This MCP server provides a standardized interface for managing VMware ESXi environments. It exposes a set of tools to perform host management, VM lifecycle operations, and resource monitoring via the MCP protocol, with support for authentication, RBAC, and auditing. Once running, you can discover capabilities, invoke VM operations (create, power, snapshot management), and query host information through the MCP client or integrated tooling. The server emphasizes secure credential handling, connection pooling for efficiency, and Prometheus-compatible monitoring hooks for health and performance data.

To use the server locally, configure the provided config.yaml with your ESXi connection details and credentials, then start the server using the module entry point. You can control VM lifecycle (create_vm, power_vm), host operations (get_host_info, maintenance_mode), and monitor status via MCP requests. Ensure you provide a valid API key for authentication and keep ESXi credentials secured, ideally via environment variables or a secrets manager. The architecture supports dynamic capability advertisement so clients can adapt to available operations without hard-coding capabilities.

Prerequisites:

• Python 3.8+ installed on the host
• Access to a VMware ESXi host (6.7 or later)
• Network connectivity between the MCP server host and the ESXi host
• Optional: a working MCP API key for authentication

Installation steps:

1. Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/uldyssian-sh/vmware-esxi-mcp.git cd vmware-esxi-mcp

2. Install Python dependencies pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Configure environment and/or config file

   • Copy the example config and edit it with your details cp config.example.yaml config.yaml

     Edit config.yaml to fill in esxi host, credentials, ports, and capabilities

4. Run the MCP server python -m vmware_esxi_mcp --config config.yaml

5. (Optional) Set environment variables for credentials and API keys export ESXI_HOST="esxi-host.example.com" export ESXI_USERNAME="root" export ESXI_PASSWORD="your-password" export MCP_API_KEY="your-api-key"

6. Verify the server is running and accessible via MCP client tooling

   • Ensure logging is configured and the server starts without errors
   • Use MCP client to query capabilities and start operations

Tips and considerations:

• Store ESXi credentials securely; prefer encrypted config or environment variables with restricted access.
• Enable TLS/SSL verification in production and configure proper certificates to avoid SSL warnings.
• Monitor API key usage and implement rate limiting to protect the ESXi host from excessive requests.
• Regularly rotate credentials and API keys; document rotation in your security policies.
• If you encounter connection timeouts, check network routing, firewall rules, and ESXi API accessibility (SDK/HTTPS endpoints).
• Use the provided logging configuration to capture operation traces for auditing and troubleshooting.
• Ensure the MCP capabilities advertised by the server align with client expectations to prevent feature gaps.