Newbie Question: What do I put in for "Hostname" in DNS Configuration during ESXi setup

[geomean]

Note: I'm not an IT professional but rather an enthusiast trying to test the power of virtualization technology. I understand IP addresses and know how to configure my home router, setup static IP address, and build my own computer but I have somewhat limited knowledge when it comes to configuring servers. All I want to do is use this ESXi server locally in my home to run multiple OSes on one physical box. I don't really want to have a server on the internet as I think Comcast doesn't let me run servers with the dynamic IP address package that I have. Anyway, here's my problem:

I've been following along with the ESXi setup video tutorial from the link in the intro e-mail vmware sends you after registering. I'm around the 14:30 minute mark now where we're configuring the management network in the DNS configuration menu.

The tutorial guy sets his host name to something that he has obviously setup but mine comes up as "localhost.hsd1.ca.comcast.net". I don't quite understand what I'm doing when I'm setting up a host name-- and like I said above, I don't want to be setting up a server on comcast's network.

I think I'm a bit confused and not sure what to put in for hostname. I tried "localhost" and also "localhost.hsd1.ca.comcast.net" but t hen when I selected "test management network" I got a fail message for hostname.

Sorry if this is a super newbie question but I don't want to proceed to set up virtual machines or whatever is next if this setting is wrong. I appreciate your time in reading this / helping me. Thanks.

UPDATE: Ok so since I was impatient, I tried just leaving the hostname at whatever it was and then continued with tutorial and realized i could just type the static IP address of my ESXi server into my web browser from another computer on my home network to get the VI client from the esxi server so i just typed in 192.168.1.50 which is what i set it up as and that was successful! Is there any reason to set a hostname then?

So my next question becomes: Can I run both my windows XP 64 OS at the same time as the ESXi server? Each are installed on different drives in the same physical box, but this computer is one of my main computers that I work on in windows every day so ideally i would like to have ESXi running but also be able to use the base operating system. Is this possible or am I just dreaming/confused?

[Cooldude09]

Wleocme to the forums....

Basically, localhost is the name which any GNU?linux system takes when not provided. Since ESX server is based on GNU/Linux it performs the same manner.. Now localhost.hsd1.ca.comcast.net is nothing but the fully qulaified domain name using local host as the hostname. Try to change the hostname from localhost to some other name and this should fix the problem. I hope this helps.

Regards

Anil

Save the planet, Go Green

if you found my answer to be useful, feel free to mark it as Helpful or Correct.

[JoeLyons]

"Can I run both my windowsXP 64 OS at the same time as the ESXi server? Each are installed ondifferent drives in the same physical box,"

[geomean]

Joe - Great, thanks for your quick reply. That's what I was starting to figure out. I build a lot of physical boxes so it shouldn't be too big of a deal to set one up as just a server, and like you said, I could set up XP 64 as a virtual machine and then just remote in.

I think 99% of the time I will be remoting in to my virtual machines from within my home network so I don't have to go over the internet. Should make for a speedier experience I would think, plus fewer/no security headaches.

I have recently set up remote desktop over the internet using windows' remote desktop client on physical boxes so i imagine it won't be too different doing it from a virtual box.

Thanks again- I just got into configuring with the VI client and will probably be more up to speed soon.

P.S. regarding backups, TOTALLY A GOOD IDEA!!! Before I understood how this vmware stuff worked, I almost thought I could install the hypervisor on the same drive as my normal windows!!! Good thing I decided to put the VM file system on a dedicated drive because I think it formats the drive, which would have eliminated my windows install and my data. I keep acronis backups daily offsite so I would have been good anyway, but sure would have been a pain to recover from.

[geomean]

Anil- Thanks for your speedy reply! The test still said failed when I changed the hostname to something arbitrary like "myVMmachine" but I guess I don't need a hostname if I'm just setting this up for my home network. i can just type in 192.168.1.50 to get to the server.

Thanks again!

[Cooldude09 · Accepted solution]

Your welcome geomean, i believe you can try re-insalling ESXi with the hostanme you want, or you can login into the existing setup using unsupported option and try the same.

Regards

Anil

Save the planet, Go Green

if you found my answer to be useful, feel free to mark it as Helpful or Correct.