Using the ESXi command line to start, stop, and destroy guests

Now that we are able to create and amend our VMs, it's time to look at some of the more basic management tasks; that is, how we stop, start, and destroy them. This is especially useful to know in a command line, as it opens up the possibility to use scripting to manage the lifecycle of a VMware guest.

Getting ready

You will need an ESXi host with SSH access and a VMware guest that is ready to be started.

How to do it…

Let's use the ESXi command to start or stop a virtual machine:

  1. Before we start or stop a virtual machine, we should first ascertain its current state. This can be done using the following command on the ESXi host:
    esxclivm process list

    Tip

    You can find further details of the ...

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