I’ve been using VMWare ESX 3.5 for a while now, and whilst pretty much all configuration can be performed using the Virtual Infrastructure Client, there are a few configuration changes that I’ve come across that need to be performed from the command line. These configuration commands are generally prefixed with ‘esxcfg-’, and there are quite a few of them. They appear to be largely (publicly) undocumented by VMWare (especially if you dont like sifting through man pages), but I came across an excellent break-down of these commands by the consultants & trainers at Taupo Consulting.

For example:

• esxcfg-advcfg – Get/Set Advanced Configuration (e.g. modify ‘EnableResignature’)
• esxcfg-firewall – Modify the iptables firewall configuration
• esxcfg-module – View and set options for start-up of the VMkernel modules (drivers)
• esxcfg-vswitch – List, add, modify or delete virtual Ethernet switches
• esxcfg-info – Information about the host
• esxcfg-boot – Configure the GRUB options presented at boot time
• esxcfg-vmknic – View and set configuration of the VMkernel ports on virtual Ethernet switches

….and many more, with full descriptions and usage examples.

They also mention many of the configuration files and their locations, along with some popular Linux commands for those unfamiliar with working at the Linux command line. Definitely worth a bookmark if you administer ESX hosts.