Troubleshoot VMware ESXi using commands
Introduction
If you’re a system administrator, then you know the importance of being able to troubleshoot problems quickly and efficiently. And if you’re working with VMware ESXi, then you know that the command line is often the best way to do this.
In this blog post, we’ll show you some of the most useful commands for troubleshooting VMware ESXi. We’ll cover everything from checking system information to looking at running processes and more. By the end of this post, you’ll be a pro at using the command line to troubleshoot your VMware ESXi system.
Basic troubleshooting
If you are troubleshooting a VMware ESXi issue, there are a number of different commands that you can use to get more information about the problem. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most useful troubleshooting commands for VMware ESXi.
One of the first things you should do when troubleshooting an issue on VMware ESXi is to check the system logs. You can do this by running the command: esxcli system syslog config get.
This will show you all of the current syslog settings. If you see any errors or warnings in the log, it can give you a clue as to what might be causing your problem.
Another useful command is esxcli system maintenance mode set -e true.
This will enable maintenance mode on your system, which will allow you to make changes without affecting any running virtual machines. This can be helpful if you need to reboot your system or make other changes while troubleshooting.
If you are having problems with a particular virtual machine, you can use the command:
vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms
This will show you a list of all of the virtual machines on your system, along with their status and other information.
You can then use the command: vim-cmd vmsvc/power.getstate to get more information about a specific virtual machine’s power state.
If you are still having problems after trying these basic troubleshooting steps, you can check out the VMware Knowledge Base or contact VMware support.
Network Troubleshooting
If you’re troubleshooting a VMware ESXi issue, you can use a number of different commands to get more information about the problem. Some useful commands for troubleshooting include: esxtop, vmstats, vmkperf, and resxtop.
esxtop
Esxtop is a performance monitoring tool that can be used to check things like CPU, memory, and disk usage. It’s a great way to get an overview of what’s going on with your system. To use esxtop, simply type “esxtop” at the command line.
vmstats
Vmstats is another performance monitoring tool that can be used to gather information about your system. However, vmstats is focused specifically on virtual machines. To use vmstats, type “vmstats” at the command line.
vmkperf
Vmkperf is a performance measurement tool that can be used to collect data about various subsystems in VMware ESXi. To use vmkperf, type “vmkperf” at the command line.
resxtop
Resxtop is a resource utilization monitoring tool that can be used to check things like CPU and memory usage. It’s similar to esxtop but focuses specifically on resources being utilized by virtual machines. To use resxtop, type “resxtop” at the command line
Storage Troubleshooting
If you’re troubleshooting a storage issue with your VMware ESXi server, there are a few commands that can be helpful.
First, you can use the esxcli storage vmfs snapshot list command to see if there are any snapshots present on the VMFS volume. This can be helpful if you’re trying to determine if a storage issue is due to a snapshot.
Another useful command is esxcli storage core device list. This will show you all of the devices that are connected to the ESXi server, which can be helpful in identifying storage devices that may be causing issues.
Finally, the esxcli storage nmp device list command will show you information about all of the NMP-registered Storage Devices on the ESXi server. This can be useful in troubleshooting storage issues that may be related to NMP devices.
Advanced Troubleshooting
If you are having trouble with your VMware ESXi installation, there are a few things you can do to troubleshoot the problem. First, check the logs to see if there are any error messages. You can also try running the vm-support command to get more information about the problem.
If you still can’t figure out the issue, you can try booting into rescue mode. This will allow you to access the server’s filesystem so you can further troubleshoot the problem.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve looked at some of the most common problems that you might encounter when using VMware ESXi and how to troubleshoot them using various commands. We hope that this has been helpful in solving any issues you may have encountered. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask in the comments below.