VM VMware VMwareCLI
Some useful NSX CLI commands:

System related:

  • ESXi build and version numbers
    esxcli system version get
  • Show hostname:
    hostname
  • Show host IP address:
    hostname -i
  • date and time of when ESXi was installed.
    esxcli system stats installtime get
  • command to put ESXi in maintenance mode or take it out
    esxcli system maintenanceMode set –enable true
  • Use this command to reboot or shutdown ESXi. The -d parameter is a countdown timer; minimum 10 seconds. ESXi must be in maintenance mode before you can use the command.
    esxcli system shutdown reboot -d 10 -r “Patch Updates”
  • To display the current parameters state of particular module:
    esxcli system module parameters list -m ixgben
  • check disk space on esxi:
    vdf -h

Storage section:

  • The command generates a list of extents for each volume as well as the corresponding device name to UUID mapping
    esxcli storage vmfs extent list
  • The command lists of all the volumes or datastores accessible by the ESXi host.
    esxcli storage filesystem list

iSCSI section:

  • Print the mappings between vmhba names and /dev names (Print HBA devices with identifying information)
    esxcfg-scsidevs -a
  • Print the mappings between vmhba names and /dev names (Print mappings for VMFS volumes to their Service Console partitions and vmhba names.)
    esxcfg-scsidevs -m | wc -l
  • check ...
    vmkchdev -l
  • check...
    esxcli iscsi software get
  • List of iSCSI adaptors, UID and states:
    esxcli software adaptor list


  • To verify that the local iSCSI initiator has been able to connect to a certain iSCSI SAN we could filter for the TCP/3260 (default port for iSCSI Target) :
    esxcli network ip connection list | grep 3260
  • Configuring monitoring using esxtop to monitor storage performance per HBA:
    esxtop -> f (to modify fields) -> Press b, c, d, e, h, and j to toggle the fields and press Enter. -> s and 2 (to change update time)

esxcfg-mpath -b

esxcli storage core device list -d naa.xxxxxxxxxxxx

esxcli storage vmfs lockmode list

esxcli system settings advanced list --option /VMFS3/HardwareAcceleratedLocking

Network section:

  • Show IP addresse for all vmk's:
    esxcfg-vmknic -l

less vobd.log

esxcli network ip connections list | grep 1234

  • Show all vmnic's settings:
    esxcfg-nics -l
  • Show extended vmnic settings:
    esxcli network nic get -n vmnic1
  • Show all vitrual switches
    esxcfg-vswitch -l
  • Check vmnic statistic:
    esxcli network nic stats get -n vmnic2
  • Displays the IPv4 configuration for all the interfaces present on ESXi
    esxcli network ip interface ipv4 get

Network section (vsish):

  • Show statistic on card:
    cd /net/pNics/vmknic5
    cat stats

Other sections:

  • Search in archived logs (.gz):
    zcat vmkernel.*.gz | less
    zcat vmkernel.0.gz | head
    zcat vmkernel.0.gz | grep -i sence | egrep -v "0x5 0x20|0x4 0x24"

zcat vobd.*.gz | grep -i 

vmware -vl

VIB sections:

  • Show installed VIBs: esxcli software vib list
  • Uninstall VIBs: esxcli software vib remove -n nsx-nsxv
  • Install VIBs: esxcli software vib install -v /vmfs/volume/BronseNFS/install/VMware_bootbank_esx-nsxv_6.5.0-0.0.85...vib 
  • Upgrade VIBs: esxcli software vib updrade -v /vmfs/volume/BronseNFS/install/VMware_bootbank_esx-nsxv_6.5.0-0.0.85...vib

Software sections:

  • Show module version:
    vmkload_mod -s bnx2i | grep Version

Packet capture:

pktcap-uw --vmk vmk0 --dir 1 -o /tmp/CAPTURE.pcap
pktcap-uw --uplink vmnic3 --dir 1 -o /tmp/CAPTURE.pcap
pktcap-uw --switchport 50331657 --dir 1 -o /tmp/CAPTURE.pcap

Capture dropped packets:
pktcap-uw --capture Drop --uplink vmnic7 --dir 0 -o /vmfs/volumes/XXX/tmp/CAPdc1vesx008vmnic7_in_d

NSX related sections:

Virtual Machine related sections:

  • Lists all the running VMs on the hosts. The World ID can be used with other commands to carry out various tasks related to VMs
    esxcli vm process list