Best Practices for Changing the IP Address of vCenter 7.x/8.x

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

This article provides best practices for changing the IP address of vCenter. 

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 7.x
• VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Resolution

Follow these Best Practices when making IP address changes to vCenter Server: 

• Take a snapshot of the vCenter Server before attempting any networking changes
• Verify that the system name of the appliance is an FQDN before changing the IP address
  • The system name is used as primary network identifier (PNID)
  • Reconfigure the Primary Network Identifier
• Ensure forward/reverse DNS entries have been created for the new IP address of vCenter
• If the vCenter Server lives on a Distributed Switch, you can either move it to a Standard Switch or create a new Distributed Port Group with "ephemeral" port binding
  • vCenter Server manages the Distributed Switch, creating a circular dependency
  • Changing the IP address of vCenter while on a Distributed Switch will cause network loss
  • For details on ephemeral port binding, see article:  Static (non-ephemeral) or ephemeral port binding on a vSphere Distributed Switch
• Second and third party solutions must be re-registered following any IPv4 or IPv6 address change

Additional Information

Configure the DNS, IP Address, and Proxy Settings

Also ensure to verify runtime settings on vCenter: Verify that the vCenter Server managed address field is reflecting the NEW IP address.