Hey everyone! I'm relatively new to server administration and need a bit of guidance. We have an HP server running VMware ESXi that's going to be shut down for some electrical work. What's the safest way to do this without causing issues? Should I just log into the physical machine with the local admin password and shut it down from there, or is there a better method? I do have access to the VMware web interface. Any tips would be awesome! Thanks!
5 Answers
Honestly, you can just power it down directly from the server itself as long as you ensure all updates finish. Just make sure everything is shut down first! Easy peasy.
Here's another method: First, shut down your virtual servers from within their respective OSes or using VMware tools. After confirming all VMs are off, go into maintenance mode in the web GUI and then shut down the ESXi host. If you're doing electrical work, it might also be a good idea to cut the power to the host to prevent any surges!
Make sure to power down each guest server first – you can do this remotely. Once they're off, you can log into the physical machine and just shut it down through the options there. Give it some time to complete any necessary updates before powering off.
To properly shut down your ESXi server, you'll want to first migrate or shut down all the virtual machines (VMs) running on it. After that, log into the ESXi interface and put the host into maintenance mode (you can find this option under Actions). Then, use the interface to shut down the host safely.
A straightforward approach is to log into the web interface, shut down all running VMs, and then put the server in maintenance mode before shutting down the server itself. That's the simplest way to ensure everything is closed properly.
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