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Moving ESX host from one Virtual Center to another

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How to register an ESX Server host in a Virtual Center?

Sometimes you need to move an ESX Server host into another vCenter Management Server. To move an ESX host from one Virtual Center to another, you must remove the host from Virtual Center first , then  add the host to a new VirtualCenter. It may appear like an overwhelming task but if you follow the instructions below, it should be as easy as setting up a mobile broadband connection on you laptop.

To remove the ESX host from VirtualCenter:

01.) If the managed host is in a cluster, right-click the cluster. Set the DRS mode to manual and disable VMware High Availability by de-selecting Configure HA. Click OK and wait for the reconfiguration to complete.
02.) Click the Inventory button in the navigation bar, expand the inventory as needed, and click the appropriate managed host.
03.) Right-click the managed host icon in the inventory panel and choose Remove. Click Yes to confirm

Then, to add the ESX host to a new VirtualCenter:

01.) Connect VMware Infrastructure Client to the new vCenter.
02.) Click Inventory in the navigation bar and Expand the inventory as needed, and click the appropriate datacenter or cluster.
03.) Choose File > New > Add Host.
04.) When the wizar appears, enter the name or IP address of the ESX host, then enter the username and password and click Next.

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Comments

  1. Glenn says

    Do you have to shutdown all VMs before moving an ESX host from one VirtualCenter to another?

    Or can the virtual machines continue running on the host whilst it is relocated?

    Many thanks

    • Vladan says

      In case you have vMotion enabled, yes, you can do it… otherwise you must power down your VMs before relocating onto another host…

      • Glenn says

        Thanks for the reply.

        The VMs will stay on the same hosts. But the ESX 3.5 hosts will be moved from an old VirtualCenter Server to a new vCenter Server. I then plan to vMotion the VMs onto the new ESX 4.0 hosts.

        Do I need to shutdown the VMs whilst I disconnect the hosts from VirtualCenter and reconnect it to vCenter? Or would they continue to run ok on the hosts?

        Many thanks

        • Vladan says

          Glenn,

          I might not be the right person to answer. I would suggest that you should : 01. disconect you host from virtual center. 02. Connect the host to the new vCenter. That's it. There should not be a downtime.

          But you should do some more googling… -:)

        • Glenn says

          Thanks vladan, you were right.

          Also, I finally found the same answer buried in the vSphere documentation.

          Cheers

          Glenn

  2. Dhanaji says

    What about port groups,

    will it migrate on other vcenter as it is or we need to create repeatedly on new vCenetr?

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