VMware Cloud Community
fabianVM808
Contributor
Contributor

New vCenter joining cluster

My VCenter is down and the idea of standing up a new one with the same name/ip was brought up. We have 2 VCenters in our cluster running 6.0. The downed VCenter manages 8 esxi hosts that have an average of 15 server vm's each. These hosts are operational. What would the process be to stand up this new VCenter and reattach these 8 hosts to it? This will be a linux based install. Is there a part of the installation that it'll ask to join a cluster or be able to see the other VCenter and hosts?

Reply
0 Kudos
7 Replies
ashilkrishnan
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi @fabianVM808 ,

Yes, you can deploy a new vCenter server and add the existing ESXi hosts to it. If you are planning to join this new vCenter to existing vCenter server for enhanced linked mode, choose 'Join an existing vCenter Single Sign-On domain' during deployment and provide details about the working vCenter server.

Please refer option 3 here --> Platform services controller configuration 

I hope that helps.

 

Reply
0 Kudos
bryanvaneeden
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Hi @fabianVM808 ,

I am not 100% sure that the suggestion that @ashilkrishnan will work, since your vCenter is down and by the looks of your description will not come up again. So joining the SSO domain would not be an option because of that, unless you have an External PSC ofcourse.

You can setup a new vCenter, with the same IP and add the hosts. I am not 100% sure how the VM's will react to this on the network side if you are using a dvSwitch. But when using a vSwitch this should not cause any outage on the VMs.

Visit my blog at https://vcloudvision.com!
Reply
0 Kudos
ashilkrishnan
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi @bryanvaneeden ,

Just to clear the confusion. User had asked 'What would the process be to stand up this new VCenter and reattach these 8 hosts to it?' and the process should hold good.

@fabianVM808 ,

Procedure provided holds good existing vCenter with embedded PSC or external PSC. If the VMs were part of standard switches, there is nothing to worry and if they are part of distributed switch then we have a concern as Bryan mentioned.

Reply
0 Kudos
bryanvaneeden
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Hi @ashilkrishnan,

The process described should work, as long as he has access to a working current vCenter right? Since you need to enter the credentials to the current PSC, either embedded or external, to join an existing SSO domain. If the old vCenter with Embedded PSC is not available, he cannot join the current existing SSO domain.

Visit my blog at https://vcloudvision.com!
Reply
0 Kudos
ashilkrishnan
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

@bryanvaneeden ,

If the user has both vCenter servers down, then the process is out of the question.

User has mentioned that he has 2 vCenter servers and one of them is down. His question is to deploy a new vCenter and see the other vCenter along with it's hosts.

 

Reply
0 Kudos
bryanvaneeden
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Yes this is alright. I actually did not see that the user has 2 vCenters. My bad. 

Visit my blog at https://vcloudvision.com!
Reply
0 Kudos
fabianVM808
Contributor
Contributor

Hello 

 

Reply
0 Kudos