authentication to run commands on the ESXi hosts that server manages. ■ If - -server specifies an ESXi system, the user name and password apply to that system. If you do not specify a user name and password on the command line, the system prompts you and does not echo your input to the screen.
- -vihost <host> -h <host	When you run a vSphere CLI command with the - -server option pointing to a vCenter Server system, use - -vihost to specify the ESXi host to run the command against. Note: This option is not supported for each command. If supported, the option is included in the individual command option list.