Installing the vCLI Package on Red Hat Enterprise Linux

vCLI is supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 Server, 32 bit and 64 bit. On RHEL, the vSphere SDK for Perl installer prompts you whether you want to install required Perl modules from the installation package or from CPAN. Follow these steps to install the software.

1	Install required prerequisite software. See Installing Required Prerequisite Software for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

2	When prompted, direct the installer to install additional prerequisites from the installation package (see Installing the vCLI Package on RHEL (No Internet Access)) or from CPAN (see Installing the vCLI Package on a Linux System with Internet Access)

Installing Required Prerequisite Software for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Prerequisite software on RHEL includes required software and recommended Perl modules.

Required Software

If required software is not installed, the vCLI installer stops. You can install prerequisites using yum, the RHEL package installer (recommended), or from the installation DVD.

For example, if both OpenSSL development libraries, libXML2, and e2fsprogs are missing, type the following at a command prompt:

yum install openssl-devel libxml2-dev e2fsprogs-dev

Recommended Perl Modules

When the installer finishes, it might issue a warning that the version of a module installed on your system does not match the version with which vCLI was tested. Install that version using yum or CPAN to resolve the issue. See Overview of Linux Installation Process for a complete list of modules.

Note The installer does not overwrite existing Perl modules.

Installing the vCLI Package on RHEL (No Internet Access)

Before you install vCLI, you must remove all previous versions of that software. The process differs from simply uninstalling vCLI.

To remove previous versions of vCLI

1	Run the uninstall script, for example, if you installed vCLI in the default location, run the following command:

/usr/bin/vmware-uninstall-vSphere-CLI.pl

2	Delete existing versions of vSphere-CLI.xxxx.tar.gz and delete the vmware-vsphere-cli-distrib directory.

To install vCLI on RHEL

1	Untar the vCLI binary that you downloaded.

tar –zxvf VMware-vSphere-CLI-5.X.X-XXXXX.i386.tar.gz

A vmware-vsphere-vcli-distrib directory is created.

2	Log in as superuser and run the installer:

/<location>/sudo vmware-vsphere-cli-distrib/vmware-install.pl

3	To accept the license terms, type yes and press Enter.

4	To install Perl modules locally, type yes and press Enter.

5	Specify an installation directory, or press Enter to accept the default, which is /usr/bin.

A complete installation process has the following result:

■	A success message appears.

■	The installer lists different version numbers for required modules (if any).

■	The prompt returns to the shell prompt.

If you accepted the defaults during installation, you can find the installed software in the following locations:

■	vCLI scripts – /usr/bin

■	vSphere SDK for Perl utility applications – /usr/lib/vmware-vcli/apps

■	vSphere SDK for Perl sample scripts – /usr/share/doc/vmware-vcli/samples

See the vSphere SDK for Perl documentation for a reference to all utility applications.

After you install the vCLI, you can test the installation by running a command from the command prompt. See Running Commands on Linux.