You can access the vCenter Server Appliance plug-ins and API commands from the appliance shell. You can use the plug-ins and commands for monitoring, troubleshooting, and configuring the appliance.

You can use the Tab key to autocomplete API commands, plug-in names, and API parameters. Plug-in parameters do not support autocompletion.

Procedure

  1. Access the appliance shell and log in.
  2. To get help about the plug-ins, run the help pi list or the ? pi list command.
    You receive a list with all the plug-ins in the appliance.
  3. To get help about the API commands, run the help api list or the ? api list command.
    You receive a list with all the API commands in the appliance.
  4. To get help about a particular API command, run the help api api_name or the ? api api_name command.
    For example, to receive help about the com.vmware.appliance.version1.timesync.set command, run help api timesync.set or ? api timesync.set.