[root@VMS2:~] esxcli system permission list
Principal Is Group Role Role Description
---------- -------- -------- --------------------------------------------
dcui false Admin Full access rights
root false Admin Full access rights
vi-admin00 false Admin Full access rights
vpxuser false Admin Full access rights
nagios false ReadOnly See details of objects, but not make changes
vi-user00 false ReadOnly See details of objects, but not make changes
esxcli system permission set -r=Admin -i=nagios
[root@VMS2:~] esxcli system permission list
Principal Is Group Role Role Description
---------- -------- -------- --------------------------------------------
dcui false Admin Full access rights
nagios false Admin Full access rights
root false Admin Full access rights
vi-admin00 false Admin Full access rights
vpxuser false Admin Full access rights
vi-user00 false ReadOnly See details of objects, but not make changes
This was an example of how to assign the user rights from ssh.
Can you try with your test user?
Brgds