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.
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.
Hi,
I'm in a similar case where I would like to change.
But according this KB, it seems not possible to change it :
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.
What's the output of the below command:
/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli get-pnid --server-name localhost
If windows
"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\vmafd-cli.exe" get-pnid --server-name localhost
Unfortunately the only option is to re-deploy vCenter server.
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.
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.
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.
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
How you confirmed the pnid and did you restart the vcenter again to test if the services starts fine post that
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.
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.