How to Control ESXi virtual machine from a command line
Make sure SSH is enabled on the ESXi:
At the console of the ESXi host, press ALT-F1 to access the console window.
2) Enter unsupported in the console and then press Enter. You will not see the text you type in.
3) If you typed in unsupported correctly, you will see the Tech Support Mode warning and a password prompt. Enter the password for the root login.
4) You should then see the prompt of ~ #. Edit the file inetd.conf (enter the command vi /etc/inetd.conf).
5) Find the line that begins with #ssh and remove the #. Then save the file. If you’re new to using vi, then move the cursor down to #ssh line and then press the Insert key. Move the cursor over one space and then hit backspace to delete the #. Then press ESC and type in :wq to save the file and exit vi. If you make a mistake, you can press the ESC key and then type it :q! to quit vi without saving the file.
6) Once you’ve closed the vi editor, run the command /sbin/services.sh restart to restart the management services. You’ll now be able to connect to the ESXi host with a SSH client.
Then SSH to the host using Putty
The basic command to control the virtual machines is
vim-cmd vmsvc/
To manage a virtual machine you need get its ID, run:
vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
To get a summary of the machine run:
vim-cmd vmsvc/get.summary [ID]
To power on a VM run:
vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on [ID]
To power off a VM run
vim-cmd vmsvc/power.off [ID]
To suspend a VM run
vim-cmd vmsvc/power.suspend [ID]
