Version: VMware ESXi 5.1 and 5.5.

To determine the hardware in your VMware ESXi host, you can access the Common Information Model (CIM) data using a VMware provided shell script when you install ESXi.

Note: You have to have ssh enabled.

I found it easiest to just run the script and search the output from the less command.

Once logged via ssh as root:

~ # /bin/cim-diagnostic.sh > tmp.fil

~ # less tmp.fil

In my case, I was looking for specific physical memory information, so I searched for PhysicalMemory.

I found the following useful to determine the categories in the output:

~ # egrep “^Dumping” tmp.fil
Dumping instances of CIM_Namespace
Dumping instances of CIM_RegisteredProfile
Dumping instances of CIM_Sensor
Dumping instances of OMC_RawIpmiSensor
Dumping instances of OMC_RawIpmiEntity
Dumping instances of CIM_ComputerSystem
Dumping instances of CIM_Chassis
Dumping instances of CIM_SoftwareIdentity
Dumping instances of CIM_Memory
Dumping instances of CIM_PhysicalMemory
Dumping instances of CIM_Processor
Dumping instances of CIM_LogRecord
Dumping instances of CIM_RecordLog
Dumping instances of CIM_EthernetPort
Dumping instances of CIM_PowerSupply
Dumping instances of CIM_PCIDevice
Dumping instances of VMware_StorageExtent
Dumping instances of VMware_Controller
Dumping instances of VMware_StorageVolume
Dumping instances of VMware_Battery
Dumping instances of VMware_SASSATAPort