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Configuring name resolution for VMware VirtualCenter

Symptoms

  • Unable to add a host to VirtualCenter by name but you can add a host by IP.
  • VMware High Availability (HA) Cluster fails to configure.
  • When adding an ESX or ESXi host to VirtualCenter, you see the error:
     
    The host type is not supported, or was added to a cluster but does not support clustering features.

Purpose

This article guides you through the process of configuring name resolution for VMware VirtualCenter. Configuring name resolution often necessary when there is no DNS server on the network or the DNS server is incorrectly configured. 

Resolution

You must edit the hosts file to configure name resolution.   The default location for the hosts file is:
 
%SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
 
The hosts file location may be changed. The directory is determined by the registry key:
 
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\DataBasePath
 
Populate the hosts file with IP address, Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), and Short Name of all ESX Servers.
 
The contents of the hosts file must look similar to the following.
 
192.168.0.1         server1.domain.com         server1
192.168.0.2         server2.domain.com         server2
192.168.0.3         server3.domain.com         server3
 
where server# is the name of your server.  
 
Verify that all ESX Servers are pingable by name from the VMware VirtualCenter Server. For more information, see Testing network connectivity with the Ping command (1003486
 
You must repeat the above steps on machines using VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client.

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Actions
  • KB Article: 1003713
  • Updated: Aug 14, 2009
  • Products:
    VMware VirtualCenter
  • Product Versions:
    VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
    VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x