Vsphere Command Line For Managing Networking

Front 1

Networking Using vSphere Standard Switches:
Uplink adapter management

Back 1

Uplink adapters represent the physical switches the ESXi host uses to connect to the network.

You can manage uplink adapters using the vCLI commands:

esxcli network nic
or
vicfg-nics

Front 2

Networking Using vSphere Standard Switches: Standard switch management

Back 2

Each uplink adapter is connected to a standard switch. You can manage a standard switch and associate it with uplink adapters using the vCLI commands:

esxcli network vswitch
or
vicfg-vswitch

Front 3

Networking Using vSphere Standard Switches:
Port group management

Back 3

Associated with the standard switch are port groups. Port group is a unique concept in the virtual environment. You can configure port groups to enforce policies that provide enhanced networking security, network segmentation, better performance, high availability, and traffic management.

You can use these vCLI commands to associate a standard switch with a port group:

esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup
or
vicfg-vswitch

You can use these vCLI commands to associate a port group with a VMkernel network interface:

esxcli network ip interface
or
vicfg-vmknic

Front 4

Networking Using vSphere Standard Switches: VMkernel network interface management

Back 4

The VMkernel TCP/IP networking stack supports iSCSI, NFS, and vMotion, and has an associated VMkernel network interface.

You configure VMkernel network interfaces with vCLI commands:

esxcli network ip interface
or
vicfg-vmknic

Separate VMkernel network interfaces are often used for separate tasks, for example, you might devote one VMkernel Network Interface card to vMotion only.

Virtual machines run their own systems' TCP/IP stacks and connect to the VMkernel at the Ethernet level through virtual switches.

Front 5

Networking Using vSphere Distributed Switches: Managing a distributed switch

Back 5

You create a distributed switch using the vSphere Client UI, but can manage some aspects of a distributed switch with: vicfg-vswitch

You can list distributed virtual switches with the command: esxcli network vswitch

Front 6

Retrieving Basic Network Information: List VMkernel ports

Back 6

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface list

Front 7

Retrieving Basic Network Information: Get IPv4 addresses

Back 7

Return list of IPv4 addresses on VMkernel NICs:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface ipv4 get

Alternatively, to get an IPv4 address by a specific VMkernel adapter:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface ipv4 get -n vmk<X>

Front 8

Retrieving Basic Network Information: Get IPv6 addresses

Back 8

Return list of IPv6 addresses on VMkernel NICs:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface ipv6 address list

Return information on interface IPv6 status:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface ipv6 get

Alternatively, to get an IPv6 address by a specific VMkernel adapter:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface ipv6 get -n vmk<X>

Front 9

Retrieving Basic Network Information: netstat equivalent

Back 9

To return an output similar to the Linux netstat command, use the following ESXCLI command:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip connection list

Front 10

Retrieving Information about Virtual Switches with ESXCLI: List virtual switches

Back 10

List all virtual switches and associated port groups:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard list

Front 11

Retrieving Information about Virtual Switches with ESXCLI: List the network policy settings

Back 11

List the network policy settings (security policy, traffic shaping policy, and failover policy) for the virtual switch. The following commands are supported:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard policy failover get

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard policy security get

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard policy shaping get

Front 12

Retrieving Information about Virtual Switches with vicfg: List virtual switches

Back 12

List all virtual switches and associated port groups:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> -l

Front 13

Retrieving Information about Virtual Switches with vicfg: Check whether a vSwitch exists

Back 13

Check whether a vSwitch (vSwitch 1 in this example) exists:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> -c vSwitch1

Front 14

Retrieving Information about Virtual Switches with vicfg: Retrieve the current CDP

Back 14

Retrieve the current CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol) setting for a virtual switch (vSwitch 1 in this example):

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --get-cdp vSwitch1

Front 15

Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with ESXCLI: Add a virtual switch

Back 15

Add a virtual switch:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard add
--vswitch-name=<vswitch name>

You can also specify the number or ports while adding the virtual switch. If you do not specify a value, the default value is used. The system-wide port count cannot be greater than 4096:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard add
--vswitch-name=<vswitch name>
--ports=<port number>

Front 16

Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with ESXCLI: Delete a virtual switch

Back 16

Delete a virtual switch:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard remove
--vswitch-name=<vswitch name>

Front 17

Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with vicfg: Add a virtual switch

Back 17

Add a virtual switch:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --add <vswitch name>

Front 18

Adding and Deleting Virtual Switches with vicfg: Remove a virtual switch

Back 18

Delete a virtual switch:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --delete <vswitch name>

Front 19

Setting Switch Attributes with ESXCLI:
Set the MTU for a vSwitch

Back 19

Set the MTU for a vSwitch:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard set
--mtu=<mtu value> --vswitch-name=<vswitch name>

Front 20

Setting Switch Attributes with ESXCLI:
Set the CDP value for a swtich

Back 20

Set the CDP value for a vSwitch. You can set status to "down", "listen", "advertise" or "both":

esxcli <conn_options> network switch standard set
--cdp-status=<down | listen | advertise | both>
--vswitch-name=<vswitch name>

Front 21

Setting Switch Attributes with vicfg:
Set the MTU for a vSwitch

Back 21

Set the MTU for a vSwitch:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> -m
<mtu value> <vswitch name>

Front 22

Setting Switch Attributes with vicfg:
Set the CDP value for a vSwitch

Back 22

Set the CDP value for a vSwitch. You can set status to "down", "listen", "advertise" or "both":

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --set-cdp
<down | listen | advertise | both>

Front 23

Managing Port Groups with ESXCLI:
List port groups

Back 23

List port groups currently associated with a virtual switch:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup list

Front 24

Managing Port Groups with ESXCLI:
Add a port group

Back 24

Add a port group:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup add --portgroup-name=<pg name>
--vswitch-name=<vswitch name>

Front 25

Managing Port Groups with ESXCLI:
Delete a port group

Back 25

Delete one of the existing port groups:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup remove --portgroup-name=<pg name>
--vswitch-name=<vswitch name>

Front 26

Managing Port Groups with vicfg:
Check port group

Back 26

Check whether port groups are currently associated with a virtual switch:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --check-pg <pg name <vswitch name>

Front 27

Managing Port Groups with vicfg:
Add a port group

Back 27

Add a port group:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --add-pg <pg name> <vswitch name>

Front 28

Managing Port Groups with vicfg:
Delete a port group

Back 28

Delete one of the existing port groups:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --del-pg <pg name> <vswitch name>

Front 29

Managing Uplink Adapter and Port Groups with ESXCLI: Connect a port group with an uplink adapter

Back 29

Connect a port group with an uplink adapter:

excli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup policy failover set
--active-uplinks=<vmnicX, vmnicX, vmnicX>

Front 30

Managing Uplink Adapter and Port Groups with ESXCLI: Change uplink adapters to standby

Back 30

To make some of the adapters standby instead of active:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup policy failover set
--standby-uplinks=<vmnicX, vmnicX, vmnicX>

Front 31

Managing Uplink Adapter and Port Groups with vicfg: Connect a port group with an uplink adapter

Back 31

Connect a port group with an uplink adapter:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --add-pg-uplink <adapter name> --pg <pg name> <vswitch name>

Front 32

Managing Uplink Adapter and Port Groups with vicfg: Remove a port group from an uplink adapter

Back 32

Remove a port group from an uplink adapter:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --del-pg-uplink
<adapter name> --pg <pg name> <vswitch name>

Front 33

Setting a Port Group VLAN ID with ESXCLI

Back 33

Configure a VLAN on a port group:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup set -p <pg name> --vlan-id <vlan ID>

Note: you can set the VLAN to 4095 to allow a port group to reach port groups located on other VLANs, or set the VLAN to 0 to disable the VLAN for this port group:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup set -p <pg_name> --vlan-id 4095

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard portgroup set -p <pg_name> --vlan-id 0

Front 34

Setting a Port Group VLAN ID with vicfg

Back 34

Configure a VLAN on a port group:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --vlan <vlan ID> --pg <pg name>

Note: you can set the VLAN to 4095 to allow a port group to reach port groups located on other VLANs, or set the VLAN to 0 to disable the VLAN for this port group:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --vlan 4095 --pg <pg name>

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --vlan 0 --pg <pg name>

Front 35

Managing Uplink Adapters with ESXCLI: List all uplinks

Back 35

List all uplinks and information about each device:

esxcli <conn_options> network nic list

Front 36

Managing Uplink Adapters with ESXCLI:
Bring down an uplink adapter

Back 36

Bring down one of the uplink adapters:

esxcli <conn_options> network nic down
--nic-name=<vmnic name>

Front 37

Managing Uplink Adapters with ESXCLI:
Bring up an uplink adapter

Back 37

Bring an uplink adapter up:

esxcli <conn_options> network nic up
--nic-name=<vmnic name>

Front 38

Managing Uplink Adapters with ESXCLI:
Change uplink adapter settings

Back 38

Change uplink adapter settings:

esxcli <conn_options> network nic set <options>
--nic-name=<vmnic name>

Front 39

Managing Uplink Adapters with vicfg: List all uplinks

Back 39

List all uplinks and information about each device:

vicfg-nics <conn_options> -l

Front 40

Managing Uplink Adapters with vicfg:
Change uplink adapter settings

Back 40

Change uplink adapter settings:

vicfg-nics <conn_options> <options> <vmnic name>

Front 41

Linking and Unlinking Uplink Adapters with ESXCLI:
Add a new uplink adapter to a virtual switch

Back 41

Add a new adapter to a virtual switch:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard uplink add --uplink-name=<vmnic name>
vswitch-name=<vswitch name>

Front 42

Linking and Unlinking Uplink Adapters with ESXCLI:
Remove an uplink adapter from a virtual switch

Back 42

Remove an uplink adapter from a virtual switch:

esxcli <conn_options> network vswitch standard uplink remove --uplink-name=<vmnic name>
vswitch-name=<vswitch name>

Front 43

Linking and Unlinking Adapters with vicfg:
Add a new uplink adapter to a virtual switch

Back 43

Add a new uplink adapter to a virtual switch:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --link <vmnic name> <vswitch name>

Front 44

Linking and Unlinking Adapters with vicfg:
Remove an uplink adapter from a virtual switch

Back 44

Remove an uplink adapter from a virtual switch:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --unlink <vmnic name> <vswitch name>

Front 45

Managing VMkernel Network Interfaces with ESXCLI:
Add a new VMkernel network interface

Back 45

Add a new VMkernel network interface:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface add
--interface-name=vmk<x>
--portgroup-name=<pg name>

Front 46

Managing VMkernel Network Interfaces with ESXCLI:
Configure VMkernel network interface as an IPv4 interface

Back 46

Configure the interface as an IPv4 interface:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface ipv4 set
--ip=<ipv4 address>
--netmask=<255.255.255.0>
--interface-name=vmk<x>

Front 47

Managing VMkernel Network Interfaces with ESXCLI:
List information about all VMkernel network interfaces

Back 47

List information about all VMkernel network interfaces on the system:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip interface list

Front 48

Setting Up vSphere Networking with vSphere Distributed Switch: Add an uplink port

Back 48

Add an uplink port:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --add-dvp-uplink <adapter name> --dvp <DVPort ID> <dvswitch_name>

Front 49

Setting Up vSphere Networking with vSphere Distributed Switch: Remove an uplink port

Back 49

Remove an uplink port:

vicfg-vswitch <conn_options> --del-dvp-uplink <adapter name> --dvp <DVPort ID> <dvswitch name>

Front 50

Setting the DNS configuration with ESXCLI:
Print a list of DNS servers

Back 50

Print a list of DNS servers configured on the system in the order in which they will be used:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip dns server list

If DNS is not set up for the target server, the command returns an empty string.

Front 51

Setting the DNS configuration with ESXCLI:
Add a DNS server to an ESXi host

Back 51

Add a DNS server:

esxcli <conn_options> network ip dns server add
--server=<ipv4 address>

Run the command multiple times to specify multiple DNS hosts.

Front 52

Setting the DNS configuration with ESXCLI:
Configure the DNS host name for an ESXi host

Back 52

Configure the DNS host name for an ESXi host:

esxcli <conn_options> system hostname set
--host=<host name>

Front 53

Setting the DNS configuration with ESXCLI:
Configure the DNS domain name for an ESXi host

Back 53

Configure the DNS domain name for an ESXi host :

esxcli <conn_options> system hostname
--domain=<domain name>

Front 54

Setting the DNS configuration with vicfg:
Print a list of DNS servers

Back 54

Display DNS properties for the specified server:

vicfg-dns <conn_options>

Front 55

Setting the DNS configuration with vicfg:
Add a DNS server to an ESXi host

Back 55

Add a DNS server to an ESXi host:

vicfg-dns <conn_options> --dns <dns server 1>

To add multiple DNS servers to a host, use a comma-separated list of hosts, in order of preference:

vicfg-dns <conn_options> --dns <dns server 1, dns server 2>

Front 56

Setting the DNS configuration with vicfg:
Configure the DNS host name for an ESXi host

Back 56

Configure the DNS host name for an ESXi host:

vicfg-dns <conn_options> -n <dns host name>

Front 57

Setting the DNS configuration with vicfg:
Configure the DNS domain name for an ESXi host

Back 57

Configure the DNS domain name for an ESXi host:

vicfg-dns <conn_options> -d <domain name>

Front 58

Adding and Starting an NTP Server: Add an NTP server to an ESXi host

Back 58

Add an NTP server to an ESXi host:

vicfg-ntp <conn_options> --add
<ip address/host name of NTP server>

Front 59

Adding and Starting an NTP Server: Start the NTP service

Back 59

Start the NTP service:

vicfg-ntp <conn_options> --start

Front 60

Adding and Starting an NTP Server: List the NTP service

Back 60

List the NTP service:

vicfg-ntp <conn_options> --list

Front 61

Adding and Starting an NTP Server: Stop the NTP service

Back 61

Stop the NTP service:

vicfg-ntp <conn_options> --stop

Front 62

Adding and Starting an NTP Server: Remove the NTP server from an ESXi host

Back 62

Remove the specified NTP server from an ESXi host:

vicfg-ntp <conn_options> --delete
<ip address/host name of NTP server>

Front 63

Managing the IP Gateway: Add a route entry

Back 63

Add a route entry to the VMkernel:

vicfg-route <conn_options> --add <network ip> <netmask ip> <gateway ip>

Front 64

Managing the IP Gateway: List route entries

Back 64

List route entries (run command without options):

vicfg-route <conn_options>

Front 65

Managing the IP Gateway: Set the default gateway

Back 65

Set the default gateway:

vicfg-route <conn_options> -a default <gateway ip>

Front 66

Managing the IP Gateway: Delete a route

Back 66

Delete a route:

vicfg-route <conn_options> --delete <network ip> <netmask ip> <gateway ip>

Front 67

ESXi Firewall Management with ESXCLI:
Check firewall status

Back 67

Check firewall status:

esxcli <conn_options> network firewall get

Front 68

ESXi Firewall Management with ESXCLI:
Check ruleset status

Back 68

Check sshServer ruleset status (example: sshServer):

esxcli <conn_options> network firewall ruleset list
--ruleset-id sshServer

Front 69

ESXi Firewall Management with ESXCLI:
Enable ruleset

Back 69

Enable sshServer ruleset (example: sshServer):

esxcli <conn_options> network firewall ruleset set
--ruleset-id sshServer --enabled true

Front 70

ESXi Firewall Management with ESXCLI:
Display the list of allowed IPs for ruleset

Back 70

Display the list of allowed IP addresses for a ruleset (example: sshServer):

esxcli <conn_options> network firewall ruleset allowedip list --ruleset-id sshServer

Front 71

ESXi Firewall Management with ESXCLI:
Change the status of allowedAll flag

Back 71

Set the status of the allowedAll flag to false on a ruleset (example: sshServer):

esxcli <conn_options> network firewall ruleset set
--ruleset-id sshServer --allowed-all false

Front 72

ESXi Firewall Management with ESXCLI:
Add a list of allowed IP addresses for a ruleset

Back 72

Add a list of allowed IP addresses for a ruleset:

esxcli <conn_options> network firewall ruleset allowedip add --ruleset-id sshServer
--ip-address <single ip address, or subnet>