esxcli system Commands

Command Description Options Help
system account add Create a new local user account.
--description | -d
User description, e.g. full name.
--id | -i
User ID, e.g. "administrator". (required)
--password | -p
User password. (secret)
--password-confirmation | -c
Password confirmation. Required if password is specified. (secret)
--help
Show the help message.
system account list List local user accounts.
--help
Show the help message.
system account remove Remove an existing local user account.
--id | -i
ID of user to be removed. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system account set Modify an existing local user account.
--description | -d
User description, e.g. full name.
--id | -i
User ID, e.g. "administrator". (required)
--password | -p
User password. (secret)
--password-confirmation | -c
Password confirmation. Required if password is specified. (secret)
--help
Show the help message.
system boot device get Get the systems boot device.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump file add Create a VMkernel Dump VMFS file for this system.
--auto | -a
Automatically create a file if none found and autoCreateDumpFile kernel option is set.
--datastore | -d
Manually specify the datastore the Dump File is created in. If not provided, a datastore of sufficient size will be automatically chosen.
--enable | -e
Enable diagnostic file after creation.
--file | -f
Manually specify the file name of the created Dump File. If not provided, a unique name will be chosen.
--size | -s
Manually set the size in MB of the created Dump File. If not provided, a default size for the current machine will be calculated.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump file get Get the dump file path. This command will print the path to the active and/or configured VMFS Dump File.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump file list List the active and configured VMFS Diagnostic Files.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump file remove Remove a VMkernel Dump VMFS file from this system.
--file | -f
Specify the file name of the Dump File to be removed. If not given, the configured dump file will be removed.
--force | -F
Deactivate and unconfigure the dump file being removed. This option is required if the file is active.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump file set Set the active and configured VMkernel Dump VMFS file for this system.
--enable | -e
Enable or disable the VMkernel dump file. This option cannot be specified when unconfiguring the dump file.
--path | -p
The path of the VMFS Dump File to use. This must be a pre-allocated file.
--smart | -s
This flag can be used only with --enable=true. It will cause the file to be selected using the smart selection algorithm.
--unconfigure | -u
Unconfigure the current VMFS Dump file.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump network check Check the status of the configured network dump server
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump network get Get the currently configured parameters for network coredump, if enabled.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump network set Set the parameters used for network core dump
--enable | -e
Enable network dump. This option cannot be specified when setting the dump parameters below.
--interface-name | -v
An active interface to be used for the network core dump. Required option when setting dump parameters.
--server-ip | -j
IP address of the core dump server (IPv4 or IPv6). Required when setting dump parameters.
--server-ipv4 | -i
IPv4 address of the core dump server.(deprecated, use -j|--server-ip instead)
--server-port | -o
Port on which the core dump server is listening. (Optional)
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump partition get Get one of the dump partition configured values. This command will print either the active dump partition or the configured dump partition depending on the flags passed.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump partition list List all of the partitions on the system that have a partition type matching the VMware Core partition type. Also indicate which partition, if any, is being used as the system's dump partition and which is configured to be used at next boot.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump partition set Set the specific VMkernel dump partition for this system. This will configure the dump partition for the next boot. This command will change the active dump partition to the partition specified.
--enable | -e
Enable or disable the VMkernel dump partition. This option cannot be specified when setting or unconfiguring the dump partition.
--partition | -p
The name of the partition to use. This should be a device name with a partition number at the end. Example: naa.xxxxx:1
--smart | -s
This flag can be used only with --enable=true. It will cause the best available partition to be selected using the smart selection algorithm.
--unconfigure | -u
Set the dump partition into an unconfigured state. This will remove the current configured dump partition for the next boot. This will result in the smart activate algorithm being used at the next boot.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump vsan add Create a VMkernel Vsan dump object for this system.
--auto | -a
Automatically create a Vsan dump object if none is found and the autoCreateDumpVsan kernel option is set.
--enable | -e
Enable the Vsan diagnostic object after creation.
--size | -s
The size (in MiB) of the created Vsan dump object. If not provided, a default size, based on the configuration of the current machine, will be used.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump vsan get Get the UUID of the active and/or configured Vsan dump object.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump vsan list List all local Diagnostic Vsan dump objects.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump vsan remove Remove a VMkernel Vsan dump object from this system.
--force | -F
Deactivate and unconfigure the Vsan dump object being removed. This option is required if the object is active.
--uuid | -u
Specify the UUID of the Vsan dump object to be removed. If not given, the configured dump object will be removed.
--help
Show the help message.
system coredump vsan set Configure the VMkernel Vsan Dump object for this system. This command allows setting the active and configured dump object using either the Smart Activate method or an explicit UUID, as well as unconfiguring the dump object.
--enable | -e
Enable or disable the VMkernel Vsan dump object. This option cannot be specified when unconfiguring the dump object.
--smart | -s
This flag can be used only with --enable=true. It will cause the dump object to be selected using the smart selection algorithm.
--unconfigure | -u
Unconfigure the current Vsan dump object.
--uuid | -U
The UUID of the Vsan dump object to use.
--help
Show the help message.
system hostname get Get the host, domain or fully qualified name of the ESX host.
--help
Show the help message.
system hostname set This command allows the user to set the hostname, domain name or fully qualified domain name of the ESX host.
--domain | -d
The domain name to set for the ESX host. This option is mutually exclusive with the --fqdn option.
--fqdn | -f
Set the fully qualified domain name of the ESX host.
--host | -H
The host name to set for the ESX host. This name should not contain the DNS domain name of the host and can only contain letters, numbers and '-'. NOTE this is not the fully qualified name, that can be set with the --fqdn option. This option is mutually exclusive with the --fqdn option.
--help
Show the help message.
system maintenanceMode get Get the maintenance mode state of the system.
--help
Show the help message.
system maintenanceMode set Enable or disable the maintenance mode of the system.
--enable | -e
enable maintenance mode (required)
--timeout | -t
Time to perform operation in seconds (default 0 seconds)
--vsanmode | -m
Action the VSAN service must take before the host can enter maintenance mode (default ensureObjectAccessibility). Allowed values are: ensureObjectAccessibility: Evacuate data from the disk to ensure object accessibility in the Virtual SAN cluster, before entering maintenance mode. evacuateAllData: Evacuate all data from the disk before entering maintenance mode. noAction: Do not move Virtual SAN data out of the disk before entering maintenance mode.
--help
Show the help message.
system module get Show information for a VMkernel module.
--module | -m
The name of the VMkernel module. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system module list List the VMkernel modules that the system knows about.
--enabled | -e
List the enabled / disabled VMkernel modules and device drivers.
--loaded | -l
List the loaded / not loaded VMkernel modules and device drivers.
--help
Show the help message.
system module load Load a VMkernel module with the given name if it is enabled. If the module is disabled then the use of --force is required to load the module.
--force | -f
Ignore the enabled/disabled state of this module and force it to load.
--module | -m
The name of the VMkernel module to load. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system module set Allow enabling and disabling of a VMkernel module.
--enabled | -e
Set to true to enable the module, set to false to disable the module. (required)
--force | -f
Skip VMkernel module validity checks and set options for a module (or alias) with the given name.
--module | -m
The name of the VMkernel module to set options for. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system module parameters copy Copy the load time parameters from one VMkernel module to another.
--force | -f
Skip VMkernel module validity checks for the source VMkernel module.
--parameter-keys | -p
Parameter key that should get copied. (required)
--source | -s
The name of the source VMkernel module. (required)
--target | -t
The name of the target VMkernel module. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system module parameters list List the parameters, a descriptions of each parameter supported for a given module name and the user defined value for each parameter.
--module | -m
The name of the VMkernel module to get the option string for. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system module parameters set Set the load time parameters for the given VMkernel module.
--append | -a
Append the specified parameter string to the currently configured parameter string for the VMkernel module. If --append is not specified, the parameter string currently configured for the VMkernel module will be replaced by the specified parameter string.
--force | -f
Skip VMkernel module validity checks and set parameters for a module (or alias) with the given name.
--module | -m
The name of the VMkernel module to set parameters for. (required)
--parameter-string | -p
The string containing the parameters for this module. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system permission list List permissions defined on the host.
--help
Show the help message.
system permission set Set permission for a user or group.
--group | -g
Specifies that the supplied ID refers to a group. ESXi local groups are not supported.
--id | -i
ID of user or group. Domain users or groups should be specified as "DOMAIN\user_name" or "DOMAIN\group_name". (required)
--role | -r
Name of role that specifies user access rights. Admin: Full access rights NoAccess: Used for restricting granted access. E.g. to deny access for some user whose group already has access. ReadOnly: See details of objects, but not make changes (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system permission unset Remove permission for a user or group.
--group | -g
Specifies that the supplied ID refers to a group.
--id | -i
ID of user or group. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system process list List the VMkernel UserWorld processes currently on the host.
--help
Show the help message.
system process stats load get System load average over the last 1, 5 and 15 minutes.
--help
Show the help message.
system process stats running get Number of currently running processes.
--help
Show the help message.
system secpolicy domain list List the enforcement level for each domain.
--help
Show the help message.
system secpolicy domain set Set the enforcement level for a domain in the system. Any option specified here is not persistent and will not survive a reboot of the system.
--all-domains | -a
All domains.
--level | -l
The enforcement level. (required)
--name | -n
The domain name.
--help
Show the help message.
system security certificatestore add Add a new CA certificate to the CA certificate store.
--filename | -f
Path to certificate file in PEM format (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system security certificatestore list List all certificates in the CA certificate store.
--help
Show the help message.
system security certificatestore remove Remove a certificate from the CA certificate store.
--issuer | -i
Remove certificate by the specified issuer (required)
--serial | -s
Remove certificate of specified serial number (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system settings advanced list List the advanced options available from the VMkernel.
--delta | -d
Only display options whose values differ from their default.
--option | -o
Only get the information for a single VMkernel advanced option.
--tree | -t
Limit the list of advanced option to a specific sub tree.
--help
Show the help message.
system settings advanced set Set the value of an advanced option.
--default | -d
Reset the option to its default value.
--int-value | -i
If the option is an integer value use this option.
--option | -o
The name of the option to set the value of. Example: "/Misc/HostName" (required)
--string-value | -s
If the option is a string use this option.
--help
Show the help message.
system settings kernel list List VMkernel kernel settings.
--delta | -d
Only display options whose values differ from their default.
--option | -o
The name of the VMkernel kernel setting to get.
--help
Show the help message.
system settings kernel set Set a VMKernel setting.
--setting | -s
The name of the VMKernel setting to set. (required)
--value | -v
The value to set the setting to. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system settings keyboard layout get Get the keyboard layout
--help
Show the help message.
system settings keyboard layout list List the keyboard layout
--help
Show the help message.
system settings keyboard layout set Set the keyboard layout
--layout | -l
The name of the layout to set
--no-persist
Only apply this layout for the current boot
--help
Show the help message.
system shutdown poweroff Power off the system. The host must be in maintenance mode.
--delay | -d
Delay interval in seconds
--reason | -r
Reason for performing the operation (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system shutdown reboot Reboot the system. The host must be in maintenance mode.
--delay | -d
Delay interval in seconds
--reason | -r
Reason for performing the operation (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system slp search Perform SLP search for neighboring services
--node | -n
Optional, host FQDN or IP address to connect to. Use -P to control protocol used.
--port | -p
Optional, override the default port value 427.
--protocol | -P
Optional, override unicast protocol: [tcp, udp], default tcp, requires -n.
--service | -s
Optional, the service name to search for. Defaults to 'service-agent'.
--help
Show the help message.
system slp stats get Report operational state of Service Location Protocol Daemon
--help
Show the help message.
system snmp get Get SNMP Agent configuration
--help
Show the help message.
system snmp hash Generate localized hash values based on this agents snmp engine id.
--auth-hash | -A
Secret to use when generating authentication hash. This should be a filename unless --raw-secret is specified. The authentication hash is used in the --users option of 'esxcli system snmp set' (required secret)
--priv-hash | -X
Secret to use when generating privacy hash. This should be a filename unless --raw-secret is specified. The privacy hash is used in the --users option of 'esxcli system snmp set'. (secret)
--raw-secret | -r
Make --auth-hash and --priv-hash options read raw secret from command line instead of file.
--help
Show the help message.
system snmp set This command allows the user to set up ESX SNMP agent.
--authentication | -a
Set default authentication protocol. Values: none, MD5, SHA1
--communities | -c
Set up to ten communities each no more than 64 characters. Format is: community1[,community2,...] (this overwrites previous settings)
--enable | -e
Start or stop SNMP service. Values: [yes|no, true|false, 0|1]
--engineid | -E
Set SNMPv3 engine id. Must be at least 10 to 32 hexadecimal characters. 0x or 0X is stripped if found as well as colons (:)
--hwsrc | -y
Where to source hardware events from IPMI sensors or CIM Indications. One of: indications|sensors
--largestorage | -s
Support large storage for hrStorageAllocationUnits * hrStorageSize. Values: [yes|no, true|false, 0|1]. Control how the agent reports hrStorageAllocationUnits, hrStorageSize and hrStorageUsed in hrStorageTable. Setting this directive to 1 to support large storage with small allocation units, the agent re-calculates these values so they all fit Integer32 and hrStorageAllocationUnits * hrStorageSize gives real size of the storage ( Note: hrStorageAllocationUnits will not be real allocation units if real hrStorageSize won't fit into Integer32 ). Setting this directive to 0 turns off this calculation and the agent reports real hrStorageAllocationUnits, but it might report wrong hrStorageSize for large storage because the value won't fit into Integer32.
--loglevel | -l
System Agent syslog logging level: debug|info|warning|error
--notraps | -n
Comma separated list of trap oids for traps not to be sent by agent. Use value 'reset' to clear setting
--port | -p
Set UDP port to poll snmp agent on. The default is udp/161
--privacy | -x
Set default privacy protocol. Values: none, AES128
--remote-users | -R
Set up to five inform user ids. Format is: user/auth-proto/-|auth-hash/priv-proto/-|priv-hash/engine-id[,...] Where user is 32 chars max. auth-proto is none|MD5|SHA1, priv-proto is none|AES. '-' indicates no hash. engine-id is hex string '0x0-9a-f' up to 32 chars max.
--reset | -r
Return agent configuration to factory defaults
--syscontact | -C
System contact string as presented in sysContact.0. Up to 255 characters
--syslocation | -L
System location string as presented in sysLocation.0. Up to 255 characters.
--targets | -t
Set up to three targets to send SNMPv1 traps to. Format is: ip-or-hostname[@port]/community[,...] The default port is udp/162. (this overwrites previous settings)
--users | -u
Set up to five local users. Format is: user/-|auth-hash/-|priv-hash/model[,...] Where user is 32 chars max. '-' indicates no hash. Model is one of (none|auth|priv).
--v3targets | -i
Set up to three SNMPv3 notification targets. Format is: ip-or-hostname[@port]/remote-user/security-level/trap|inform[,...].
--help
Show the help message.
system snmp test Verify ESX SNMP notifications can be delivered to target destinations.
--auth-hash | -A
Optionally test authentication secret generates matching hash for user
--priv-hash | -X
Optionally test privacy secret generates matching hash for user
--raw-secret | -r
Make -A and -X flags read raw secret from command line instead of file.
--user | -u
Validate a given SNMPv3 user name exists
--help
Show the help message.
system stats installtime get Display the date and time when this system was first installed. Value will not change on subsequent updates.
--help
Show the help message.
system stats uptime get Display the number of microseconds the system has been running.
--help
Show the help message.
system syslog mark Mark all logs with the specified string
--message | -s
The message to place in the logs (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system syslog reload Reload the log daemon to apply any new configuration options
--help
Show the help message.
system syslog config get Show the current global configuration values
--help
Show the help message.
system syslog config set Set global log configuration options
--check-ssl-certs
Verify remote SSL certificates against the local CA Store
--default-rotate
Default number of rotated local logs to keep
--default-size
Default size of local logs before rotation, in KiB
--default-timeout
Default network retry timeout in seconds if a remote server fails to respond
--drop-log-rotate
Number of rotated dropped log files to keep
--drop-log-size
Size of dropped log file before rotation, in KiB
--logdir
The directory to output local logs to
--logdir-unique
Place logs in a unique subdirectory of logdir, based on hostname
--loghost
The remote host(s) to send logs to
--queue-drop-mark
Message queue capacity after which messages are dropped
--reset
Reset values to default
--help
Show the help message.
system syslog config logger list Show the currently configured sub-loggers
--help
Show the help message.
system syslog config logger set Set configuration options for a specific sub-logger
--id
The id of the logger to configure (required)
--reset
Reset values to default
--rotate
Number of rotated logs to keep for a specific logger (requires --id)
--size
Set size of logs before rotation for a specific logger, in KiB (requires --id)
--help
Show the help message.
system time get Disply the current system time.
--help
Show the help message.
system time set Set the system clock time. Any missing parameters will default to the current time
--day | -d
Day
--hour | -H
Hour
--min | -m
Minute
--month | -M
Month
--sec | -s
Second
--year | -y
Year
--help
Show the help message.
system uuid get Get the system UUID.
--help
Show the help message.
system version get Display the product name, version and build information.
--help
Show the help message.
system visorfs get Obtain status information on the memory filesystem as a whole.
--help
Show the help message.
system visorfs ramdisk add Add a new Visorfs RAM disk to the ESXi Host and mount it.
--max-size | -M
Maximum size (max reservation in MiB) (required)
--min-size | -m
Minimum size (min reservation in MiB) (required)
--name | -n
Name for the ramdisk (required)
--permissions | -p
Permissions for the root of the ramdisk (mode) (required)
--target | -t
Mountpoint for the ramdisk (absolute path) (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system visorfs ramdisk list List the RAM disks used by the host.
--help
Show the help message.
system visorfs ramdisk remove Remove a Visorfs RAM disk from the ESXi Host.
--target | -t
Mountpoint for the ramdisk (absolute path) (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system visorfs tardisk list List the tardisks used by the host.
--help
Show the help message.
system wbem get Display WBEM Agent configuration.
--help
Show the help message.
system wbem set This command allows the user to set up ESX CIMOM agent.
--auth | -a
Specify how to authorize incoming requests. Values are password, certificate, password is by default. Changes take effect when --enable is specified.
--enable | -e
Start or stop the WBEM services (sfcbd, openwsmand). Values: [yes|no, true|false, 0|1]
--loglevel | -l
Syslog logging level: debug|info|warning|error
--port | -p
Set the TCP port on which the CIMOM listens for requests. The default is 5989
--reset | -r
Restore the WBEM configuration to factory defaults
--ws-man | -W
Enable or disable the WS-Management service (openwsmand). Enabled by default. Changes take effect when --enable is specified.
--help
Show the help message.
system wbem provider list Display WBEM provider configuration.
--help
Show the help message.
system wbem provider set This command is used to manage ESX CIMOM providers.
--enable | -e
Enable or disable the provider immediately. Values: [yes|no, true|false, 0|1]
--name | -n
Specify provider identifier. (required)
--help
Show the help message.
system welcomemsg get Get the Welcome Message for DCUI.
--help
Show the help message.
system welcomemsg set Set the Welcome Message for DCUI.
--message | -m
Welcome Message String. (required)
--help
Show the help message.