ESXCLI Host Management Commands and Lockdown Mode

For additional security, an administrator can place one or more hosts managed by a vCenter Server system in lockdown mode. Lockdown mode affects login privileges for the ESXi host.

See the vSphere Security document for a detailed discussion of normal lockdown mode and strict lockdown mode, and of how to enable and disable them.

To make changes to ESXi systems in lockdown mode, you must go through a vCenter Server system that manages the ESXi system as the user vpxuser and include both the --server and --vihost options.

esxcli --server MyVC --vihost MyESXi storage filesystem list

The command prompts for the vCenter Server system user name and password.

If you have problems running a command on an ESXi host directly, without specifying a vCenter Server target, check whether lockdown mode is enabled on that host.