vCLI vs PowerCLI vs vMA ?

[Rnutter0]

I am trying to learn more about how to work with vSphere and vCenter via command line.

Is vCLI best for vSphere/ESXi servers only ?

If you are running vCenter server, is PowerCLI the best way ?

I have also found vMA which is an appliance.  Is this the best of both worlds ?

Just trying to understand which is the best way to proceed.  I have been looking for a document that gives a clear direction and havent found anything.

Thanks,

Ron

[raog]

The vSphere CLI provides perl based tools that give the same functionality as the ESX console commands.

If you have VC and want to script up ESX hosts as well, powerCLI works great. Plus there is a great community here if you do get stuck at anything

From VMA, you can run commands against ESX / VCservers as if you are running commands on their shells. So stuff like esxli, esxcfg- commands etc can be run. Not powerCLI though.

What is the vSphere Management Assistant (vMA)? | VMware Support Insider - VMware Blogs

Regards

Girish

[kunaludapi]

There is little correction, get-esxcli cmdlets are available on powercli for esxcli.

[raog]

Yup thats right Kunal.. however, I meant the VMA cant run powerCLI.

Regards

Girish