Manually remove vSphere Client (ESXi 5.1) from a crashed vSphere Server 5 install?

[ZACAV]

Hi,

I have some VM Hosts running ESXi 5.1. Their management server has crashed and is not recoverable.

How do I go about removing the link the ESXi install has to its management server seeing as though its no longer there?

Any help would be great.

[a_nut_in]

Hi ZACV,

I have some VM Hosts running ESXi 5.1. Their management server has crashed and is not recoverable.

How do I go about removing the link the ESXi install has to its management server seeing as though its no longer there?

I am slightly unclear as to what the query is. Let me see if I can understand this correctly:

1. You have a ESXi host on which you have VM's running.

2. When you mention "Management Server" do you mean the ESXi host itself has crashed with the VM's on it? Or do you mean that the Virtual Center Server to which the Host (ESXI 5.x) was connected to has crashed?

Scenario 1. If it is the ESXi 5.x host that has crashed with the VM's on it, if the VM's were on a shared datastore, you can right click and remove the host from the Virtual Center inventory and bring up the VM's that were there on the host on the surviving hosts by browsing the shared datastore and adding the VM's back to the inventory of the surviving hosts

Scenario 2. If the VC machine has crashed but the ESXi host with the VM's are still running, you can still get to the host by opening a vSphere Client session directly to the ESXi host

Regards

a

[ZACAV]

Hi a_nut_in,

Let me clear it up. I have 2 x ESXi 5.1 hosts which are managed via a separate server. The Virtual Center Server as you call it I think. It is this server that has crashed.

I can connect to both of the ESXi Hosts using a vSphere client directly however it does not let me change any settings on them other than simple operations like turning them off and on.

They both also warn me about being managed by a server.

I cant see anyway through the client to remove the management server from the host. I am hoping there is a SSH command I can pass through that will get this done for me. I am also trying to avoid having to turn off any of the VMs running on the hosts.

Cheers,

[a_nut_in]

Hi ZACAV,

Thanks for the reply.

Is locked down mode enabled on the hosts? Also what username are you logging into the hosts with?

Are you using root or a domain account?

When you say all options are greyed out, are you able to access the "configuration" tab and options?

Regards

a

[ZACAV]

Hi,

No they are not in lock down mode. Nothing is greys outed.

When I try to increase the size of one of the HDs the error I get is:

Access to resource settings on the host is restricted to the server that is managing it.

It then lists the IP of the server that was managing it. I get the same error from both the root account and my domain account

[a_nut_in]

Sorry for the questions but had to know exactly what you were running into.

Open an SSH session to the host and go to /etc/opt/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg

Backup the file and then do a chmod 777 vpxa.cfg

Edit the file and you will find the VC IP address at the end of the file.

Remove the IP, save the changes and do a "services.sh restart"

This should take care of the issue.

You can also do the same thing using WinSCP and download the file to your system, modify and then put it back. SSH has to be enabled either ways though, for this to work!

[a_nut_in]

Hey ZACAV,

Just checking if the previous suggestions helped?

Thanks

a

[ZACAV]

Hi,

Before I tried it, I did a recovery of the OS from a point at which vCentre had been removed. Re-installed vCentre and then added the hosts back into it. There were a couple of warnings with the invetory service as it detected that it was once installed, but it ended up working. Disconnected the hosts and removed them from the inventory.

We are now creating a new VM on an unmanaged box using the Appliance instead as we had non stop problems trying to use the install on a windows box.

Thanks for the help.

[a_nut_in]

No worries