vCenter 4.1 reinstall

[gmt]

Hi!

I have inherited a VMware environment with an unstable vCenter 4.1 server. The previous syadmin upgraded it from 4 but didn't do a very good job. The particular problem is that the VMware webservice isn't starting.

If I was to uninstall and reinstall vCenter, would I lose any settings? There are no host profiles or distributed switches, all I have are eight hosts (two of them in a HA cluster, three more in another non-HA and non-DRS cluster and three other individual hosts). There are no resource pools either.

I don't care about log files or performance data, I am happy to have a clean vCenter with all my hosts/vms and their settings.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[f10 · Accepted solution]

The cluster and vCenter information is stored in the database so as long as you are using the same database these settings like cluster information etc. would be retained its only the custom permissions that you would lose. Looking at the description that you have provided I dont think that there is much to lost, just remove the hosts from the vCenter and reinstall vCenter using existing database (optional) and add the hosts back.

[idle-jam]

you have nothing to worry off, just install a new instance and re-add the hosts back ..

[gmt]

Thanks for the fast responses, much appreciated!

If I understand you correctly then all I need to do is point to the existing database during the install and that's it? Should I do a reboot in-between the uninstall and the reinstall? Probably wouldn't do any harm.

If I was to go crazy and install a completely new machine to use as vCenter server (new hostname and IP address) then all I'd have to do is import the eight hosts, setup my datacenter, my two clusters (with the two and three hosts), enable HA and DRS and I am done?

[iw123]

Yeah - we had a similar issue recently following an upgrade to 4.1.

So long as you have the database it should all be ok. Just point the installer at you existing database. Same goes for update manager too.

[f10]

Yes, using the existing database is only if you want to preserve the datacenter, cluster names etc. but you may chose to delete and install fresh vCenter and SQL Express if you want to and all you would have to do is create datacenter, cluster and add the hosts back.

Do make a note of the ESX and vCenter license keys before you destroy and re-create the datacenter.