ESXi: getting and setting the host name, domain and fqdn
Posted by jpluimers on 2022/01/19
A few links and notes:
- [Wayback] Changing the hostname of an ESX or ESXi host (1010821)
Run these commands to change the hostname in ESXi 5.x, ESXi 6.x,ESXi 7.x, using the command line:
- esxcli system hostname set –host=hostname
- esxcli system hostname set –fqdn=fqdn
- [Wayback] ESX Host appears as localhost.localdomain in VMware Infrastructure/vSphere client (2009720)
Cause
The name resolution parameters were not properly configured during the installation of the ESX host. - [Wayback] Domain repoint for embedded vCenter Server fails with error: “domain_consolidator Failed to set machine id” (71020)
This issue is caused by a mismatch between the FQDN that was configured as the PNID during the vCenter Server deployment and the hostname that is currently configured.
I had a mismatch happen because of the second entry: a host configured in a different domain than it was deployed to.
Here are the commands to list and change the hosts name, domain and fqdn:
# hostname --help BusyBox v1.29.3 (2021-01-17 01:25:00 PST) multi-call binary. Usage: hostname [OPTIONS] [HOSTNAME | -F FILE] Get or set hostname or DNS domain name -s Short -i Addresses for the hostname -d DNS domain name -f Fully qualified domain name -F FILE Use FILE's content as hostname
And the commands to change them (see also ESXi 6.5: change the host name in the “new” vSphere HTML5 Web Client, or using DHCP option 12, where I let the DHCP server take care of this):
# esxcli system hostname set --help Usage: esxcli system hostname set [cmd options] Description: set This command allows the user to set the hostname, domain name or fully qualified domain name of the ESX host. Cmd options: -d|--domain= The domain name to set for the ESX host. This option is mutually exclusive with the --fqdn option. -f|--fqdn= Set the fully qualified domain name of the ESX host. -H|--host= The host name to set for the ESX host. This name should not contain the DNS domain name of the host and can only contain letters, numbers and '-'. NOTE this is not the fully qualified name, that can be set with the --fqdn option. This option is mutually exclusive with the --fqdn option.
Note that esxcli system hostname get always outputs all parts, and does not allow to split the parts, unlike the help shows:
# esxcli system hostname get --help Usage: esxcli system hostname get [cmd options] Description: get Get the host, domain or fully qualified name of the ESX host. Cmd options:
Examples:
# hostname -s X9SRI3F-ESXi # hostname -f X9SRI3F-ESXi.fritz.box # hostname -d fritz.box # hostname -i 192.168.124.41 # esxcli system hostname get Domain Name: fritz.box Fully Qualified Domain Name: X9SRI3F-ESXi.fritz.box Host Name: X9SRI3F-ESXi # esxcli system hostname set --domain=fritz.box # esxcli system hostname set --fqdn=X9SRI3F-ESXi.fritz.box # esxcli system hostname set --host=X9SRI3F-ESXi
References:
- [Wayback] ESXi date and time | Nbctcp’s Weblog
#esxcli system hostname set –host=esx0 #esxcli system hostname set –domain=poc.com #vim-cmd vimsvc/license –set xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxx - [Wayback] VMware : Changer le Hostname ESXi en CLI – VroomBlog which has a lot of screenshots with info blurred out, but the statements are OK after I set the markup to
codeand replaced all U+2013 EN DASH (–) with double dashes (--):
# esxcli system hostname --help # esxcli system hostname get # esxcli system hostname set --host=Nom_Host # esxcli system hostname set --domain=Nom_De _Domain # esxcli system hostname set --fqdn=Nom_Host.Nom_De _DomainThe last statement is marked “ou directement via”, which means that you can set the
hostanddomainin one go using thefqdnsyntax.
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
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