How to change NSX Manager Appliance FQDN

Products

• VMware NSX

Issue/Introduction

The NSX Manager hostname is initially configured during appliance deployment, see: Configure NSX Manager for Access by DNS Server

However, there may be scenarios where you need to update the hostname and/or DNS search domains after deployment such as changes in DNS infrastructure or naming conventions.

This article outlines the recommended workflow for updating the NSX Manager appliance’s hostname and search domains.

Environment

VMware NSX 4.x
VMware NSX-T Data Center 3.x

Resolution

Ensure an up-to-date backup is in place and the credentials and passphrases are known.

Change the NSX appliance FQDN/Hostname by following these steps. 

1. Confirm the new DNS entries have replicated across all authoritative name servers.
   
   e.g., run nslookup or ping or dig, etc, to confirm the correct resolution before proceeding to make the change.
   
   
2. Log in to each NSX Manager appliance via SSH as the 'admin' user. 
   
    Ensure the cluster is up: Run 'get cluster status' and confirm the cluster is healthy.
   
   
3. Then, one by one on each node, to change the hostname and change the search domain, run:
   

   set hostname <New-NSX Manager Name>
   set search-domains <new-Domain name>
   del search-domains <old-Domain name>

   Validate new hostname and search domain are applied.

   get configuration
   get cluster status 

   Note, if only the hostname is changing and not the DNS suffix, then the set search-domains and del search-domains do not need to be run.
   
   
4. When using custom certificates, replace the existing NSX Manager certificates with new ones issued for the updated FQDN.
   
   
5. Remove OLD DNS entries from the DNS server. 

Additional Information

Replace Certificates

Publish FQDN of the NSX Managers

Configure NSX Manager for Access by DNS Server