DNS name does not display as FQDN on the Summary tab of a virtual machine

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.x - View

Issue/Introduction

• The virtual machine is a member of a workgroup.
• Only the hostname displays on the summary tab.
• The Domain Name Server (DNS) name does not display as the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN).

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
• VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
• VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
• VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
• VMware ESX 4.0.x
• VMware ESX 4.1.x
• VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
• VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
• VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
• VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
• VMware ESX Server 3.5.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the primary DNS suffix is not added to the domain and workgroup settings of the virtual machine's network configuration.

Resolution

Specify the domain name in the network settings. To do this, perform one of the options below depending on your environment.

 

For a Windows machine:

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1. Log on to the virtual machine.
2. Select the Windows icon, then right-click Computer and select Properties.
3. Under Computer name, click domain and workgroup settings and select Change Settings.
4. Under System Properties, click the Computer Name tab and click Change.
5. Verify the virtual machine is a member of a workgroup.
6. Click More and specify the Primary DNS suffix of this computer. For example:
   
   example.com
   
   
7. Click OK and restart the virtual machine to reflect the changes.
8. Click the Summary tab of the the virtual machine to verify the DNS name displays as FQDN.

For a Linux machine:

1. Log in to the Linux machine as a root user.
2. Run this command to verify the hostname of the Linux machine:
   
   hostname
   
   
3. To change the hostname to a FQDN, run the command:
   
   hostname system name.domain name
   
   For example:
   
   hostname server01.example.com
   
4. Click the Summary tab of the virtual machine and verify that the DNS name is displayed as a FQDN.
   
   Note: It is not mandatory to be a member of a domain for vCenter Server to display the DNS name as FQDN for all virtual machines.

Additional Information

In RedHat Linux guest operating systems, if the hostname value is not correctly configured in the network configuration file (The default location is /etc/sysconfig on RHEL/Fedora/CentOS operating systems), the information may not display correctly in vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client. For more information on modifying the network configuration file, see Rackspace Knowledge Center article, Hostname Change.