Remove host from vCenter, but keep VMs functional on host?

[esuarez78]

I have 3 hosts manged by vCenter Essentials Plus which limits me to 3 hosts managed by vCenter.  All 3 hosts are connected to storage arrays, a SAN, via Dell Power Connect switches.

I want to remove a host to add a beefier host in it's place.  If I remove the one host, will it break the connections to the SANs? ...because I'd like to leave the host's VMs powerd on & keep them functional.  Is that possible?  Would that work?

[weinstein5 · Accepted solution]

Removing a host from vCenter will not affect the SAN connections or the running VMs - depending on if you have DRS you might be forced to place the host into maintenance modes and move the VMs to the other nodes or if you have HA enabled you can end up in a state where you receive warnings about insufficient resources for failover -

What verion of vSphere are you running to place this thread in the approriate forum =

[esuarez78]

Thank you for your help.

No DRS or HA in place just yet.

I am running vSphere 4.1 update 1.

[scott28tt]

Moderator note: Moved to the ESXi 4 forum area.

You don't state whether you are using ESX or ESXi, but in this case it will not affect the answer.