Directly modifying ESXi host managed by vCenter Server

In the world of Nutanix HCI on vSphere, you sometimes do not have access to the vCenter Server, but you do have the root credentials of the ESXi host. However, when you try to make your changes, the ESXi host returns the message, “Access to resource settings on the host is restricted to the server that is managing it”.

There is one particular administrator task where this workaround comes into play: the Nutanix CVM resizing procedure to increase/decrease vCPU and RAM. I always forget the exact details of this workaround and then spend 30 minutes searching for it, so here it is. If this was a Production system, then obviously you would have an approved Change Request before you executed the workaround.

This workaround is documented in VMware KB 2021618.

1. SSH to the ESXi host you want to modify and login as “root”.
2. Execute the command “/etc/init.d/vpxa stop”.
3. Execute the command “/etc/init.d/hostd restart”.
4. Connect to the ESXi host with the C# Client or the Host Client and make the changes required.
5. Disconnect from the ESXi host.
6. Execute the command “/etc/init.d/vpxa start” and vCenter Server will resume communications with the host.