Configuration and Day 2 Operations | VMware vSphere Central

Configuration and Day 2 Operations

Learn about general Day 2 Operations such as configuring vCenter Server HA (VCHA), File-Based Backup and Restore, Converge Tool, vSphere Health, and Content Library. Also, discover methods for vSphere Certificate Management.

Changing the FQDN of a vCenter Server

Changing the vCenter Server’s FQDN or PNID has not been supported in previous versions of vSphere until now in vSphere 6.7 Update 3. This new feature allows customers the flexibility to rename the vCenter Server’s FQDN in a supported manner.

The vCenter Server Hostname or FQDN change (also known as PNID change) is integrated within the Virtual Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) on port 5480 [https://:5480]Provide the root administrator credentials and Login to continue.

Review the vCenter Server's Hostname on the Summary page prior to continuing. Next, click Networking.

Click Edit under the Network Settings to continue.

The Edit Network Settings wizard is displayed. Select the Network Adapter to be modified then click Next.

Hostname and DNS are displayed for the selected network adapter. Click in the Hostname field as it is now editable.

Remove the current hostname or FQDN of the vCenter Server.

Enter the new desired Hostname or FQDN of the vCenter Server. You may also edit the IP Address of the VCSA if required.Once a new FQDN is entered, click Next to continue.

When prompted for the SSO Credentials, enter them and click Next to continue.

Review the changes on the Ready to Complete page. Be sure to tick the acknowledgment checkbox indicating that you have unregistered any plug-ins as well as completed a vCenter Server backup prior to the changes. NOTE: Image Level, as well as File-Based Backups of the VCSA, are supported.

Review the Next Steps section to be sure you understand what settings will have to be reconfigured after this network change to the VCSA. Click Finish.

If the SSO Credentials were typed incorrectly the UI will alert you at this point.

Please re-enter the SSO Credentials by moving Back to that screen, then continuing forward again. Click Finish when ready to move forward.

The FQDN change process will begin by stopping services and updating the network settings.

Network settings (FQDN and/or IP Address) are updated and changed.

VCSA Services are restarted.

Once all changes have been made and all services back up, a redirect message will be displayed. The page will redirect to the new FQDN of the vCenter Server within 10 seconds. You may also click Redirect Now to skip the wait.

If you did not setup DNS A records (Forward & Reverse) you may have an issue resolving the new FQDN of your vCenter Server. Please create or edit those DNS Records to help resolve the VCSA hostname.

When DNS is configured correctly, the redirect will bring you the VMware Appliance Management (VAMI) Login. Enter your credentials and login.

From the Summary page of the VCSA we can quickly see that the Hostname has been updated to the new FQDN. Click Networking to continue.

To further validate the FQDN changes to the VCSA, we can review the network settings. Under Networks Settings, click Edit in the upper right corner.

From the Edit Network Settings wizard, click Next.

Here we can also see that the FQDN or PNID of the VCSA has been changed successfully. Click Cancel to continue.

This concludes the "Changing your vCenter Server's FQDN" Walkthrough. Visit vSphere Central for more Product Walkthroughs: https://vspherecentral.vmware.com

Changing Your vCenter Server's FQDN (Video)

In this video, we will discuss the topic of changing the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of a vCenter Server. New to vCenter Server 6.7 Update 3, changing the name of the VCSA is now supported.

Top Day 2 Operations KB Articles for vSphere 6.7

Top Day 2 Operations KB Articles for vSphere 6.7

Forwarding vCenter Server Logs to a Syslog Server

This walkthrough will demonstrate how to configure vCenter Server to send logs to a Remote Syslog Server such as vRealize Log Insight (vRLI) or a SIEM.

In vSphere 6.5, it was only possible to configure a single Syslog target. As of vSphere 6.7, the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) supports up to 3 different Syslog targets. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} For example, you may have logs that are going to an IT Admin who is using vRealize Log Insight and also logs going to a Security team who are using a SIEM. This practice assures that both teams are getting an untouched syslog feed.

Begin by logging into the VMware Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) of the vCenter Server. Log in with the root or SSO Administrator credentials. From the Summary page click Syslog to continue. NOTE: To access the VAMI, open a web browser and go to https://:5480

Click Configure to open the Forwarding Configuration wizard.

Now we can add Syslog Server targets either by FQDN or by IP Address. Click on the Server Address field to advance.

Fill out the Server Address, Protocol, and Port. At this point, you can Save to continue or if required, you may click Add to configure up to 3 Syslog targets.

Clicking Add once will add a second Syslog field. Click Add to continue.

Complete the required information for each Syslog target (Server Address, Protocol, and Port). If you need to remove an entry, simply click the red "X" at the end of the field.

In this example, we will only save one Syslog Server target. Click Save to continue.

Once the Syslog Servers are added to the VCSA they will be displayed in this table. To test for a successful connection we can click Send Test Message.

This will send a message to all configured Syslog Servers. Click Send to continue.

The vCenter Server will confirm sending the message to Syslog Servers. Click Cancel to continue. NOTE: Please verify from the remote Syslog Server that the message has been received. This screen only validates that the message has been sent from the vCenter Server, it does not validate receipt on the Syslog side.

If there becomes a need to remove this Syslog target from the Forwarding Configuration, simply click Delete.

Click Delete to remove the Syslog target configuration.

Now the Syslog targets have been removed.

This concludes the Forwarding vCenter Server Logs to a Syslog Server Walkthrough. To learn more, visit vSphere Central at https://vspherecentral.vmware.com

Top Day 2 Operations KB Articles for vSphere 6.5

Top Day 2 Operations Knowledge Base

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