ESXi 6.5 Host name, Domain, Search domains. +Active Directory

[iHarry]

Hello.

VMware ESXi, 6.5.0, 6765664

I want to know what for configure and how it host can use

1.Host name

Why hostname is esx60, but if I try to find esx60 I can't.

And in Web Client my host look like esx60.bbb.com

What the difference ?

Get-VMHost esx60* | Get-VMHostNetwork | Select HostName, DomainName, SearchDomain

HostName                                DomainName                              SearchDomain

--------                                ----------                              ------------

esx60                                                                           {bbb, bbb.com}

Get-VMHost esx60 | Get-VMHostNetwork | Select HostName, DomainName, SearchDomain

Get-VMHost : 1/26/2018 1:36:47 PM    Get-VMHost        VMHost with name 'esx60' was not found using the specified filte

r(s).

At line:1 char:11

+ Get-VMHost <<<<  esx60 | Get-VMHostNetwork | Select HostName, DomainName, SearchDomain

    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (:) [Get-VMHost], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_OutputHelper_WriteNotFoundError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.GetVMH

   ost

Get-VMHost esx60.bbb.com | Get-VMHostNetwork | Select HostName, DomainName, SearchDomain

HostName                                DomainName                              SearchDomain

--------                                ----------                              ------------

esx60                                                                           {bbb, bbb.com}

2.Domain

My host not in any domain. What for this option and why I can edit it by manual ?

3.Search domains

What for this option - only for nslookup by simple name like

nslookup esx60

and bbb zone and bbb.com will be searched ?

And how 1,2,3 using for join to domain (Active Directory) ?

[daphnissov · Accepted solution]

Several parts here.

I want to know what for configure and how it host can use

1.Host name

Why hostname is esx60, but if I try to find esx60 I can't.

And in Web Client my host look like esx60.bbb.com

What the difference ?

Hostname is the name assigned to the ESXi host, but when you query using PowerCLI it looks for the name you used when you *added it to vCenter*. The two are not necessarily the same.

2.Domain

My host not in any domain. What for this option and why I can edit it by manual ?

Domain here does not refer to a Windows Active Directory domain but a DNS domain. All DNS has to have a domain associated with it, for example company.com or lab.local or vmware.org. The domain setting defines the latter portion of the hostname to make it fully qualified.

3.Search domains

What for this option - only for nslookup by simple name like

Search domains are also DNS related. It defines where short names should be searched against in domains.

And how 1,2,3 using for join to domain (Active Directory) ?

They don't make use of Active Directory. You have to manually add a host to AD and in which case you'll see the hostname in your Computers OU.

[iHarry]

They don't make use of Active Directory. You have to manually add a host to AD and in which case you'll see the hostname in your Computers OU.

But what the name will be used for add a host to AD in my case - "hostname" - esx60 or "name" - esx60.bbb.com ?

[daphnissov]

The object name will be the hostname as configured within ESXi.