VC displays Host IP Address instead of Host Name

[sh4yne]

Hello. I have a few hosts in Virtual Center that only display the IP address.

I've tried several things to change the displayed names to the server names. When I connect to our VC server, the IP address is displayed for those hosts. If I connect directly to the hosts with the IP address, then the host name is displayed in the Inventory list.

I've added all the hosts to Virtual Center using the FQDN. For these hosts that will only display the IP address, I get the error: "Unable to access the specified host. It either does not exist, the server software is not responding, or there is a network problem. "

I checked DNS, and I think they have valid entries.

I've checked the /etc/sysconfig/network and /etc/hosts/host files on those hosts. I think they are correct. When I type the hostname command, the correct name is returned.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can get the server names to display instead of the IP addresses, I will certainly appreciate any help.

[weinstein5]

Welcome to the forums - I think the issue is your VC server can not resolve the names - check to see is you ping the ESX server from VC Server via the FQDN - I will bet that is where the issue is and you will need to look at the DNS server that the VC server is utilizing and confirm it is configured correctly - If your VC server uses the same DNS server as your ESX Hosts you will need to resolve this if you want to use VMware HA- The only to list the Vms by host name is by adding them to VC via the FQDN

If you find this or any other answer please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful

[RParker]

Weinstein has some very valid points. Those are good to follow.

You definately have a DNS problem somewhere. Ping those hosts from your machine or another machine on the network. Does that work? Ping from VC from the command prompt. Do NSLOOKUP by ip and see what the reverse lookup it resolves to. Then do the same by name. It should be the same IP.

But you have a network issue someplace, and the entries are not correct, because VC (Windows) uses simple network lookups.

[TomHowarth]

Firstly welcome to the forums.

the other two posters have hit the nail on the head, you are having name resolition issues. check your DNS for valid cname and ptr records. manually enter if needed.

once you have confirmed name resolution remove the hosts from management and reregister using the FDQN and you should be good to go

Tom Howarth

VMware Communities User Moderator

[sh4yne]

Thank you for the welcome and for the answers.

I had a few DNS issues. One IP address had two entries. An incorrect server name and IP address somehow made its way into the hosts file of our VC server. And I needed a couple new PTRs.

All three answers were very helpful! And correct.

Thank you very much to all three of you.