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ThFisch
Contributor
Contributor

Add RAM grayed out

We made out vSphere server a virtual server in our environment and we need to now add more RAM to the server. When we go to add RAM the "Memory Hot Plug" is grayed out and we can not up the RAM for this server. We can also not shutdown the server to add the RAM because then vSphere would not be available to add more RAM.

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

You need to shut it down, and if its vcenter you have to connect to the host directly and then increase it, and turn it back on again. Without hotplug there is not other option.

ThFisch
Contributor
Contributor

With upping the RAM though the host, is that different by each Make and Model or is it through the the ESXi host console?

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

You do it through the esx host console, if its 6.0 or higher there is a web interface. Just put the hostname or ip address of the host vcenter is on in a browser and then logon either with the root password, or an ad login if thats enabled.

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StephenMoll
Expert
Expert

To clarify:

You have a physical ESXi server, which hosts one or more ESXi server VMs and a VCSA. and you wish to increase the virtual RAM of one of the virtual ESXi servers?

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ThFisch
Contributor
Contributor

Yes, that is correct. vSphere server is a virtual server on a physical host, we need to up the RAM on our vSphere server and do not have Hot RAM Addon turned on. We have looked at it and believe it should work by using the host to up the RAM when the vSphere server is turned off.

Thank you for your help

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StephenMoll
Expert
Expert

When you say "vSphere Server" are you talking about a vCSA appliance or an ESXi server?

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ThFisch
Contributor
Contributor

Its a Server running Server 2016 that has vSphere software loaded on it. That is the only thing that it runs.

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sjesse
Leadership
Leadership

The confusion is the vsphere server, in the future it would help if you specify vcenter server. vCenter is the product that manages esxi, vsphere is the combination of vCenter and esxi hosts.

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StephenMoll
Expert
Expert

Also I think you should be aware that "vCenter Server for Windows" is deprecated and will not be available for vSphere 6.7 and beyond.

Refer to : Farewell, vCenter Server for Windows - VMware vSphere Blog

If you are doing this to learn about VMware and vSphere, etc, I think you would server yourself better by using vCSA (vCenter Server Appliance). This is where all development effort is now, so to get access to new features and technologies you should be using this. vCenter Server for Windows will become rapidly more and more stale.

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AC_Marable
Contributor
Contributor

Find out which ESXi host that vCenter server is attached to and gather the ESXi host ip or its fully qualified domain name along with the user id/pwd that host uses.

Login to the ESXi Host server using the vsphere client look for the vcenter in question.

The power off the virtual server that needs to have the RAM adjusted as 'Hot Plug' feature meaning 'on-the-fly' changes is currently unchecked.

Make the changes needed.

Power the server on.  After waiting a few minutes for the vcenter services to start you can log back into the vSphere interface and you are in business.

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