ESX host not responding and unable to remove

[sycon1976]

Sorry if this has been answered, but I could not seem to find the answer by searching. We have had an ESX host go down due to hardware issues. We have decided to not fix this server as the cluster is running just fine with out it. Right now it is showing up as not responding, but the option to remove from the cluster is greyed out.

Is there a way to "force" a removal or any ideas why the remove option is not available?

Thanks in advance.

[jbrazio]

Have you tried to disconnect first and then remove ?

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[VBarak]

or entering maintenance mode before you try that...

[jbrazio]

But if the host is already disconnected.. there's no way to put it on

maintenance mode.

[sycon1976]

I cannot do either option. The only option really is Power On. Not really an option as we dont plan on fixing the hardware.

[vistaphotos]

There's a distinction when an ESX is marked as "Not Responding" or "Disconnected" in VC, these are different states. I don't remember for sure, but I'm guessing if the ESX is "Not Responding" the option to "Remove from Inventory" is greyed out, but the option to "Disconnect" is available. I think if you use the "Disconnect" option the ESX should transition to a "Disconnected" state and the option to "Remove from Inventory" should no longer be greyed out, it can then be used to remove the ESX from the inventory.

[bggb29]

Have you tried restarting the virtual center server service

then attempted to remove the host

[csherman]

Im actually having the same problem, A Host that Can not be removed from Virtual Center. Ive tried restarting virtual center completely, but so far nothing has worked to remove it. Every time I get an Error :

Destroy host - Unable to contact the specified Host (ip addy). This might be because the host is not available on the network.

The host is in a "disconnected" state

[Wyrdone]

We also have this same issue. Tried restarting vCenter and cannot reconnect host.

[AndreTheGiant]

Have you tried to reastart the agent on ESX?

service vmware-vpxa restart

Andre

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[VladN]

You may have to contact support about this. About a month ago my colleague killed one of the servers before I removed it from the inventory, but I don't remember any problems with removing it from virtual center...

[evandena]

Any updates?

I'm having the same problem. Updated VC to 4.0, one of the hosts is disconnected and I cannot connect it or remove it.

Trying to Connect tells me the password is wrong (even before I type it), and will fail with "Permission to perform this operation was denied. You do not hold privilege "System > View" on folder """

Trying to Remove says it cannot contact specified host.

[thehyperadvisor]

The only thing that has worked for me is to either install a new esx host with the same ip. It also only worked when the esx host was around the same build as what the old one was i.e. update 3 or update 4. The second which have used a few times and is quick as easy, is to change the ip of one your current esx host. Of course this may not be an option for most in their production environment but if you have an esx host that you can remove from vc, reip the SC (esxcfg-vswif -i newip -n subnet vswifx), connect to it in VC, then remove it again, change the ip back, readd.

hope this helps - thehyperadvisor.com

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[evandena]

I figured out my issue... the host was ESXi and in Lockdown Mode, so I could not join it to VC with the root account.

[romant]

duplicate

[djkast33]

" figured out my issue... the host was ESXi and in Lockdown Mode, so I could not join it to VC with the root account."

This shouldn't matter... I've added other hosts in, while a server is in lockdown mode

[roberbizimhatem]

Reinstall the hypervisor with the same IP and reconnect. It will ask you for the username and password. The VM's you had will be marked "orphaned". You can remove them from inventory ("Remove from Inventory").

[MartinHolt]

" figured out my issue... the host was ESXi and in Lockdown Mode, so I could not join it to VC with the root account."

This resolved the issue as it was described to me. Thankyou!

Is a misleading error message.