Common vic-machine Options

This section describes the options that are common to all vic-machine commands. The common options that vic-machine requires relate to the vSphere environment in which you deployed the virtual container host (VCH), and to the VCH itself.

--target

Short name: -t

The IPv4 address, fully qualified domain name (FQDN), or URL of the ESXi host or vCenter Server instance on which you deployed the VCH. This option is always mandatory.

• If the target ESXi host is not managed by vCenter Server, provide the address of the host.

  --target esxi_host_address

• If the target ESXi host is managed by vCenter Server, or if you deployed the VCH to a cluster, provide the address of vCenter Server.

  --target vcenter_server_address

• You can include the user name and password in the target URL.

  --target vcenter_or_esxi_username:password@vcenter_or_esxi_address

  Wrap the user name or password in single quotes (Linux or Mac OS) or double quotes (Windows) if they include special characters.

  'vcenter_or_esxi_usern@me':'p@ssword'@vcenter_or_esxi_address

  If you do not include the user name in the target URL, you must specify the user option. If you do not specify the password option or include the password in the target URL, vic-machine prompts you to enter the password.

• If you deployed the VCH on a vCenter Server instance that includes more than one datacenter, include the datacenter name in the target URL. If you include an invalid datacenter name, vic-machine fails and suggests the available datacenters that you can specify.

  --target vcenter_server_address/datacenter_name

--user

Short name: -u

The username for the ESXi host or vCenter Server instance on which you deployed the VCH. This option is mandatory if you do not specify the username in the target option.

--user esxi_or_vcenter_server_username

Wrap the user name in single quotes (Linux or Mac OS) or double quotes (Windows) if it includes special characters.

--user 'esxi_or_vcenter_server_usern@me'

--password

Short name: -p

The password for the user account on the vCenter Server on which you deployed the VCH, or the password for the ESXi host if you deployed directly to an ESXi host. If not specified, vic-machine prompts you to enter the password.

--password esxi_host_or_vcenter_server_password

Wrap the password in single quotation marks (') on Mac OS and Linux and in double quotation (") marks on Windows if it includes special characters.

--password 'esxi_host_or_vcenter_server_p@ssword'

--thumbprint

Short name: None

The thumbprint of the vCenter Server or ESXi host certificate. Specify this option if your vSphere environment uses untrusted, self-signed certificates. Alternatively, specifying the --force option allows you to omit the --thumbprint option. If your vSphere environment uses trusted certificates that are signed by a known Certificate Authority (CA), you do not need to specify the --thumbprint option.

To obtain the thumbprint of the vCenter Server or ESXi host certificate, run vic-machine without the specifying the --thumbprint or --force options. The operation fails, but the resulting error message includes the required certificate thumbprint. You can copy the thumbprint from the error message and run vic-machine again, including the thumbprint option. If you obtain the thumbprint by other means, use upper-case letters and colon delimitation rather than space delimitation when you specify --thumbprint.

--thumbprint certificate_thumbprint

--compute-resource

Short name: -r

The relative path to the host, cluster, or resource pool in which you deployed the VCH. Specify --compute-resource with exactly the same value that you used when you ran vic-machine create. You specify the compute-resource option in the following circumstances:

• vCenter Server includes multiple instances of standalone hosts or clusters, or a mixture of standalone hosts and clusters.
• You deployed the VCH in a specific resource pool in your environment.

If you specify the id option, you do not need to specify the compute-resource option.

If you do not specify the compute-resource or id options and multiple possible resources exist, vic-machine fails and suggests valid targets for compute-resource in the failure message.

• If the VCH is in a specific resource pool on an ESXi host, specify the name of the resource pool:

  --compute-resource  resource_pool_name

• If the VCH is on a vCenter Server instance that has more than one standalone host but no clusters, specify the IPv4 address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the target host:

  --compute-resource host_address

• If the VCH is on a vCenter Server with more than one cluster, specify the name of the target cluster:

  --compute-resource cluster_name

• If the VCH is in a specific resource pool on a standalone host that is managed by vCenter Server, specify the IPv4 address or FQDN of the target host and name of the resource pool:

  --compute-resource host_name/resource_pool_name

• If the VCH is in a specific resource pool in a cluster, specify the names of the target cluster and the resource pool:

  --compute-resource cluster_name/resource_pool_name

• Wrap the resource names in single quotes (Linux or Mac OS) or double quotes (Windows) if they include spaces:

  --compute-resource 'cluster name'/'resource pool name'

--name

Short name: -n

The name of the VCH. This option is mandatory if the VCH has a name other than the default name, virtual-container-host, or if you do not use the id option. Specify --name with exactly the same value that you used when you ran vic-machine create. This option is not used by vic-machine ls.

--name vch_appliance_name

Wrap the appliance name in single quotes (Linux or Mac OS) or double quotes (Windows) if it includes spaces.

--name 'vch appliance name'

--id

Short name: None

The vSphere Managed Object Reference, or moref, of the VCH, for example vm-100. You obtain the ID of a VCH by running vic-machine ls. If you specify the id option, you do not need to specify the --name or --compute-resource options. This option is not used by vic-machine create or vic-machine version.

--id vch_id

--timeout

Short name: none

The timeout period for performing operations on the VCH. Specify a value in the format XmYs if the default timeout of 3m0s is insufficient.

--timeout 5m0s