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paul_xedos
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Migrated vcsa server to new host - all datastores inaccessible and all hosts disconnected

Hi,

After migrating a vcsa server to a new host by cloning and moving to a new host ( with a new IP) all the entities see within vcsa are either "disconnected" ( hosts and vms) or "inaccessible" ( datastores). All right click options on any entity is also greyed out

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I followed another link suggesting clone, power off old, power on new was the procedure but I'm wondering if the new IP may have affected the licensing state

Is there a way to get vcsa back to normal from this point

I have clicked through licenses and I believe the ones we need are assigned and not expired. We have 2 others which are expired but I think not used and were expired before the move

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Regards

Paul

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paul_xedos
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Now fixed. I needed to change the serverIP on the problem esx host in the vpxa.cfg file. Details here VMware Knowledge Base . Pretty sure I had previously looked and changed this one but apparently not.

Thanks for the help with this one

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a_p_
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I followed another link ...

I wonder where you read this? What's the reason why you not just migrated the vCSA? The only reason I can think of is that you only have a "Essentials Kit" license.

Anyway, the issue you now have is that the hosts and vCenter cannot communicate with each other anymore. This is most likely related to the IP address change, which - depending on the vCenter Server setup - may already cause issues. However, what I think that may be causing this is the DNS resolution. Did you reconfigure the DNS entries (Forwared, and Reverse DNS) for the vCenter Server, so that it can properly resolves by name, and IP address?


André

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scott28tt
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Moderator: Thread moved to the vCenter Server area.


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paul_xedos
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Hi,

The link for moving vcsa was here

Unfortunately, the dns and ip address change are all correct - everything resolves and is pingable

Regards

Paul

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a_p_
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Some questions:

  • Which vCenter Server version and build do you currently use?
  • What's the vCenter Server's PNID? (command: /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli get-pnid --server-name localhost)

If the PNID equals the fully qualified name rather than the IP address, then take a look at https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1001493​ to see whether this helps.


André

paul_xedos
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Thanks for your questions Andre.

/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli get-pnid --server-name localhost

perf-vcsa.mydomain.com

  • Version   6.7.0 
  • Build   9433931 
  • This may be very backlevel but the server is behind a firewall

For some reason all but the esxi host which contains the vcsa vm are now connected. I am thinking of removing the problem esxi host from the inventory and re-adding. The trouble is removing a host containing the vm running vSphere software from vSphere sounds like it could be a recipe for disaster.

Another thing I have noticed is that within vSphere ( only ) the vsphere vm has "(1)" appended to its name as the shutdown old copy still existed. I'm not sure whether changing the name it displays would help but this option is greyed out ( as are all options)

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If I list the vms for the problem server ( perf-esx2) from the esxi command line it appears with the correct name

19 perf-vcsa                 [perf-PROD01-D-East-SVC-ds] perf-vcsa-clone/perf-vcsa-clone.vmx                      other3xLinux64Guest   vmx-10VMware vCenter Server Appliance
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a_p_
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The name in the inventory shouldn't matter at all.

You didn't say whether you tried Method 1 from the KB article?

Regarding the firewall, can you check whether the required communication between the host, and vCenter Server is allowed on the firewall?


André

paul_xedos
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Hi Andre,

I used option2 - moving vm without shared data storage ( clone, power off an source esxi host, power on at destination host).

  • Clone vCenter Server from one host to another:
    1. Select the vCenter Server virtual machine from the Inventory.
    2. Right-click the virtual machine and click Clone.
    3. Select the destination ESXi/ESX host.
    4. Power off vCenter Server on the source host.
    5. Power on the vCenter Server virtual machine on the destination ESXi/ESX host.

Both host and vCenter Server are the same side of the firewall and can connect

Interestingly, there are several esxi hosts and all can connect ( with their vms and associated datastores) to the vCenter server. Only the esxi host containing the vCenter server and all the other vms on that host are showing as disconnected or inaccessible

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paul_xedos
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Now fixed. I needed to change the serverIP on the problem esx host in the vpxa.cfg file. Details here VMware Knowledge Base . Pretty sure I had previously looked and changed this one but apparently not.

Thanks for the help with this one

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