The vSphere web GUI is a nice visual tool, but if you need to retrieve vCenter information in bulk or perform mass operations across VMs, then a command line tool such as govc in invaluable.
govc is written in Go, which means it has support on Linux as well as most other platforms.
Installation
Identity the latest release on releases page for govc. Then install on Linux using these commands:
# donwload and unzip wget https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/releases/download/v0.20.0/govc_linux_amd64.gz gunzip govc_linux_amd64.gz # rename mv govc_linux_amd64 govc sudo chown root govc sudo chmod ug+r+x govc sudo mv govc /usr/local/bin/. # validate in path which govc # validate version govc version
Basic Connectivity
Export a set of environment variables so the CLI knows how to connect to vCenter:
# vCenter host export GOVC_URL=myvcenter.name.com # vCenter credentials export GOVC_USERNAME=myuser export GOVC_PASSWORD=MyP4ss # disable cert validation export GOVC_INSECURE=true
And now try the most basic commands:
$ govc about Name: VMware ESXi Vendor: VMware, Inc. Version: 6.7.0 Build: 8169922 OS type: vmnix-x86 API type: HostAgent API version: 6.7 Product ID: embeddedEsx UUID $ govc datacenter.info Name: mydc Path: /mydc Hosts: 1 Clusters: 0 Virtual Machines: 3 Networks: 1 Datastores: 1 $ govc ls /mydc/vm /mydc/network /mydc/host /mydc/datastore # set variable 'dc' so we can use it later $ dc=$(govc ls /)
Network
govc ls -l=true $dc/network
ESXi Cluster
# cluster name govc ls $dc/host # details on cluster, all members and their cpu/mem utilization govc host.info <clusterPath> # all members listed (type: HostSystem, ResourcePool) govc ls -l=true <clusterPath> # for each cluster member of type HostSystem, individual stats govc host.info <memberPath>
Datastores
# top level datastores (type: Datastore and StoragePod) govc ls -l=true $dc/datastore # for atomic Datastore type, get capacity govc datastore.info <datastorePath> # get StoragePod overall utilization govc datastore.cluster.info <storagePodPath> # get list of storage pod members govc ls <storagePodPath> # then get capacity of each member govc datastore.info <storagePodMemberPath>
Get VM information
Now search for a VM by name, get a summary of the VM details, then full VM details.
# show basic info on any VM names that start with 'myvm'
govc vm.info myvm*
# show basic info on single VM
govc vm.info myvm-001
# use full path to get detailed VM metadata
vmpath=$(govc vm.info myvm-001 | grep "Path:" | awk {'print $2'})
govc ls -l -json $vmpath
Shutdown VM, power up VM
# gracefully shutdown guest OS using tools govc vm.power -s=true myvm-001 # force immediate powerdown govc vm.power -off=true myvm-001 # power VM back on govc vm.power -on=true myvm-001
REFERENCES
example usage from deadline.top
example usage from prefetch.net
upload Ubuntu ISO to filestore
handling vSphere events using govmomi and golang
example golang code from orchestration.io
gswallow, govc and object.collect and json
NOTES
view all ‘Managed Object Properties’
govc find -type m # in list govc object.collect '/mydc1/vm/Discovered virtual machine/ubuntu-focal' # in json format govc object.collect -json '/mydc1/vm/Discovered virtual machine/ubuntu-focal'
Get versions of all ESXi hosts in cluster
# define datacenter and cluster dc=mydc1 cluster=mycluster1 # loop through each esxi host in cluster and grab version for hostpath in $(govc ls /$dc/host/$cluster | grep -v Resources); do govc host.info -json=true $hostpath | jq '.HostSystems[].Summary.Config.Product.Version' -r done
Get versions and maintenance mode for each ESXi host in cluster
# define datacenter and cluster dc=mydc1 cluster=mycluster1 # brief output of each ESXi host in cluster govc host.info /$dc/host/$cluster/* # pull out full detail of version and maintenance mode using jq govc host.info -json /$dc/host/$cluster/* | jq '.HostSystems[] | [.Summary.Config.Name, .Summary.Config.Product.Version .Runtime.InMaintenanceMode] | @tsv' -r | sort
Upload ISO into datastore
# get list of datacenters govc ls # show details of datacenter my_dc=/mydc govc datacenter.info $my_dc # get list of datastores govc ls /$my_dc/datastore my_datastore=/$my_dc/datastore/x/y # upload ISO directly into datastore my_iso=ubuntu-22.04.1-live-server-amd64.iso govc datastore.upload --dc=$my_dc --ds=$my_datastore $my_iso $my_iso
Export template as OVA
# overwrite (-f), write images (-i) exported to folder with name of vm govc export.ovf -f=true -i=true -dc=$dc -vm $vm_name .
Import OVA as template
# show folders
govc find / -type f
# create vcenter folder for templates
folder=/mydc1/vm/templates
govc folder.create $folder
# upload local OVA and mark as template
govc import.ova -folder=templates -options - my.ova <<EOF
{
"DiskProvisioning": "thin",
"MarkAsTemplate": true
}
EOF
Specify custom CA certificate for vCenter
# download and extract vCenter certs wget https://$GOVC_URL/certs/download.zip --no-check-certificate unzip download.zip # pick CA cert ls -l certs/lin ca_cert="certs/lin/xxxxxxx" export GOVC_INSECURE=false govc ls --tls-ca-certs=$ca_cert
mark as VM or template
dc=mydc1
folder=/${dc}/vm/templates
vm=testvm
template_vm="${folder}/${vm}"
# ensure powered off
govc vm.power -off $template_vm
# mark as template in vcenter
govc vm.markastemplate $template_vm
# mark back as VM in vcenter, need to specify esx host and datacenter
esxhost=$(govc vm.info $template_vm | grep 'Host:' | awk '{print $2}')
govc vm.markasvm -host=$esxhost -dc=$dc $template_vm