Managing VMware images from command line using vmrun tool
Managing VMware images in VMware Server 2.x can be done in several ways. One way is to utilise Web based GUI and the second way is the command line.
To login to the Web based GUI
- (SSL) https://hostname:8333/ui/#
- http://hostname:8222/ui/# (How to disable redirect to SSL could be found here)
Let’s get focused on Shell commands – application: vmrun
Usage: vmrun [AUTHENTICATION-FLAGS] COMMAND [PARAMETERS]
Listing VM’s
#To List registered VMs
user@host:~$ vmrun -T server -h 'http://localhost:8222/sdk' -u user \
-p password listRegisteredVM
Total registered VMs: 10
[standard] MyImageDir/my_wmware_image.vmx
# To List all running VMs
user@host:~$ vmrun -T server -h 'http://localhost:8222/sdk' -u user \
-p password list
### LINUX SCRIPT ###
#privileged user:
user=`whoami`
read -s -p "Password: " PASS
echo
echo "Registered VMS:"
vmrun -T server -h 'http://localhost:8222/sdk' -u ${user} -p ${PASS} listRegisteredVM
echo "Running VMs:"
vmrun -T server -h 'http://localhost:8222/sdk' -u ${user} -p ${PASS} list
Start/Stop
#Starting a virtual machine with Workstation on a Linux host user@host:~$ vmrun -T server -h 'http://localhost:8222/sdk' -u user -p password start "[standard] MyImageDir/my_wmware_image.vmx" #Stopping a virtual machine user@host:~$ vmrun -T server -h 'http://localhost:8222/sdk' -u user -p password stop "[standard] MyImageDir/my_wmware_image.vmx" #make sure you will use exact syntax as above (including [standard] - which is a storage name) #additional tasks: reset, suspend, pause, unpause
Snapshots
#Creating a snapshot of a virtual machine user@host:~$ vmrun -T ws snapshot "/home/user/MyVms/MyImageDir/my_wmware_image.vmx" mySnapshot #Reverting to a snapshot user@host:~$ vmrun -T ws revertToSnapshot "/home/user/MyVms/MyImageDir/my_wmware_image.vmx" mySnapshot mySnapshot #Deleting a snapshot user@host:~$ vmrun -T ws deleteSnapshot "/home/user/MyVms/MyImageDir/my_wmware_image.vmx" mySnapshot mySnapshot
For more options please refer to $vmrun –help pages.
Cheers!!
