remote file and command access command line

[notRoman]

This is a basic question. Can anyone tell me how or if it's possible to get access to multiple file systems from one interface or run commands? For example, I need to replace the ntp.conf file on several servers and then run a restart command for the NTP service--I need to change it to use version 3, which can't be done from the GUI. I can use WinSCP to replace the file and then use putty to run the command. But, then I have to log on to each of these ESXi 5.1U1 machines separately. I'd like to do something like what I can do with PowerCLI commands where I can run a script to do all of this at once from one place rather than opening separate windows for every operation and doing everything manually.

[Scisco]

Hi NotRoman,

I have not used this, but it sounds the part.

http://vmwaremine.com/2013/01/08/cool-tools-execute-shell-commands-remotely-on-esxi-host/#sthash.BzS...

http://www.v-front.de/2013/01/release-esxcli-plugin-to-run-arbitrary.html

[notRoman]

Great, now I just need to learn esxcli/vSphere CLI or whatever it's called. lol  Not the easiest thing, but if this plugin works, it does appear to be claiming to do what I wanted.

Ok, looking further, this will require installs which management may not allow. Well, too bad if that's the case. It's great that someone did this. It seems like a strange design in the first place that to read logs, investigate snapshot file errors, make certain configuration edits, etc., one must logon to each machine one at a time. What if you have 32 host servers? Maybe I'm just ignorant of some additional VMware products or something, or this just hardly ever happens. Seems like a major weakness of the product and architecture as I understand it though.