ESXi: A bunch of useful commands and information

How to list network adapters:

[root@mini:~] esxcli network nic list
Name    PCI Device    Driver  Admin Status  Link Status  Speed  Duplex  MAC Address         MTU  Description
------  ------------  ------  ------------  -----------  -----  ------  -----------------  ----  -----------
vmnic0  0000:01:00.0  ntg3    Up            Up            1000  Full    68:5b:35:7f:07:8d  9000  Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM57766 Gigabit Ethernet
vmnic1  0000:09:00.0  ntg3    Up            Up            1000  Full    a8:20:66:06:e0:fa  1500  Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM57762 Gigabit Ethernet

How to list routing table:

[root@mini:~] esxcli network ip route ipv4 list
Network       Netmask          Gateway       Interface  Source
------------  ---------------  ------------  ---------  ------
default       0.0.0.0          192.168.10.1  vmk0       MANUAL
10.9.10.8     255.255.255.248  0.0.0.0       vmk1       MANUAL
192.168.10.0  255.255.254.0    0.0.0.0       vmk0       MANUAL
192.168.66.0  255.255.255.0    0.0.0.0       vmk2       MANUAL

How to list ip addresses:

[root@mini:~] esxcli network ip interface ipv4 get
Name  IPv4 Address   IPv4 Netmask     IPv4 Broadcast  Address Type  Gateway       DHCP DNS
----  -------------  ---------------  --------------  ------------  ------------  --------
vmk0  192.168.10.40  255.255.254.0    192.168.11.255  STATIC        192.168.10.1     false
vmk1  10.9.10.9      255.255.255.248  10.9.10.15      STATIC        0.0.0.0          false
vmk2  192.168.66.2   255.255.255.0    192.168.66.255  STATIC        0.0.0.0          false

How to list USB adapters (this way you can see also which one can be attached directly to a VM):

[root@mini:~] esxcli hardware usb passthrough device list
Bus  Dev  VendorId  ProductId  Enabled  Can Connect to VM          Name
---  ---  --------  ---------  -------  -------------------------  ----
1    2    174c      1153         false  no (passthrough disabled)  ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1153 SATA 3Gb/s bridge
1    3    bc2       331a         false  no (passthrough disabled)  Seagate RSS LLC
1    4    b95       1790         false  no (passthrough disabled)  ASIX Electronics Corp. AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet
1    5    152d      578          false  no (passthrough disabled)  JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. JMS567 S
3    7    5ac       828a          true  yes                        Apple, Inc.

What to do if esxtop command is not shown properly:

This is because the default $TERM is xterm-color:

[root@mini:~] echo $TERM
xterm-color

So, before running esxtop command, you need to change it to xterm:

[root@mini:~] TERM=xterm
[root@mini:~] echo $TERM
xterm

How to backup ESXi configuration

1. Execute the following command on ESXi host via ssh: vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config

[root@mini:~] vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config
Bundle can be downloaded at : http://*/downloads/522994e1-a1b7-d1e4-e644-87eedbc5568e/configBundle-mini.local.tgz

2. Download the generated archive by accessing the url mentioned in the command output (replace * with the ip address of your ESXi host).

How to repair a vmdk disk

vmkfstools -x check /vmfs/volumes/my_datastore/my_disk.vmdk

How to check disk(s) statistics

This is not smart monitoring. The values shown on this command are since last boot. They will reset (start back from zero) after the next reboot.

[root@mini:~] esxcli storage core device stats get
mpx.vmhba38:C0:T0:L0
   Device: mpx.vmhba38:C0:T0:L0
   Successful Commands: 8385853
   Blocks Read: 231524531
   Blocks Written: 889215864
   Read Operations: 2133028
   Write Operations: 6243300
   Reserve Operations: 1879
   Reservation Conflicts: 0
   Failed Commands: 1626
   Failed Blocks Read: 0
   Failed Blocks Written: 0
   Failed Read Operations: 0
   Failed Write Operations: 0
   Failed Reserve Operations: 0

How to check disks smart information

[root@mini:~] esxcli storage core device smart get -d mpx.vmhba38:C0:T0:L0
Parameter                          Value    Threshold  Worst  Raw
---------------------------------  -------  ---------  -----  ---
Health Status                      UNKNOWN  N/A        N/A    N/A
Read Error Count                   100      62         100    0
Power-on Hours                     47       0          47     243
Power Cycle Count                  93       0          93     35
Reallocated Sector Count           100      5          100    30
Drive Temperature                  166      0          166    33
Sector Reallocation Event Count    100      0          100    81
Pending Sector Reallocation Count  100      0          100    0
Uncorrectable Sector Count         100      0          100    0

Virtual disk conversion command

For example, converting Thick Disk to Thin Provisioned Disk is done as follows:

vmkfstools -i thick.vmdk -d thin thin.vmdk

More conversion options are shown by running

vmkfstools --help

How to present a real disk to VM with help of vmkfstools

To achieve this, you will use vmkfstools command to create a vmdk file that points to the real disk. 1. List the target real disk

[root@mini:/vmfs/volumes] ls -la /vmfs/devices/disks/ | grep mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0
-rw-------    1 root     root     4000787029504 Jan 21 17:11 mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            20 Jan 21 17:11 vml.01000000004e41414231534a4a457870616e73 -> mpx.vmhba33:C0:T0:L0

2. Run the command to link a vmdk file to the real disk:

[root@mini:/vmfs/volumes] vmkfstools -z "/vmfs/devices/disks/vml.01000000004e41414231534a4a457870616e73" /vmfs/volumes/main/REAL_DISKS/disk_1.vmdk
[root@mini:/vmfs/volumes] 

3. Two files will be created on your designated path, as with a virtual vmdk file, as shown below:

[root@mini:/vmfs/volumes] ls -la /vmfs/volumes/main/REAL_DISKS/
total 1152
drwxr-xr-x    1 root     root         73728 Jan 21 17:11 .
drwxr-xr-t    1 root     root         73728 Jan 21 17:11 ..
-rw-------    1 root     root     4000787029504 Jan 21 17:11 disk_1-rdmp.vmdk
-rw-------    1 root     root           476 Jan 21 17:11 disk_1.vmdk

How to get ESXi version from command line with esxcli command:

[root@mini:~] esxcli system version get
   Product: VMware ESXi
   Version: 7.0.0
   Build: Releasebuild-16324942
   Update: 0
   Patch: 25

How to suppress ssh shell enabled warning:

[root@mini:~] esxcli system settings advanced set -o /UserVars/SuppressShellWarning -i 1