How to re-image an ESXi Host and add it back to SDDC Manager in VMware Cloud Foundation

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information on the steps needed to re-image an Esxi host and add it back to SDDC Manager in VMware Cloud Foundation 2.2.x and 2.3.x

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3.x
VMware Cloud Foundation 2.2.x

Resolution

1. Before re-imaging a host you must decommission it first; failure to do so can result in a failure to add the host back to the SDDC Manager. Please see 2.3 Admin -Guide page 71 for steps on how to decommission a host.

Notes:

• Before Decommissioning the nodes make a note of the ESXi Host's BMC IP address and credentials.
• The esxi host root account password after it gets decommissioned will change to  D3c0mm1ss10n3d!
• If the environment was upgraded from 2.2 to 2.3, please run the following script on the SDDC Manager Controller VM  /home/vrack/bin/get-bmc-passwords to retrieve the BMC/idrac passwords, since Cloud Foundation 2.3 does not manage OOB ports and the lookup-passwords command may not retrieve OOB passwords. The get-bmc-passwords script can retrieve the passwords after upgrade, but not after the rack containing the hosts has been decommissioned.   

2. Re-image the Host. See Image Individual Server in VIA User's Guide
3. Download the inventory file. See Image Individual Server in VIA User's Guide. 
4. On the SDDC Manager Dashboard, click SETTINGS > Physical Rack Settings.
5. Click the Add Host tab.
6. Select the rack to which you want to add the host.
7. Upload the manifest (inventory) file that you downloaded after the host was imaged. After the host is discovered, the Continue button is enabled. 
8. Click Continue. The bring-up process is started on the host. If you move to another UI window, you must click Continue for the bring-up process to start. As each task is completed, a green arrow is displayed next to the task. After bring-up is completed, a completion message is displayed. 
9.  Navigate to Dashboard > Physical Resources > Rack Details and confirm that the newly added host is displayed here. If the host is not visible on the SDDC Manager Dashboard, restart the SDDC Manager health service by running the following API call on the SDDC Manager VM: curl -X PUT -d 'restart' http://localhost:8080/vrm-ui/api/1.0/health