Using the --thumbprint Option

You can supply the thumbprint for the target ESXi host or vCenter Server system in the --thumbprint option or the VI_THUMBPRINT variable.

When you run a command, ESXCLI first checks whether a certificate file is available. If not, ESXCLI checks whether a thumbprint of the target server is available. If not, you receive an error of the following type.

Connect to sof-40583-srv failed. Server SHA-1 thumbprint: 5D:01:06:63:55:9D:DF:FE:38:81:6E:2C:FA:71:BC:Usin63:82:C5:16:51 (not trusted).

You can run the command with the thumbprint to establish the trust relationship, or add the thumbprint to the VI_THUMBPRINT variable. For example, using the thumbprint of the ESXi host above, you can run the following command.

esxcli --server <vc_hostname_or_IP> --username user1 --password '<my_password>' --thumbprint 5D:01:06:63:55:9D:DF:FE:38:81:6E:2C:FA:71:BC:63:82:C5:16:51 storage nfs list