QA #28 How delete ESXi from vCenter inventory without maintenance mode

Question

How delete ESXi from vCenter inventory without maintenance mode

Normally MM is needed to delete ESXi host from vCenter inventory. It causes that vms must be migrated or turned off. How to prevent that and remove ESXi host with running vms? How delete ESXi from vCenter inventory without maintenance mode?

Answer

ESXi deletion from the vCenter environment is possible without going into MM. To do that communication between ESXi and vCenter must be stopped. How it can be done?

Connect to ESXi host via SSH and:

1. On ESXi host execute:
   • /etc/init.d/vpxa stop
   • /etc/init.d/hostd restart
2.  Remove ESXi host from vCenter inventory
3. On ESXi host execute/etc/init.d/vpxa start

After that steps your ESXi host will be removed from the vCenter environment without going into Maintenance Mode so vms state will be not interrupted.

Related:

VMware KB – LINK