Vmware ESXi - esxtop output is not readable

"esxtop" command is similar to Linux "top" command and it shows system (cpu/network) utilization statistics.

Some vmware esxi deployments will show very strange output in "esxtop" command:

Code:

e(PCPU 4)\%P-State P10","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 4)\%P-State P11","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 4)\%P-State P12","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 4)\%P-State P13","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 4)\%P-State P14","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 4)\%P-State P15","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%C-State C0","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%C-State C1","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%C-State C2","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%C-State C3","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P0","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P1","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P2","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P3","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P4","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P5","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P6","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P7","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P8","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P9","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P10","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P11","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P12","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P13","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P14","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 5)\%P-State P15","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%C-State C0","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%C-State C1","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%C-State C2","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%C-State C3","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P0","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P1","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P2","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P3","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P4","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P5","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P6","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P7","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P8","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P9","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P10","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P11","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P12","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P13","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P14","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 6)\%P-State P15","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%C-State C0","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%C-State C1","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%C-State C2","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%C-State C3","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P0","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P1","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P2","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P3","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P4","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P5","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P6","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P7","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P8","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P9","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P10","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P11","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P12","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P13","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P14","\\apophis\PCPU Power State(PCPU 7)\%P-State P15",

This is caused by the default of the TERM environment variable which is set to something unexistent:

Code:

~ # echo $TERM
vt100

How to fix vmware esxi esxtop output:

First get a list of available terminal types:

Code:

~ # find /usr/share/terminfo/ -type f
/usr/share/terminfo/v/vt102
/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm
/usr/share/terminfo/a/ansi
/usr/share/terminfo/l/linux
/usr/share/terminfo/s/screen

Next: set esxi cli TERM variable to a supported type:

Code:

~ # TERM=xterm
~ # esxtop
10:52:52am up 214 days 15:27, 528 worlds, 9 VMs, 36 vCPUs; CPU load average: 0.12, 0.12, 0.12
PCPU USED(%):  89 1.0 4.5 4.2 4.5 6.0 8.6 4.9 AVG:  15
PCPU UTIL(%): 100 0.0 4.8 1.1 5.0 6.9 8.4 3.9 AVG:  16
CORE UTIL(%): 100     8.3      10      11     AVG:  32

Further reading on vmware KB website:Output of esxtop defaults to non-interactive CSV with unknown TermInfo (2001448).

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Vmware ESXi - esxtop output is not readable

Vmware ESXi - esxtop output is not readable

How to fix vmware esxi esxtop output: