Using the Command-Line with the Workbench GUI

To use the command-line client, you can either enable the server from the Workbench GUI (VMware > Preferences) or start the server from the command-line. If you want to move back and forth from the client command-line to the Workbench GUI, enable the server inside the GUI.

The advantage of using the command-line client in the context of the Workbench appliance is the seamless interoperability between the command line client and GUI operations. Logs that you open in the GUI will be available in the command line, and the reverse is also true, that is, logs opened in the client are available in the GUI. In the GUI also, you can record log browser sessions to create scripts (which are just a sequence of log browser commands).

The disadvantage of using the client with the Workbench GUI is that the Eclipse GUI must be running, thus it cannot be started from a shell. Another perceived disadvantage might be that the Workbench uses a fixed port number for the server. This means there can only be one server instance running on a given host. This limitation can be overcome with the standalone server.

Enable the server from the Workbench GUI

1	In the Workbench GUI, select Windows > Preferences to open the Preferences page.

2	In the Preferences page, expand VMware and select Web Server to display the Web Server options.

3	Select the Enable web server on start up check box, click Apply.

4	(Optional) To check if the web server has started, click Check Status.

5	Click OK to exit the Preferences page.