VMware Cloud Community
CodeCyan
Contributor
Contributor
‎06-30-2009 12:31 AM

Please Help! Renamed ESX host and have now lost connectivity via VI Client

Hi people,

As mentioned, for a installation in a clients datacenter, I have been requested to rename a recently installed ESX host name

Following instructions foundin previous post:

1. Edit the /etc/hosts file to reflect the new name

2. Edit the /etc/sysconfig/network file to reflect the new name

3. execute the hostname <new name> command

4. Restart the mgmt-vmware service

Since restarting the mgmt-vmware service and subsequently the entire server, I'm unable to connect to the server via VI clien which exits with the following error:

Details: The server could not interpret the communication from the client. (The server returned an error: (503) Server Unavailable)

The only explanation I have is that I failed to stop or migrate the VCenter server that is hosted by this ESX server.

Please could someone help resolve this issue?

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3 Replies
aldin
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎06-30-2009 01:25 AM

did you update your dns with new hostname?

can you connect to that host by ip address?

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marvinms
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎06-30-2009 06:12 AM

Drill into the VCenter Network Configuation tab to confirm the changes are complete on the Properties of the vSwitch 0.

You may need to update VMotion and DNS info here.

I had to move the host out of the cluster (DRS) in order to change this.

Good luck

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lreesey-old
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
‎06-30-2009 06:19 AM

Here is the process to rename a host:

To rename an ESX host:

  1. If the ESX host is part of a Cluster, remove it from the cluster.

  2. If the ESX host is managed by a VirtualCenter server, disconnect and remove the ESX host from the cluster.

  3. Make the modifications in your DNS environment to reflect the correct name and IP association for the new name.

  4. Log in as root to the console of ESX host.

  5. Using a text editor, change the name of the host in the following files:

    • /etc/hosts

    • /etc/sysconfig/network

    • /etc/vmware/esx.conf

  6. Reboot the ESX host.

  7. Join the ESX host to VirtualCenter and, if appropriate, add it to a cluster.

per KB Article: 1010821

-larryr

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