I think its to do with the firewall. on 2.x it was quite straightforward to change the IP - I used the same procedure on a esx3 box that I built with the wrong IP and it just didn't work - i was in a hurry, so I just flattened it and started again. I cant remember the conf file that holds to iptables, but that would be my starting point.

Here is how I did it.

Go into Virtual Center, higlight the host you want to change and click on the configuration tab.

In the hardware box on the left side click Networking.

Find your Service console in the list on the Right. Click on properties.

Under the vSwitchX properties click on the Add button On the Ports Tab.

For Connection Type Choose Service Console.

On Connection settings Label it what you want so long as it is different than the Initial service console. Set your VLANID if needed. Then set the IP address to the Address you wish to change it to.

Click Next and after validating the setup click finish.

Under the vSwitchX properties click on the Service Console and click Edit.
Next to Service Console Default gateway click Edit.

Ensure that the gateway is correct, change it if it is not. Then Next to Gateway Device change it to the new VSWIF that you just created. (On my system is was VSWIF1 for example.)

When you click Ok the server will lose connection. This is normal. Ensure that your DNS is updated to reflect the correct name and update your DNS on your Virtual Center host so that it pings the server. I also restarted the virtual center service to ensure that it started with fresh information about the host IP. After that, it all worked perfectly. I deleted the original Service console and Rename the new one to "Service Console".

A little bit of a heart stopper but overall, very successful. This was done from my conputer in Portland Oregon to a server in the Carolinas. All remote, never touched the actual console of the host and it is functioning as expected. Hope this helps!

There is a slightly easier way to do this from the VI Client

Select networking from the configuration tab.

Select the properties of the service console connection

Click on the Add button under the ports tab

Select service console, use a different name like service console 1

Enter an ip address (different from your original service console address), subnetmask etc., then click next and finish.

Highlight the original Service Console connection, click edit, change the ipaddress to what ever you want.

You will be disconnected from Virtual Center.

Once reconnected delete service console1

after the deletion you can try to restart the managment agent:

service mgmtvmware restart

maybe a reboot less

The guide contains useful info for service console commands.

it worked like a charm for me too!!!

reference: http://www.rtfm-ed.eu/docs/vmwdocs/esx3.x-vc2.x-serviceconsole-guide.pdf

hope it could be useful for you too!

best regards

Jose Ruelas

I couldn't get mine to work. After spending an hour and a half on the console trying these commands, I realized it would be much easier to just reload ESX. I hope that Vmware changes all of the commands again when ESX 4 comes out. Won’t want to use any prior product knowledge, would we?