Vcenter Failure

[khatritz]

Hello

I have a question on old Vmware 4.1 - hope someone can assist

The setup consits of some hosts esxi 4.1  which were connected to vcenter 4.1 and using Datastores and VDS configured at Vcenter Level.

Now the Vcenter Server (Windows 2008 R2) has corrupted and beyond repair. All the VMs are working fine accessing the Datastores and VDS which was configured with Vcenter.

We need to build a new Vcenter. Unfortunately, there is no backup.

My Questions

1. How Do I deregister the ESxi and join to New Vcenter

2. IF the ESXi joins to new Vcenter will it still see the Datastores and VDS ? if not then what option do I have to retain the Datastore and VDS configuration

Thank You

[scott28tt]

If you are running anything like production/critical workloads you should consider running at least 6.5 (ESXi and vCenter Server) - all older versions are end of life with no support or updates.

[a_p_]

I had a similar issue some time ago with a newer vCenter Server version. What worked for me was to install a new vCenter Server with the same settings (e.g. name, iIP address, ...) on which I also create the distributed switch with the same name as in the original server. I was then able to connect the ESXi hosts to the new vCenter Server. IIRC the add host wizard asked me to verify/confirm the distributed switch settings, before it added the host.

André

[khatritz]

Thanks Andre

Did the new Vcenter also pickup the Datastore ( if they were configured under old Vcenter)

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Datastores are mounted to the hosts, not vCenter Server, so that should not cause any issue.

I assume that you are not working with datastore clusters!? In this case I'm not sure whether this requires special treatment.

André

[khatritz]

Thank You for that valuable information.