Moving an Unresponsive VM

[Super6VCA]

I have a host that is showing disconnected and i have a couple of Critical VM's on there that are not reaponding.  Is there a way to add that VM to the inventory of another host so that i can make some changes to it??? Apparently the VM is powered on but i cannot RDP in or connect any way.  Any help is appreciated.  Thanks

Perry

[bspagna89]

Hey Perry,

Just some background... Can we get the versions of 1. ESXi 2. VM hardware version and 3. What guest OS?

So you're able to ping but not RDP? Were you ever able to RDP?

You can try using VMware workstation (I believe you can download this as a trial) and connecting to the ESX host to see if you can console the VMs at least.

Other than that, if they are on shared storage, you can try adding the online VM to inventory of another host but I am pretty sure that wont work due to the VM being locked. (worth a try)..

[Super6VCA]

Sorry about that!  ESXi 5.5 for the host, hardware version 9, and Mostly Win2K8R2 and Win7.  But there are a few 2012 server OS's

[Sateesh_vCloud]

Can you directly connect to ESXi via vSphere client and see the VM's status?

[Super6VCA]

I cannot get onto that host at all but in vcenter it shows all VM's as disconnected.  I can RDP into most but there are a few that are not responding to RDP

[Sateesh_vCloud]

As you confirmed -  Putty, vSphere Client, vCenter   -->  You can't connect

How about connecting to host via physical console - RSA/DRAC/ILO?

[Super6VCA]

One other question if I may.  I need to shutdown the other vm's and bring them up on another host quickly.  How do i remove those VM's from that host inventory so I can add them to a new host??

[Sateesh_vCloud]

Are these hosts part of same cluster? (with shared storage)

Remove from Inventory is not required unless no other option available. As you mentioned other VM's are responding (I doubt) power-off them first from vCenter and make DRS into manual mode. Now power-on VM then it will ask you to select the host to power-on.

Select the other host to bring the VM online.

[Super6VCA]

But it tells me that the VM already exist in the inventory so it won't let me add it to a different host. Yes all the host are part of the same cluster.

[Sateesh_vCloud]

You can use   VM_New  [OR]   VM_2   to register

[Super6VCA]

Still won't let me even with a new name.  Here is the error message i receive. 

[joacimforsman]

Hi,

I did not quite understand if the VMs still are operational or not, is the only "problem" that they are not responding to RDP but still operational?

Have you tried right-clicking the host that shows as disconnected, and select "Reconnect host" and it will restart the management agents. This should be non-disruptive to your VMs.

Edit: Not 100% if it restarts the management agents, but it will try to reconnect the host. If it doesn't work, the management agents can be restarted from ssh and DCUI, or ilo or similiar.

Regards,

Jocke

[Super6VCA]

Thanks to all that replied.  I had no choice but to shutdown all the VM's and power down the host.  Was hoping for a different solution.  All is good now.  Thanks again!