Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Once you create at least one datacenter object, you're ready to add your ESXi hosts to the
vCenter Server inventory, as described in the next section.
Adding ESXi Hosts
In order for vCenter Server to manage an ESXi host, you must i rst add the ESXi host to vCenter
Server. The process of adding an ESXi host to vCenter Server automatically installs a vCenter
agent on the ESXi host through which vCenter Server communicates and manages the host.
Note that vCenter Server 5.5 does support adding and managing ESX/ESXi 4.
x
hosts to the
inventory. We'll only describe adding ESXi 5.5 hosts to vCenter Server, but the process is nearly
identical for other versions.
Perform the following steps to add an ESXi host to vCenter Server:
1.
Launch the vSphere Web Client, if it is not already running, and connect to a vCenter
Server instance.
➢
2.
From the Navigator, select vCenter
Hosts And Clusters, or simply click the Hosts And
Clusters icon from the home screen.
3.
In the Navigator, right-click the datacenter object, and select Add Host.
4.
In the Add Host Wizard, supply the IP address or fully qualii ed hostname and user
account information for the host being added to vCenter Server. This will typically be the
root account.
Although you supply the root password when adding the host to the vCenter Server
inventory, vCenter Server uses the root credentials only long enough to establish a dif-
ferent set of credentials for its own use moving forward. This means that you can change
the root password without worrying about breaking the communication and authentica-
tion between vCenter Server and your ESXi hosts. In fact, regularly changing the root
password is considered a security best practice.
5.
When prompted to decide whether to trust the host and an SHA1 i ngerprint is dis-
played, click Yes.
Strictly speaking, security best practices dictate that you should verify the SHA1 i nger-
print before accepting it as valid. ESXi provides the SHA1 i ngerprint in the View Support
Information screen at the console.
6.
The next screen displays a summary of the ESXi host being added, along with informa-
tion on any VMs currently hosted on that server. Click Next.
7.
Figure 3.20 shows the next screen, where you need to assign a license to the host being
added.
The option to add the host in evaluation mode is also available.
Choose evaluation mode, or assign a license; then click Next.
8.
The next screen offers the option to enable lockdown mode. Lockdown mode ensures that
the management of the host occurs via vCenter Server, not through the vSphere Client
connected directly to the ESXi host. Click Next.
