Performing common virtual machine-related tasks with command-line utilities

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides a side-by-side comparison of performing virtual machine-related tasks using different utilities and command line methods.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi . xxx
VMware vSphere PowerCLI . xxx 

Resolution

In these examples:

• vcenter is your vCenter Server hostname
• esxhost is your ESX/ESXi hostname
• datastore is the display name of your datastore
• path_to_vmx_on_datastore is the path to the virtual machine's vmx file relative to the datastore on which it resides
• vm_name is the display name of a virtual machine
• path_to_vmx_file is the full path to a virtual machine's vmx file
• snapshot_name is the name given to a virtual machine snapshot
• 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 noted by guest_admin_user

 

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