parallels command line tools and cloning

Hi I did the trial and even though my schedule only let me tinker for a few hours I feel this is a better solution to learn linux on my mac then virtual box or fusion. I plan on setting up ssh on my mac so I can access it remotely to use centos from the command line. My question is, using parallels will I be able to knock down and clone vm's and will I be able to start and stop vm's.

I want to also have the ability to manually set the ip address on the vm's (as static) which I was able to do from parallels but of course that was working from the graphical mac desktop...

so would this be possible? I know you can do this with kvm on linux but I am wondering if parallels offers this type of support for accessing and working with the vm's through the shell/ssh.

Thanks just wanted some feedback before I plunk down $80 bucks...