Start and stop VMWARE VPS / virtual machine guest operating system from command line

by Vivek Gite · 8 comments

Vmware server comes with the nifty vmware-cmd utility. It allows an administrator to perform various operations on a virtual machine from Linux command line / shell prompt such as:

=> Stop / Start VM

=> Get VM status

=> Setup variables

=> Powerdown VM and much more

Task: Lists the virtual machines on the local server

You can list all servers and config file, enter:
# vmware-cmd -l
Output:

/nas/vms/Ubuntu/Ubuntu.vmx
/nas/vms/FreeBSD/FreeBSD.vmx
/nas/vms/OpenBSD/OpenBSD.vmx
/nas/vms/Debian4/Debian4.vmx
/nas/vms/CentOS5/CentOS5.vmx

Turn on VM / Power up VPS

Just pas start option to vmware-cmd,
# vmware-cmd /nas/vms/FreeBSD/FreeBSD.vmx start

To stop VM/VPS, enter:
# vmware-cmd /nas/vms/FreeBSD/FreeBSD.vmx stop

To reset VM/VPS, enter:
# vmware-cmd /nas/vms/FreeBSD/FreeBSD.vmx reset

To suspend VM/VPS, enter:
# vmware-cmd /nas/vms/FreeBSD/FreeBSD.vmx suspend

Find out if OpenBSD VM is on or off:
# vmware-cmd /disk2.vmware/vms/OpenBSD/OpenBSD.vmx getstate
Output:

getstate() = off

vmware-cmd offers other options, please consult VMWARE documentation for more information.

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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Sir Geek 07.03.07 at 4:04 pm: One minor problem with your 1st command to list the VMs. The command should be vmware-cmd -l
2 vivek 07.03.07 at 5:08 pm: Sir Geek,

Thanks for the heads up… post has been updated
3 Husain 12.13.07 at 2:14 pm: I have installed VMWare Server 1.0.4 on RHEL5.1 64 bit version. When I try to power on a virtual machine the OS panics. I am not a linux expert so I have no idea as to how to deal with this issue. I do not have physical access to the server and remotely I was able to take a screenshot of the panic screen. The last line read “Kernel Panic – not syncing: Fatal exception”.

Your help would be highly appreciated.
4 Mark Hentov 02.26.08 at 4:03 pm: Hmm. After a reboot vmware seems not to be running. I can’t connect or start any virtual machines.
What daemons need to be enabled with chkconfig? What modules need to load?
5 vivek 02.26.08 at 5:32 pm: Try
/etc/init.d/vmware start

Did you upgraded kernel? If so you need to reconfigure vmware
vmware-config.pl -d
6 Jay 05.08.08 at 5:57 pm: Thank you!

A friends server went down due to power failure and this info helped me solve the problem.

Where can i get a complete list of such commands?

oh and by the way, you still need to change the -1 to -l (L) because had he not have seen the error we would not have been able to use the info here. Also, please let people know that the information after # vmware-cmd /this/blah/blah is the path and will be different for all users

Cheers and thanks again

Jay
7 Phil 07.28.08 at 2:17 pm: vmware-cmd -?
8 Emil 03.04.09 at 6:56 am: Hi,
I’m running VMWare on a Fedora Server, and I would like to start/stop the virtual machines withouth VNC-ing to the server, from a terminal window. The thing is that I can’t find vmware-cmd anywhere. Where can I find that?