Best practice for deploying vCenter without DNS (stand-alone ESXi, AD/DNS added later)

[Olekisy Martynenko]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently deploying a vCenter Server Appliance in a stand-alone ESXi environment.
There is no DNS or Active Directory available at this stage.
AD/DNS services will be configured at a later stage, and the vCenter Server will eventually be joined to the domain.

My question is:

Is there an official or recommended best practice for deploying vCenter without DNS, when AD/DNS will be added afterwards?

Current situation:

• Single ESXi host (stand-alone)

• No DNS server available during deployment

• vCenter should be installed using IP only

• Later the environment will receive AD/DNS and proper hostnames/FQDN

I want to avoid issues with certificates, lookup service, or changes to the system name after deployment.

What is the recommended procedure in this scenario?
Is deploying vCenter via IP address (without FQDN) still considered supported and safe until DNS becomes available?

Thanks in advance for any guidance or best-practice recommendations.

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[ninjabrum]

There was a workaround written up by William Lam that worked for VCSA 7.0, but from what I see, it doesn't work for VCSA 8 or higher.  DNS resolution is needed to complete stage 2 of the install.  Best practice is to use a FQDN (not IP) for the hostname.  There is no "best practice" for going against the installation guide.

i highly recommend setting up BIND on a Linux distro or getting a free DNS appliance.  This will make everything easier, the you'll only need to change DNS servers and your certs won't need recreating later.

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