Power off VM via command line
VMware testing env: ESX 4.1, the command is fittable for ESXi 4
vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms - this command checks for your existing VMs
vim-cmd vmsvc/power.off 16 - <vm id> on my ESXi is 16.
If you need to restart your VM on a daily basis I would edit and add the cron job in:
var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
Command for restarting any vm is:
vim-cmd vmsvc/power.restart <vm-id>