How to move ESXi/ESX host from one vCenter Server to another

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides instructions to move a managed ESXi/ESX host from one vCenter Server to another vCenter Server.
 

Considerations prior to migration:

• VMware recommends reviewing migration plans for ESX/ESXi hosts that utilize distributed switches. You can follow the below articles to migrate the host to standard switches prior to migrating them to a new vCenter Server:
  • Moving an ESX/ESXi host with vDS from one vCenter Server to another (1029498)
  • Exporting/importing/restoring Distributed Switch configs using vSphere Web client (2034602).
• If you are migrating to a vSphere 6.0 environment be aware that VMFS-3 is deprecated. For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions on Deprecation and End of Support (EOS) for VMFS-3 in VMware vSphere 6.0.x (2093576).
• The High Availability setting must be recreated on the new vCenter Server prior to host migration.
• DRS must be set to manual or disabled prior to moving the ESX/ESXi host. DRS settings must be created on the destination vCenter Server. This also removes resource pools from the ESXi/ESX host. For more information, see Disabling VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) (1007655).
  Important: If you are using VMware vCloud Director or VMware Horizon View, do not disable DRS. Configure DRS to manual to preserve the existing Resource Pools.
• Storage DRS must be set to manual and the configuration duplicated on the destination vCenter Server. For more information on enabling and disabling storage DRS, see Enabling and disabling Storage DRS (SDRS) in the vSphere Web Client (2032910).  
• After migrating a host you may experience an MKS console issue in VM's and they may require a refresh the VMX/MKS SSL cache. To mitigate against this the host should be placed in maintenance mode before migrating to a different vCenter Server, see "Unable to connect to MKS" error in vSphere Web Client.

Environment

VMware ESXi 4.1.x Installable
VMware ESX 4.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
VMware vCenter Server 4.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
VMware ESX 4.1.x
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Installable
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Installable
VMware ESXi 4.0.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
VMware ESXi 4.1.x Embedded
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
VMware VirtualCenter 2.0.x
VMware ESXi 3.5.x Embedded
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5

Resolution

To move an ESXi/ESX host from one vCenter Server to another, remove the host from the vCenter Server then add the host to a new vCenter Server. This operation does not affect the state of any virtual machines running on the ESXi/ESX as long as the prerequisites are met. The historical performance data of both the ESXi/ESX and its virtual machines will be purged.

For vSphere 7.0 version please see:

Remove host from vCenter Server in 7.0
Add host to vCenter Server 7.0
 

For vSphere 6.5 and 6.7 versions please see:

Remove host from vCenter Server in 6.7
Remove host from vCenter Server in 6.5

Add host to vCenter in 6.7
Add host to vCenter in 6.5

Removing the ESXi/ESX host from the vCenter Server

To remove the ESXi/ESX host from vCenter Server:

1. Click Inventory.
2. Expand the Inventory as needed, and click the appropriate managed host.
3. Right-click the managed host icon in the inventory panel and select Disconnect (wait for the task to complete).
4. Right-click the managed host icon in the Inventory panel and select Remove.
5. Click Yes to confirm that you want to remove the managed host and all its associated virtual machines.

Adding the ESXi/ESX host to a new vCenter Server

To add the ESXi/ESX host to a new vCenter Server:

1. Connect the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client to the new vCenter Server.
2. Click Inventory in the navigation bar.
3. Expand the Inventory as needed and click the appropriate datacenter or cluster.
4. Click File > New > Add Host.
5. In the first page of the Add Host wizard, enter the name or IP address of the managed host in the Host name field.
6. Enter the username and password for a user account that has administrative privileges on the selected managed host.
7. Click Next.

Workaround:

Additional Information

Disabling VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler
Disabling VMware High Availability (HA)
Moving an ESX/ESXi host with vDS from one vCenter Server to another
Enabling and disabling Storage DRS (SDRS) in the vSphere Web Client
Exporting/importing/restoring Distributed Switch configs using vSphere Web Client
ESXi/ESX ホストを vCenter Server 間で移動する方法
如何将 ESXi/ESX 主机从一个 vCenter Server 移至另一个 vCenter Server
Frequently Asked Questions on Deprecation and End of Support (EOS) for VMFS-3 in VMware vSphere 6.0.x