DNS or lack off during VCSA deployment

[dwchan]

I got a chicken or the egg question here.  I am doing an automated greenfield lab deployment, where the DNS technically doesn't exist yet.  In a matter of fact, my script actually adds tempoary esx host entries to my deployment pc host files so resolve some name look-up issue.  VCSA generally recommend a DNS and proper DNS lookup, but I know you can deploy it without it by using IP as its name for a hostname.  Question I have is this, is it possible to update a VCSA at a later time from IP back to a hostname?  I scenario here is that my lab AD environment will be deploy after VCSA is up, so the sequences go more like esx host, then VCSA, then template creation, than AD server (w/ DNS features)

[msripada]

Yes, you can change the FQDN or PNID from  IP to FQDN provided you are at minimum 6.7 Update 3 where you can rename FQDN of the VCSA 

https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2019/08/changing-your-vcenter-servers-fqdn.html

Hope this helps. Note DNS is still required to change the FQDN of the VCSA else the job may fail and the vcsa deployment may not work as expected.

thanks,

MS

[sjesse]

Just install AD first, thats what I do, I think anything you'd need should work directly against an esxi host if your using powercli.

[dwchan]

In my situation, AD / DNS would not be available, as the ADDS / Network environment would be provision afterward.  So it becomes chicken or eggs.  However, for now, I will make the provisioning where you have to at least have a DNS entries for the VCSA and ESX hosts.  There isn't seem to a scripted / lightweight way for me to work around

[sjesse]

You need dns for the vcenter appliance , so you either need a Linux appliance first or do dns first, there really isn't many other options. Look at vcf lab constructed script that explained here

https://blog.bertello.org/2019/08/building-nested-vcf-using-vcf-lab-constructor-vlc/

there is a link on that page you can register to get it and look at