Did you know you can get to the ESXi local console UI from an SSH session?
I didn't either. It's kind of awesome, and very handy, since you're already quite used to using the DCUI (Direct Console User Interface) from when you first installed then configured your ESXi hypervisor. Way to go, Jeramiah Dooley @jdooley_clt (great meme, which I've borrowed for my picture above), and Chris Wahl @ChrisWahl, for his detailed article!
It's ridiculously easy to do, just type:
dcui
in your PuTTY (or similar) SSH session. When done doing your DCUI stuff:
[Press Ctrl+C]
and you'll have your blinking cursor back.
If you don't have SSH set to autostart on your home lab's hypervisors, turning it back on is also detailed in Chris Wahl's excellent article:
Accessing the ESXi Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) via SSH
by Chris Wahl on Nov 03 2014
The below animated 982KB GIF loops just 3 times, use browser's Forced Network Refresh (Ctrl+F5) to view it again:
Nov 05 2014 Update
Want that yellow you're used to? Here's how:
wahlnetwork.com/2014/11/03/accessing-esxi-direct-console-user-interface-dcui-via-ssh/#comment-17706
Apr 17 2020 Update
This still works with ESXi 7.0! (pictured above)! See also related tweet:
