Basic vmware-cmd VM Management tips
Posted by Planet Malaysia on August 18, 2008
Sometimes using a command line is much more faster than using GUI. Personally I found VMware Virtual Center always have bugs. The following article will guide you how to use vmware-cmd VM management tool for some basic VMware administrative tasks.
The figure below illustrates states, transitions, and state changing commands for virtual machines.

List path and names of registered VM guest vmx files on the present host
For an example:
# vmware-cmd -l
/vmfs/volumes/473ddda7-2a53d446-x25b-001aa0288d45/SLES9/SLES9.vmx
/vmfs/volumes/473ddd52-a6f731ac-3125-001aa0288d45/SLES10/SLES10.vmx
/vmfs/volumes/473dde07-d8a0f854-rqqa-001aa0288d45/WIN2K3-01/WIN2K3-01.vmx
/vmfs/volumes/473dde07-d8a0f854-eqqa-001aa0288d45/WIN2K3-02/WIN2K3-02.vmx
/vmfs/volumes/47f0819a-9f092588-548c-0015174a435a/WIN2K8-01/WIN2K8-01.vmx
/vmfs/volumes/473daqws-2a53d446-625x-001aa0288d45/WINXP-01/WINXP-01.vmx
VMware ESX provide basic power state options include:
Power on — Powers up the virtual machine and boots the guest operating system if the guest operating system is installed. How to power on VM guest using command line:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473dde07-d8a0f854-rqqa-001aa0288d45/WIN2K3-01/WIN2K3-01.vmx start
Power off — Powers down the virtual machine. The virtual machine does not attempt to gracefully shut down the guest operating system. How to power off VM guest using command line:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473dde07-d8a0f854-rqqa-001aa0288d45/WIN2K3-01/WIN2K3-01.vmx stop
Suspend — Pauses the virtual machine activity. All transactions are frozen until you issue a Resume command. How to suspend VM guest using command line:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473ddda7-2a53d446-x25b-001aa0288d45/SLES9/SLES9.vmx suspend
Resume — Allows virtual machine activity to continue, and releases the Suspended state. How to resume VM guest using command line:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473ddda7-2a53d446-x25b-001aa0288d45/SLES9/SLES9.vmx resume
Reset —Powers down the virtual machine and restarts it. How to reset VM guest using command line:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473dde07-d8a0f854-rqqa-001aa0288d45/WIN2K3-01/WIN2K3-01.vmx reset
How to check VM guest power state
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473dde07-d8a0f854-rqqa-001aa0288d45/WIN2K3-01/WIN2K3-01.vmx getstate
How to create VM snapshot using command line:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473ddda7-2a53d446-x25b-001aa0288d45/SLES9/SLES9.vmx createsnapshot SLES9_1 SLES9_First_Snapshot
Note:
Quiesce will quiesce file system writes
Memory will grab the memory state
How to Revert Snapshot using command line:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473ddda7-2a53d446-x25b-001aa0288d45/SLES9/SLES9.vmx revertsnapshot
How to Remove Snapshot using command line:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473ddda7-2a53d446-x25b-001aa0288d45/SLES9/SLES9.vmx removesnapshots
How to query if VM has a snapshot:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/473ddda7-2a53d446-x25b-001aa0288d45/SLES9/SLES9.vmx hassnapshot
How to register VM guest into inventory:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd -s register /vmfs/volumes/47f0819a-9f092588-548c-0015174a435a/WIN2K8-01/WIN2K8-01
How to unregister VM guest into inventory:
#/usr/bin/vmware-cmd -s unregister /vmfs/volumes/47f0819a-9f092588-548c-0015174a435a/WIN2K8-01/WIN2K8-01
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