VMware Cloud Community
yuvarajvm
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

vCenter Server Domain Change

Hi Guys,

We have two vCenter Servers on different DC's with Same domain (test.com.au). We are planning to move the vC's to new domain (test.local).

Could anyone assist us how to approach this Domain Movement. What are all the pre-requisites need to follow and what will be the best approach to achieve this ?

Please consider the following items in mind while replying.

1. Its have a internal Postgres DB

2. vSAN Cluster in Place

3.vSphere Replication Appliance in Place for SRM

Let me know if you would require any further details on this.

Thanks.

Tags (1)
Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
yuvarajvm
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I have done the following testing in my Test lab to replicate the domain change for vCenter Server.

Created a Windows server 2012 R2 with vCenter Server 6.0 installed and added to domain test.local (vCenter Services working normally)

Changed the domain to test.com from test.local ((vCenter Services working normally))

But when i tried to change hostname from vCenter to vCenter1 (vCenter is not working at all). Because the PNID was vCenter.test.local when i installed vCenter Server.

So when we try to change the hostname of vCenter server. It does not working.

The conclusion is, we can change the domain of vCenter server to new domain. But we should not change the vCenter Server hostname.

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
11 Replies
PGinhoux
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Hi,

I'm in a similar case where I would like to change.

But according this KB, it seems not possible to change it :

  • Changing the Primary Network Identifier (PNID) of the vCenter Server or PSC is currently not supported and will cause the vSphere services to fail to start. If the vCenterServer or PSC has been deployed with an FQDN or IP as the PNID, you will not be able to change this configuration.

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2130599 (Cannot change the vCenter Server or Platform Service Controller 6.x hostname)

Isn't it what you want to do?

In all the case, could anyone help us to get rid of this restriction.

Thanks.

Reply
0 Kudos
Vijay2027
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

What's the output of the below command:

/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli get-pnid --server-name localhost

Reply
0 Kudos
Vijay2027
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

If windows

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\vmafd-cli.exe" get-pnid --server-name localhost

Reply
0 Kudos
Vijay2027
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

Unfortunately the only option is to re-deploy vCenter server.

Reply
0 Kudos
yuvarajvm
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Further to you Comment. I have verified the PNID for both the vCenter Servers. Please find the below output.

vCenter Server Name(FQDN)        Current Domain Name           Current PNID                    New-domain To be Added

vCenter.test.com.au                          test.com.au                              vCenter.test.com.au             test.local

vCenter1.test.com.au                        test.com.au                              vCenter.test.local               test.local

Could you please suggest here.

Reply
0 Kudos
yuvarajvm
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I have done the following testing in my Test lab to replicate the domain change for vCenter Server.

Created a Windows server 2012 R2 with vCenter Server 6.0 installed and added to domain test.local (vCenter Services working normally)

Changed the domain to test.com from test.local ((vCenter Services working normally))

But when i tried to change hostname from vCenter to vCenter1 (vCenter is not working at all). Because the PNID was vCenter.test.local when i installed vCenter Server.

So when we try to change the hostname of vCenter server. It does not working.

The conclusion is, we can change the domain of vCenter server to new domain. But we should not change the vCenter Server hostname.

Reply
0 Kudos
Vijay2027
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

So in this case you have a mismatch with PNID and hostname.

Next time you replace machine SSL certificates or any major upgrade it's gonna fail.

Moreover it is not supported or tested by VMware. The only way is to re-install to avoid further issues.

Reply
0 Kudos
yuvarajvm
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hi Vijay,

Thanks for your comment.

Yes, I agree with you if there mismatch with pnid (only hostname) vCenter will fail.

But our existing prod setup is working fine with mismatch of PNID. (PNID of Prod Vcenter is vCenter.XXXX.local and Hostname is vCenter.XXXX.com.au )

So what are you suggesting in this case ?

I Could see if there is mismatch between hostname of PNID (ex pnid - vcenter.local, hostname vcenter1.local). vCenter not working  (it unable to load the inventory because of wrong hostname)

Please let me know your suggestions

Reply
0 Kudos
msripada
Virtuoso
Virtuoso
Jump to solution

How you confirmed the pnid and did you restart the vcenter again to test if the services starts fine post that

Reply
0 Kudos
yuvarajvm
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Yes, I have restarted the vCenter Multiple times after domain change. It was working fine. i was able to access the webclient and its services without any issues.

But once i changed the hostname (from vCenter to vCenter1) and restarted the Server. After that i was unable to access the vCenter Server.

So my testing concludes that we can change domain name, but we should not change the hostname.

However like you said, we will get an issue whenever we upgrade the vCenter to another version with different PNID.

Today i am to going upgrade the vCenter Server 6.0 U1 to 6.0 U3 with hostname (vCenter.test.local) & PNID (vCenter.test.com) and share you the result.

Reply
0 Kudos
yuvarajvm
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Hi Vijay,

I have successfully upgraded the vCenter from 6.0 U1 to 6.0 U3 with hostname (vCenter.test.local) & PNID (vCenter.test.com). Now vCenter & its Services working normally.

So my testing gave me confident that we can do domain change. But still if you any suggestions, let me know.

Reply
0 Kudos