Oops, spoke too soon. I forgot I had cached copies elsewhere:
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In order to change the network configuration data (Hostname, IP Address, Subnet Mask, Gateway) for your VMware ESX Server's Console OS (aka "Service Console"), the recommended procedure at this time is to manually edit the files involved.
This process as detailed below assumes you have ONE network interface assigned to the Console OS, and are using static IP addressing. VMware -STRONGLY- discourages the use of dynamic IP addressing for the Console OS network interface.
The files involved are:
/etc/hosts
/etc/resolv.conf
/etc/sysconfig/network
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
/usr/lib/vmware-mui/apache/conf/httpd.conf
It is recommended that you save copies of these files prior to starting your work, so that you have a reference point to work from later should you wish to roll-back the change. Instructions for this are included as part of the process below.
You will need `root` (SuperUser) privileges in order to effect these changes. Depending on decisions made to accomodate the security model of your local environment, you may need to use `sudo`, `su - root`, or log directly in as `root` in order to continue.
As root get pre-change copies...
/bin/cp /etc/hosts /root/_hosts.orig
/bin/cp /etc/resolv.conf /root/_resolv.conf.orig
/bin/cp /etc/sysconfig/network /root/_network.orig
/bin/cp /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 /root/_ifcfg-eth0.orig
/bin/cp /usr/lib/vmware-mui/apache/conf/httpd.conf /root/_httpd.conf.orig
(the leading underscore and trailing .orig are flags for you to denote copies)
Using `vi` or another text editor, edit the following files to match your new configuration:
/etc/hosts
IP Address to Hostname Mapping Data
/etc/resolv.conf
DNS Recursive Resolver and Search Path Data
/etc/sysconfig/network
Hostname and Default Gateway Data
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
Network Configuration for Ethernet0
/usr/lib/vmware-mui/apache/conf/httpd.conf
Hostname
As root get post-change copies...
/bin/cp /etc/hosts /root/_hosts.NEW
/bin/cp /etc/resolv.conf /root/_resolv.conf.NEW
/bin/cp /etc/sysconfig/network /root/_network.NEW
/bin/cp /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 /root/_ifcfg-eth0.NEW
/bin/cp /usr/lib/vmware-mui/apache/conf/httpd.conf /root/_httpd.conf.NEW
(the leading underscore and trailing .NEW are flags for you to denote copies)
If you have only made changes to /etc/resolv.conf, no further steps are necessary.
If you have only changed the Hostname, and nothing else, you can run the following:
/bin/hostname New.Hostname.Here
/etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd.vmware reload
If you have changed other network configuration data as well...
Restart networking for the Console OS. The `nohup` command and trailing '2>&1' prevents a rare network restart timeout midway through the change. The echoing of `date` output applies timestamps to the '/root/nohup.out' file's contents.
cd /root/
/bin/echo `/bin/date` >> /root/nohup.out
/usr/bin/nohup /etc/rc.d/init.d/network restart 2>&1
/bin/echo `/bin/date` >> /root/nohup.out
...Then check the contents of '/root/nohup.out' to be sure the change completed successfully...
/bin/cat /root/nohup.out
Lastly, confirm that all required services are listening on the Console OS's network interface. You'll see at minimum a listener on 0.0.0.0:80 (http), 0.0.0.0:443 (https), and 0.0.0.0:902 (VMware Virtual Console).
/bin/netstat --tcp --listening --numeric
At this point you've successfully completed the change of the network configuration data for the Console OS. A reboot should not be required.
