You can set or change a number of advanced attributes for you ESXi hosts, virtual machines and clusters, to give you a lot of granular control over your vSphere infrastructure. You should always use caution when setting advanced options, as many default settings are there for good reason! Always refer to VMware documentation when changing any advanced settings to ensure you fully understand the impact they have.
Configure and Apply Advanced Host Attributes
To edit ESXi host attributes using the vSphere client, select the host, then on the configuration tab, select Advanced Settings:
It’s also possible to set advanced settings using the command line and through PowerCLI. For example, using esxcfg-advcfg:
vicfg-advcfg.pl --set "NewValue" SectionName.OptionName
Using ESXCLI:
esxcli system settings advanced set -o "OptionName" [--int-value|--string-value] "NewValue"
And using PowerCLI:
Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration -Name "SectionName.OptionName" -Value "NewValue"
Configure and Apply Advanced Virtual Machine Attributes
To set advanced virtual machine options, edit the virtual machine’s settings, then on the options tab, under General, click the’Configuration Parameters’ button:
A window will open to allow you to change or add any advanced options:
You can also use PowerCLI to view and set advanced virtual machine settings. For example, to view advanced settings for a VM you could use:
Get-VM VirtualMachineName | Get-VMAdvancedConfiguration
And to configure/change an advanced setting you could run:
Get-VM VirtualMachineName | Get-VMAdvancedConfiguration -Key “ethernet0.filter0.param1”
Configure and Apply Advanced Cluster Attributes
You can also configure advanced settings on a cluster, in order to fine tune the way it operates. As with other advanced settings, consult the relevant documentation before changing anything, unless under advice from VMware technical support.
To set advanced settings using the vSphere client, navigate to the cluster, right click then select ‘Edit Settings’. Select vSphere HA, then ‘Advanced Options’:
You can also change advanced options for the cluster’s DRS configuration:
Useful Links and Resources
https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1038578
https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/03/acessing-virtual-machine-advanced-settings.html