List of most common VMware ESXi SSH/CLI commands

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Below is a list of most common CLI commands for VMWare ESXi. Type these in directly in an ESXi or SSH shell.
vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
List all VMs running on the host. Also provides
vmid, required for commands below.
vim-cmd vmsvc/power.off vmid
Power off specified VM.
vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on vmid
Power off specified VM.
vim-cmd vmsvc/power.reboot vmid
Reboot specified VM.
vim-cmd solo/registervm /vmfs/volume/datastore/subdir/vm-file.vmx
Register the VM stored at location on the ESX
host inventory.
vim-cmd vmsvc/unregister vmid
Unregister VM from the host. Does not remove
the VM's files from the datastore.
vim-cmd vmsvc/destroy vmid
Delete the specified VM. The VMDK and VMX files
will be deleted from storage as well.
vim-cmd vmsvc/tools.install vmid
Initiates an installation of VMWare Tools on the VM
vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_enter
Put the host into maintenance mode.
vim-cmd hostsvc/maintenance_mode_exit
Take the host out of maintenance mode.
vim-cmd hostsvc/net/info
Show networking information of the host.
chkconfig -l
Show services running on the host. Can also be 
used to change startup configuration.
esxtop
Display list of processes and its usage of 
resources. Works similar to linux top.
esxcfg-info
Show host's configuration and information.
esxcfg-nics -l
Show current NIC configuration.
esxcfg-vswitch -l
Show current vSwitch configuration.
vmkerrcode -l
Display a reference list of VMKernel return codes
 and descriptions.
dcui
Start the console UI (when accessing through SSH).
vsish
Run the VMWare Interactive Shell (from SSH).
decodeSel /var/log/ipmi_sel.raw
Read IPMI system log of physical server.
Replace path with the full path and file name of a VMX-file (= configuration file of a VM). Replace vmid with the value you retrieved from the getallvms command (first one in the table).

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