With the cell subcommand of the VMware Cloud Director cell management tool, you can suspend the task scheduler so that new tasks cannot be started, view the status of active tasks, control cell maintenance mode, or shut down the cell gracefully.

Note: Starting with VMware Cloud Director 10.5.1, you can manage a cell by using the Service Provider Admin Portal. See View and Manage Your VMware Cloud Director Cell Infrastructure.
To manage a cell, use a command line with the following form: 
cell-management-tool cell -u sysadmin-username -p sysadmin-password option
where sysadmin-username and sysadmin-password are the user name and password of the system administrator.
Note:

For security reasons, you can omit the password. In this case, the command prompts you to enter the password without displaying it on the screen.

As an alternative to providing the system administrator credentials, you can use the --pid option and provide the process ID of the cell process. To find the process ID of the cell, use a command like the following. 
service vmware-vcd pid cell
Table 1. Cell Management Tool Options and Arguments, cell Subcommand
Option Argument Description
--help

(-h)

None Provides a summary of available commands in this category.
--pid

(-i)

Process ID of the cell process You can use this option instead of -username.
--maintenance

(-m)

true or false

Sets the cell in maintenance mode.

The argument true quiesces activity on the cell and puts the cell in maintenance mode.

The argument false releases the cell from maintenance mode.

--password

(-p)

VMware Cloud Director system administrator password

Optional if the -username option is used.

If you omit this option, the command prompts you to enter the password without displaying it on the screen.

--quiesce

(-q)

true or false

Quiesces activity on the cell.

The argument true suspends the scheduler.

The argument false restarts the scheduler.

--shutdown

(-s)

None Gracefully shuts down VMware Cloud Director services on the server.
--status

(-t)

None Displays information about the number of tasks running on the cell and the status of the cell.
--status-verbose

(-tt)

None Displays verbose information about the tasks running on the cell and the status of the cell.
--username

(-u)

VMware Cloud Director system administrator user name. You can use this option instead of -pid.

Reactivating a cell

To reactivate a VMware Cloud Director cell after putting it in maintenance mode, run the following command.

cell-management-tool cell -i $(service vmware-vcd pid cell) --maintenance false