This will be a short post, as I don’t want to cover ground I’ve recently written about, but as this is one of the VCAP-DCA objectives, I still wanted to cover it.
The DCUI can be used to configure a host’s networking as documented here. It’s worth mentioning here that you can also access the DCUI console via SSH by typing ‘dcui’ at the CLI prompt:
Other recent posts around using the CLI to configure and troubleshoot host networking include:
- Utilize vSphere CLI Commands to Troubleshoot ESXi Network Configurations
- Using esxtop/resxtop to Identify Network Performance Problems
- Troubleshoot ESXi Host DNS and Routing Related Issues
A couple of things that I haven’t covered elsewhere are using the DCUI to restore a standard vSwitch, and using the DCUI to reset a host to it’s default configuration. The reset option is available on the main DCUI screen, and is self explanatory:
If you select this option, it will reset the host back to it’s default configuration, removing all network configuration etc as a consequence. You will be asked for confirmation before the config is reset though, in case you are too hasty:
The other DCUI option I wanted to mention was the Network Restore options:
The Restore Network Settings option allows you to restore the management network settings by configuring the management network with system defaults. Choosing this option will stop all running virtual machines on the host. There is also the option available to ‘Restore Standard Switch’. This option will be greyed out unless your management network is connected to a dvSwitch.
You may need to run this if you are having problems with the dvSwitch an this is causing a loss of connectivity to your hosts management network. It may be that you need to fix issues with the dvSwitch, but need to restore host connectivity in the meantime.
When you select this option, a new standard vSwitch will be created on the host, with a new vmkernel interface to which an IP can be assigned. An uplink from the dvSwitch will be moved to the new standard vSwitch. You can read more about this process here.