Re-install Esxi host ?

[doug_hamp]

I need to re-install esxi because the root password is lost. I was in over the weekend and did a upgrade from 4887370 to 7388607 on one of the hosts (there are 3 that need it)

That went fine but dumb me forgot about the password so the upgrade did not change that. The question I have is if I do a full install what all do I have to re-configure? It is part of a cluster connected to Nimble storage.

[pwilk]

Is your host connected to vCenter server by any chance? If so, you can reset ESXi root password using Host Profiles functionality. You can find a detailed guide for this process here: Quickie #2: Reset ESXi Password - The Easy Method

Any questions please do let me know.

[AjayChananaVMwa · Accepted solution]

Yes you would require to reconfigure the host. However you can take help of below article to backup the configuration before you do re-install.

How to back up ESXi host configuration (2042141)

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2042141

Exporting/importing/restoring Distributed Switch configs using vSphere Web Client (2034602)

https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2034602

[AjayChananaVMwa]

Just for Information, I do see changing the root password by host profile can be done but this is not supported way from VMware. You may proceed with that with you own risk.

[doug_hamp]

It looks like the backup requires the root password - or am I reading that wrong. Also we do not have distributed switches, maybe I should implement that. We do not have enterprise + though.

I am trying to fix a goofy vmware setup, 3 hosts - they all have different configs, vmotion was  never turned on, 1 vswitch running everything, running the SAN on 1GB nic's even though there are 10GB available, passwords lost - it just goes on & on!