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change vmware management network

Posted by Andrea81
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VMware

Hi guys,

i need to change the ip address of management network on my esxi hosts and vcenter VM. So the question is, can i create a new vmkernerl with right vlan and ip address (in this case i will have 2 vmkernel with management service enabled), after change the ip on vcenter VM and at the end remove the old vmkernel? i think that is not a problem, the only question is whether I have to disable HA during the operation.

thanks

Andrea

Spice (5) Reply (7)
Andrea81

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  • This is the process I would follow to do what you are asking (We also have VMware HA in our environment).  No need to specifically disable HA.

    1. Disconnect each host from the HA cluster in vCenter.  The VMs will become "stuck" on the hosts they are currently running on, but they will not go down.
    2. Change vCenter's IP address as needed
    3. Log into each host's web interface and change the IP address as needed.  Just change the existing management IP; no need to create a new VMkernel adapter, etc.  You can also change the IP from the ESXi console if you prefer.
    4. In vCenter, connect each host to the HA cluster again.  Once joined to the cluster, the VMs can migrate between hosts again.  You can migrate one or two to a different host to confirm things are working as expected.
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  • Follow the plan described by JDDellGuy above. It is perfect. Depending on the total number of ESXi hosts you have, you may want to use PowerCLI to change the IP addresses quicker than clicking through the UI.

    https://www.vmwareblog.org/powercli-fast-easy-way-set-virtual-networks-vmware-esxi


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  • Hi, thanks for reply.

    I have a simple cluster with 2 hosts and anoter standaone  host managed by same vcenter 

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  • Andrea81 wrote:

    Hi, thanks for reply.

    I have a simple cluster with 2 hosts and anoter standaone  host managed by same vcenter 

    Ok.  The steps I mentioned above still apply.

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  • ok, but i have a doubt. there is no official documentation from vmware and i see that someties someone speak about put host in maintenance mode, remove from cluster, change ip and the rejoin the host form cluster.

    in your experience is this true? the host are configurend with fqdn and I see no reason to remove from cluster. i think tha change ip on dns is enough.

    thanks

    Andrea

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  • When a host is in maintenance mode, it cannot run VMs.  When you put a clustered host into maintenance mode, the action it takes is to move all it's VMs to another host in the cluster (assuming there are sufficient resources on other hosts to take those VMs.  I don't know what happens if those resources aren't available on other hosts).

    Since you need to re-IP both the hosts and vCenter, you cannot put the hosts into maintenance mode for this, unless you are okay with scheduling the downtime to shutdown all your VMs.  Also, because you have a standalone host, you don't have the option of putting it into maintenance mode unless you are okay with the VMs that are running on it being shut down first.  The host cannot be in maintenance mode and also be running VMs.  See reference below.
    https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.resmgmt.doc/GUID-8F705E83-6788-42D4...

    Here is VMware's KB on how to change the management IP address.  But, the catch is that you also want to change your vCenter IP address, which is not part of the scenario that they describe in the KB.  Technically, it does say that you should disable HA on the cluster before proceeding, to prevent any potential failover events.  So I will stand corrected on that point from my original comment.

    https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2084629

    If the new IP addresses that you want are on the same subnet as the current IPs, then I would just change the vCenter IP first.  I believe vCenter reaches out to the hosts, so no disconnect should happen since vCenter will just reach back out to the hosts again, once it's done applying the change to itself.  After that, disable HA and then run through the steps I listed above.  Or follow the steps in the article I just linked to above.

    However, if the new IP addresses that you want are on a new subnet, then I believe you will need to disable HA, remove the hosts from the cluster, re-IP vCenter, re-IP the hosts, and then re-add the hosts to vCenter.

    But no maintenance mode unless you want to shut down all your VMs.  Hosts that are in maintenance mode cannot run VMs.

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  • Hi, 

    I know very well that in maintenance mode I have to move the VMs to another host, and that's what I want to avoid
    thinking about it I would begin to change the IP of the VCSA and then change the IP of the standalone host.
    thanks
    Andrea
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