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Table Of Contents
- Command-Line Management in vSphere 5 and vSphere 6 for Service Console Users
VMware, Inc. 8
Command-Line Management in vSphere 5 and vSphere 6 for Service Console Users
To enable SSH access in the direct console
1AtthedirectconsoleoftheESXihost,pressF2andprovidecredentialswhenprompted.
2ScrolltoTroubleshootingOptions,andpressEnter.
3 SelectEnableSSHandpressEnteronce.
Ontheleft,EnableSSHchangestoDisableSSH.Ontheright,SSHisDisabledchangestoSSHis
Enabled.
4Press
Escuntilyoureturntothemaindirectconsolescreen.
YoucanenableremotecommandexecutionfromthevSphereClient.
To enable SSH from the vSphere Client
1 SelectthehostandclicktheConfigurationtab.
2ClickSecurityProfileintheSoftwarepanel.
3IntheServicessection,clickProperties.
4 SelectSSHandclickOptions.
5 ChangetheSSHoptions.
Totemporarilystartorstoptheservice,clicktheStartorStopbutton.
ToenableSSHpermanently,clickStartandstopwithhost.Thechangetakeseffectthenexttimeyou
rebootthehost.
6ClickOK.
AfteryouhaveenabledSSH,youcanuseanSSHclienttologintotheESXiShellandrunESXiShell
commands.
Accessing the ESXi Shell with SSH
IfSSHisenabledonyourESXihost,youcanuseanSSHclienttoruncommandsonthatshell.
To access the ESXi Shell with SSH
1OpenanSSHclient.
2SpecifytheIPaddressordomainnameoftheESXihost.
PrecisedirectionsvarydependingontheSSHclientyouuse.Seevendordocumentationandsupport.
3Providecredentialswhenprompted.
ESXi Shell Commands
TheESXiShellincludesseveralsetsofcommands.
Table 1. ESXi Shell Commands
Command Set Description
ESXCLIcommands AlargesetofnewESXCLIcommandssupportsmanyadministrativetasks.Thecommandsare
fullysupportedandtestedbyVMwareandincludecommand-linehelp.SeeGettingStartedwith
vSphereCommand‐LineInterfaces.
esxcfg-commands Theesxcfg- commandsavailableintheserviceconsolearedeprecated.Thecommandswill
beremovedfrom
theESXiShellinafuturerelease.See“ReferencetoReplacementsforService
ConsoleCommands”onpage 13.