Here is a quick post on How to use ESXi with basics command line. We will have a quick look and focus on networking, storage, hardware info and performance.

Download official Documentation via this link: https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-command-line-interface-concepts-examples-guide.pdf

How to access to console mode when on ESXi ?

Press Ctrl+Alt+F1

How to access to dcui

Type dcui when on SSH.

How to exit maintenance mode?

esxcli system maintenanceMode set –enable false

List VM’s

vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

Note: The first column of the output shows the vmid. Now filter with a grep with either vm name/File/Guest OS Infos

How to power on VM via Command line?

1. Check the power state of the virtual machine with the command:vim-cmd vmsvc/power.getstate <vmid>
2. Power-on the virtual machine with the command:vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on <vmid>

How to install VMware tools

This is always helpful to have VMware tools install on the VM guest system.
vim-cmd vmsvc/tools.install <vmID> 

Check Services running on ESXi

Use chkconfig -l for looking at services ON/OFF on the host.

Looking for usage

Esxtop will help us if you are looking to see statistics usage (You can hit h to know more about using Esxtop). Pressing Shift+U will sort list for CPU usage for example.

Storing ESXi Hardware info

esxcfg-info > filename.txt

List Network config

1. Use Esxcfg-ncis -l to list your Network physical interface

   

2. Use Esxcfg-vswitch -l to list your virtual newtork
   
   

 List NAS Config

Esxcfg-nas -l

Esxcli storage nfs list

Looking for your ESXi version?

Use Esxcli system version get