Performing common virtual machine related tasks via command line utilities

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides a comparison of virtual machine related tasks using different command line methods.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 9.x

VMware vSphere PowerCLI

Resolution

In these examples:

• vcenter is the vCenter Server hostname
• esxhost is the ESX/ESXi hostname
• datastore is the display name of the datastore
• path_to_vmx_on_datastore is the path to the virtual machine's vmx file on the datastore
• vm_name is the display name of a virtual machine
• path_to_vmx_file is the full path to the virtual machine's vmx file
• snapshot_name is the name of the virtual machine snapshot
• vmID is the virtual machine ID of the virtual machine
• guest_admin_user is a user account with administrative access within a virtual machine's guest OS
• guest_admin_password is the password for the account guest_admin_user

Action	PowerCLI
Register a VM	New-VM –vmfilepath “[datastore] path_to_vmx_on_datastore” –vmhost esxhost
Unregister a VM	Remove-VM vm_name
Delete a VM	Remove-VM vm_name -deletepermanently
List VMs on a host	Get-VM –location esxhost
Determine if a VM has a snapshot	Get-VM –name vm_name | Get-Snapshot
Take a snapshot of a VM	Get-VM –name vm_name | New-Snapshot –name snapshot_name
Remove a snapshot of a VM	Get-VM –name vm_name | Get-Snapshot –name snapshot_name | Remove-Snapshot
Get the current power state of a VM	Get-VM –name vm_name
Get the uptime for a VM	Get-Stat -entity vm_name -stat sys.uptime.latest -MaxSamples 1
Power on a VM	Start-VM –vm vm_name
Power off a VM	Shutdown-VMGuest –vm vm_name
Power off a VM	Stop-VM –vm vm_name
Reboot a VM	Restart-VMGuest –vm vm_name
Reset a VM	Restart-VM –vm vm_name
Upgrade VMware Tools in a VM	Update-Tools –vm vm_name
Display the IP address of a VM	Get-VMGuestNetworkInterface –vm vm_name -guestuser guest_admin_user -guestpassword guest_admin_password
Action	ESXi
Register a VM	vim-cmd solo/registervm path_to_vmx_file vim-cmd /solo/register path_to_vmx_file
Unregister a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/unregister vmID
Delete a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/destroy vmID
List VMs with vmIDs	vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
List snapshots of VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/get.snapshot vmid
Take a snapshot of a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.create vmID snapshot_name snapshot_description
Remove a snapshot of a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/snapshot.remove vmID
Get the power state of a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/power.getstate vmID
Get the uptime for a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/get.summary vmID |grep uptimeSeconds
Power on a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on vmID
Shutdown the VM guest OS	vim-cmd vmsvc/power.shutdown vmID
Power off a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/power.off vmID
Reboot the VM guest OS	vim-cmd vmsvc/power.reboot vmID
Reset a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/power.reset vmID
Upgrade VMware Tools of a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/tools.upgrade vmID
Display the IP address of a VM	vim-cmd vmsvc/get.guest vmID |grep -m 1 "ipAddress = \"