Modifying vSphere object's name through value altering of database table

 

 Three years ago I published a post that describe how to connect to the vCenter Server database (PostgreSQL) investigating or changing any required values, especially objects that are getting in trouble and you couldn't modify them directly via vSphere management tools (Web Client, PowerCLI
and so on). For example, an orphaned virtual machine (like a Horizon Replica VM) that is not possible to remove.

 In my recent case, I have an ESXi host that is a member of a HA Cluster and since it has been added via IP address, if we want to alter its name, we should remove and add it again to the vCenter. As you probably know, I should put it into the maintenance mode, and unfortunately, there are not enough available resources in the other ESXi hosts of this cluster for VM migration. So I decided to modify the ESXi name that is connected to the vCenter server via changing the value of the database.

 First, I strongly suggest reading my post, then taking a new backup before doing any action through the vCenter server shell. In the second step, after connecting to the vPostgres database via the PgAdmin tool, go to this path: "Databases\VCDB\Schemas\vc\Tables" and run the following queries in the mentioned tables:

 1. To list and check all existing ESXi in the considered data center

     SELECT     id, dns_name, ip_address, vpxa_id
            FROM     vc.vpx_host

You can reduce the query result via adding a condition like filtering per Data Center, if you note it. For example:

     SELECT     id, dns_name, ip_address, vpxa_id
            FROM     vc.vpx_host     WHERE     datacenter_id= '1001';

2. Note the consider id. So to modify and set the FQDN instead of IP address, run the following  query:

   UPDATE    vc.vpxv_host
            SET    dns_name = 'ESXi_FQDN'     WHERE     id = '7044';

The query should return successfully. However, you can modify the dns_name field manually for the corresponding ESXi host in the result table of the SELECT query. In both methods, you should execute F6 "Save Data Changes" to commit all changes.

3. Also, you can check the corresponding modification via querying other related Tables, like:

    SELECT     id, name
          FROM     vc.vpx_entity     WHERE     type_id= '1';

You should consider running the last query again for type_id='2'.

4. Finally, to confirm the accuracy of changes. it's better to repeat these actions for the corresponding Views in this path: "Databases\VCDB\Schemas\vc\Views"

    SELECT     hostid, name
          FROM     vc.vpxv_hosts     WHERE datacenter_id='1001';

Do it also for datacenter_id='1002' too. 

    SELECT     id, name
          FROM     vc.vpxv_entity     WHERE     entity_type='COMPUTE_RESOURCE'

5. Then run the following command to restart all VCSA services:

        services-control --stop --all    |   services-control --start --all

So after login into the vSphere web client again, you can see your modification has been successfully done. Just a duration needed to pass, so don't be hurry to see the considered results quickly in operations like this. However, I should mention once again, described procedure is a very risky action, so do it carefully or avoid doing, if you don't have any knowledge about the databases and how to run the query against them.