Getting Started with vSphere's Datacenter Command-Line Interface

Datacenter Command-Line Interface (DCLI) is one of vSphere’s newest CLIs. DCLI works exclusively with the vSphere Automation API (REST API for vSphere) to provide both an interactive and scriptable mode to monitor and manage all features made available to the REST based API.

With the vSphere 6.5 release, DCLI has picked up a ton of new functionalities! DCLI can now interact with the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA), perform VM tasks, receive environmental vSphere information, managing vSphere Tags, and work with the Content Library.

This is definitely a great tool to have in the toolbox for anyone accessing a vSphere environment. Here’s a demonstration video showing DCLI’s interactive mode in action!

The video details connecting to a VCSA, entering DCLI’s interactive mode, displaying some general environmental information as well as pointing out some of the benefits when using interactive mode, and lastly it creates a VM and shows all the important information about that new VM. More information about Getting started with DCLI can be found on a post that's on the vSphere Blog.