There is also another set of CLI commands that start with esxcfg-*. Those commands are a little bit older but still very useful. They can be used from the ESXi host's shell or also via vMA and, in this case, they will start with vicfg-*.
In the following example, you see duplicated CLI for the same output as esxcli. Yes, any CLI duplicates esxcli.
We can show the same as with esxcli.
To see all the available commands, you can type esxcfg- followed by a double hit of the Tab button. You will be able to see all possible esxcfg- CLI commands:
[root@esxi1:~] esxcfg-
esxcfg-advcfg esxcfg-hwiscsi esxcfg-ipsec esxcfg-nas esxcfg-resgrp esxcfg-swiscsi esxcfg-vswitch
esxcfg-dumppart esxcfg-info esxcfg-module esxcfg-nics esxcfg-route esxcfg-vmknic
esxcfg-fcoe esxcfg-init esxcfg-mpath esxcfg-rescan esxcfg-scsidevs esxcfg-volume
Using the esxcfg-vmknic –l command, you can find all vmk IP address and netstack in an easier way compared to esxcli:
[root@esxi1:~] esxcfg-vmknic -l
Interface Port Group/DVPort/Opaque Network IP Family IP Address Netmask Broadcast MAC Address MTU TSO MSS Enabled Type NetStack
vmk0 Management Network IPv4 10.10.70.11 255.255.255.0 10.10.70.255 44:a8:42:22:a0:fe 1500 65535 true STATIC defaultTcpipStack
vmk0 Management Network IPv6 fe80::46a8:42ff:fe22:a0fe 64 44:a8:42:22:a0:fe 1500 65535 true STATIC, PREFERRED defaultTcpipStack
vmk3 IPSstorage IPv4 10.10.90.159 255.255.255.128 10.10.90.255 00:50:56:6e:57:64 1500 65535 true STATIC defaultTcpipStack
vmk3 IPSstorage IPv6 fe80::250:56ff:fe6e:5764 64 00:50:56:6e:57:64 1500 65535 true STATIC, PREFERRED defaultTcpipStack
vmk4 vmservice-vmknic-pg IPv4 169.254.1.1 255.255.255.0 169.254.1.255 00:50:56:6b:57:d4 1500 65535 true STATIC defaultTcpipStack
vmk4 vmservice-vmknic-pg IPv6 fe80::250:56ff:fe6b:57d4 64 00:50:56:6b:57:d4 1500 65535 true STATIC, PREFERRED defaultTcpipStack
vmk5 54 IPv4 10.10.70.222 255.255.255.0 10.10.70.255 00:50:56:62:0c:5d 9000 65535 true STATIC defaultTcpipStack
vmk5 54 IPv6 fe80::250:56ff:fe62:c5d 64 00:50:56:62:0c:5d 9000 65535 true STATIC, PREFERRED defaultTcpipStack
vmk7 VMkernel IPv4 169.254.3.169 255.255.0.0 169.254.255.255 00:50:56:66:e1:7a 1500 65535 true DHCP defaultTcpipStack
vmk7 VMkernel IPv6 fe80::250:56ff:fe66:e17a 64 00:50:56:66:e1:7a 1500 65535 true STATIC, PREFERRED defaultTcpipStack
vmk2 124 IPv4 10.200.10.10 255.255.255.0 10.200.10.255 00:50:56:66:2a:ef 9000 65535 true STATIC vxlan
vmk2 124 IPv6 fe80::250:56ff:fe66:2aef 64 00:50:56:66:2a:ef 9000 65535 true STATIC, PREFERRED vxlan
vmk6 16 IPv4 169.254.36.156 255.255.0.0 169.254.255.255 00:50:56:61:ba:8d 9000 65535 true DHCP Mastering_Stack
vmk6 16 IPv6 fe80::250:56ff:fe61:ba8d 64 00:50:56:61:ba:8d 9000 65535 true STATIC, PREFERRED Mastering_Stack
vmk1 61 IPv4 10.200.10.12 255.255.255.0 10.200.10.255 00:50:56:63:8d:20 9000 0 false STATIC vxlan
Next, a very good CLI to use is esxcfg-vswitch –l, which lists all vswitch and vDS:
[root@esxi1:~] esxcfg-vswitch -l
Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks
vSwitch0 4352 10 128 1500 vmnic0
PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks
VM Network 0 6 vmnic0
Management Network 0 1 vmnic0
Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks
vSwitch1 4352 4 128 1500 vmnic1
PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks
IPSstorage 0 1 vmnic1
Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks
vmservice-vswitch 4352 3 16 1500
PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks
vmservice-vshield-pg 0 1
vmservice-vmknic-pg 0 1
Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks
vSwitch2 4352 1 128 1500
PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks
Space 0 0
Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks
Mastering_New_vSS 4352 5 1024 1500 vmnic2,vmnic3
PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks
VLAN100 100 0 vmnic2,vmnic3
Switch Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks
vSwitch3 4352 2 128 1500
PortGroup Name VLAN ID Used Ports Uplinks
VMkernel 0 1
DVS Name Num Ports Used Ports Configured Ports MTU Uplinks
DSwitch-SDN10GB 4352 21 512 9000 vmnic5,vmnic4
DVPort ID In Use Client
8 0
9 0
12 1 vmnic4
13 1 vmnic5
124 1 vmk2
54 1 vmk5
16 1 vmk6
137 1 EDGE-VIP-1.eth0
196 1 EDGE-B-0.eth0
135 1 EDGE-B-0.eth1
172 1 DB01.eth0
164 1 App01.eth0
168 1 App02.eth0
180 1 Web01.eth0
212 1 desktop-ubuntu.eth0
136 1 EDGE-VIP-0.eth0
39 1 Guest Introspection (2).eth0