Configuring name resolution for VMware vCenter Server
Article ID: 310809
Updated On:
Products
VMware vCenter Server
Issue/Introduction
This article guides you through the process of configuring name resolution for VMware vCenter Server. Configuring name resolution often necessary when there is no DNS server on the network or the DNS server is incorrectly configured.
Symptoms:
Symptoms:
- Unable to add a host to VirtualCenter/vCenter Server by name but you can add a host by IP.
- VMware High Availability (HA) Cluster fails to configure.
- When adding an ESX/ESXi host to vCenter Server, you see the error:The host type is not supported, or was added to a cluster but does not support clustering features.
Environment
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
Resolution
If you are using DNS server, use the nslookup utility on the client device to check that the DNS name (for example, esx1.mycompany.com) is resolved into the correct IP address. For example:
#nslookup esx1.mycompany.com
If it is not resolving into the correct IP address , contact your DNS administrator to ensure that the forward and reverse records are correct. If you are unable to do this or would like to rule out DNS, edit the hosts file to configure name resolution. The default location for the hosts file is %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts .
#nslookup esx1.mycompany.com
If it is not resolving into the correct IP address , contact your DNS administrator to ensure that the forward and reverse records are correct. If you are unable to do this or would like to rule out DNS, 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 hosts.
The contents of the hosts file must look similar to:
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 hosts are pingable by name from the VMware vCenter Server. For more information, see Testing network connectivity with the Ping command (1003486) .
You must repeat the above steps on machines using VMware Infrastructure/vSphere Client.
Additional Information
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