Command

[mdamda]

I am new to vmware, I want to learn the command lines.

To manage vcenter we use PowerCLI which is a software to be installed and we can manage vcenter and esxi hosts using this powercli

To manage esxi hosts we can also use SSH client putty. Am i right? Wht else we have more.

I want to shutdown all virtual machines by login to esxi console, Please provide me the command and how to run on the esxi console.

[jpsider]

‌im not sure I understand your question Completely.

yes, you can use SSH if that is enabled on the Esx host. I don't recommend this.

i Do recommend powercli.

do you want to power off the vm's or shutdown the vm's?

[mdamda]

Shutdown the virtual machines,

[jpsider]

Here is a quick and dirty script. You will need to enter your esx host/vcenter login information.

Be aware, this will shutdown any and all vm's on that host. No confirmation required.

connect-viserver <esxhost> <login info>
$vms = get-vm
foreach ($vm in $vms){
  write-host Shutting down $vm
  Shutdown-VMGuest $vm -Confirm:$false
}

[rdtechie]

Or do it like this, assuming you are already connected to a ESXi host, and by using the PowerShell pipeline (requesting only VM's which are powered on):

Get-VM | Where-Object -FilterScript { $_.PowerState -eq 'PoweredOn' } | Stop-VMGuest -WhatIf -Confirm:$false -Verbose

[jpsider]

Be careful with "Stop-VMGuest" as it may not "gracefully" shutdown the Guest vm. But I agree that checking to see if the vm is powered on first could save you some time.

[rdtechie]

Stop-VMGuest is just an alias to Shutdown-VMGuest. So this behaviour should also be in Shutdown-VMGuest, or isn't?

[jpsider]

crap, I missed the guest piece. I guess I only saw stop-vm. Sorry.

[rdtechie]

No need to say sorry. We're all in the communities to learn. I learn everyday. Thanks!

[mdamda]

Can i run these command by login directly to ESXi console rather than using ssh client (putty)

[jpsider]

No, The commands we are referencing are for powercli.

If you want to use cmd line from esx, whether it be the console or ssh.  Here is a helpful article:

VMware KB: Powering off an unresponsive virtual machine on an ESX host

[mdamda]

Thanks alot for the info.

I want to shutdown all the VMs on all the ESXi hosts. I have copied Virtual machine names in a text file so that i want them in the order to be shutdown.

Will the below powercli command  work for me.(I cannot test as i dont have testing environment)

$VMs = Get-Content C:\VMList.txt

Foreach ($VM in $VMs)

{       

  Shutdown-VMGuest $VM -Confirm:$false

   Write-Host "$VM Shutdown initiated"

}

In the same way after powering on the ESXi hosts also i want my virtual machines to poweron in order.

$VMs = Get-Content C:\VMList.txt

Foreach ($VM in $VMs)

{    

   Start-VM $VM -Confirm:$false -RunAsync

    Write-Host "$VM Start initiated"

}

[rdtechie]

You can do this ( Stop-VMGuest takes in a VMGuest object 😞

Get-Content C:\VMList.txt | Foreach-Object -Process { Stop-VMGuest ( Get-VM $_ ) -Confirm:$false -Verbose }

-RunAsync is not ment for running the Cmdlet in a particular order; it just executes the command without waiting for result to come back.

I guess, if you want to process in a particular order, I think this will work. You  have to put the server names in a csv file; then you can use sort-object to define the order, like this:

Content of your VMlist.csv file:

Number,Name
01,server1
02,server2
03,server3
04,server4
05,server5
06,server6
07,server7
08,server8
09,server9
10,server10

Then you can run this command:

Import-Csv C:\VMlist.csv | Sort-Object Number | Foreach-Object -Process { Stop-VMGuest ( Get-VM $_.Name ) -Verbose }

If you want to change the order of the servers, just change the server name behind the number in VMlist.csv.

Let me know if it works.