Configuring the Stand-Alone VMware Inventory Agent

To enable the stand-alone VMware inventory agent to collect inventory from target VMware servers, register every target VMware server with the agent, and record the VMware server name in the esxquery.ini file. Follow these steps to configure the agent:

On the computer where you deployed the agent, launch the Windows command prompt with the Run as administrator option enabled and browse to the VMwareInventory folder.

Invoke the agent by using the following command. The agent should display a list of available options:

..\VMwareInventory> esxquery
  server          Query specified server
  -a              Query all configured servers
  -l              List configured servers and credentials
  -s              Set logon credentials for server
  -d              Delete logon credentials for server
  -c              Use existing logon session cookie
  -f              Set VMware license flag for server

When the agent is not being run for the first time, use the following command to list any previously-targeted VMware servers that are still registered with the agent:
```
esxquery.exe -l
```
If any undesired VMware servers are registered with the agent, use the following command with the name of the VMware server whose registration is to be deleted:
```
esxquery.exe -d <server name>
```
where server name is the VMware server name.
Use the following command to register a target VMware server with the stand-alone VMware inventory agent. The agent will collect inventory only from the VMware servers registered with it:
```
esxquery.exe -s <server name>
```
where <server name> is the name of the target VMware server that is to be registered with the agent. The agent prompts you to enter the credentials for this server.
Enter the credentials for the account with read access to the VMware SDK URL <https://servername/sdk> created on this VMware server.
Repeat step 5 for each of the target VMware servers. The agent records each server name with its username and encrypted password in the esxquery.ini file in the VMwareInventory folder.
Set the OutputDir parameter to the path where you want the agent to store the collected inventory files. The following code example sets the output directory to the .\Inventories sub-folder under the VMwareInventory folder. The following code also describes how two VMware servers, server1 and server2 have been recorded in the esxquery.ini file.
```
[Global]
OutputDir=.\Inventories

[server1]
Username=<domain\user name>
Password=CtCi3795PXgxC3W8W7gdSg==

[server2]
Username=<domain\user name>
Password=EEfoiY3pmz0xC3W8W7gdSg==
```
Note: The esxquery.exe tool encrypts the password automatically, before saving it to the esxquery.ini file.
Use the following command to review the list of VMware servers registered with the stand-alone agent:
```
esxquery.exe -l
```

Your agent is now ready to collect inventory from the target VMware servers.