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I have a brand new ESXi host, configured for dynamic IP via DHCP, and I can access the web interface with the IP address, but not the host name. I thought (with a very shallow understanding, to be sure) that the client broadcasts host name and MAC address to the DHCP server, which then provides an IP address and provides host name and IP to the DNS server so that host name can be resolved. Am I understanding that all wrong? Or is there perhaps some config I need to do on the ESXi host to resolve this?

Gordon
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  • Why are you using DHCP for an ESXi server? I'm personally not a fan of using it for any server – Chopper3 Jun 23 '22 at 20:27
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    @chopper3, mostly because it's an internal use only server, with a limited use scenario, and the IT consultants are... um... useless? Yeah, that's the nicest I can be. So, I had assumed that because all the machines in the office are also using DHCP to get their IP addresses, and I can reach THEM using their host name, that I would be able to do the same with no extra effort on the ESXi host. – Gordon Jun 24 '22 at 14:03
  • Fair enough, cheers for the update – Chopper3 Jun 24 '22 at 15:29

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The DHCP is probably receiving the Hostname from the ESX. But this doesn't mean that your DHCP-Server is even configured/allowed to updated the DNS-Server in your Network. Easiest way to resolve this would just to add a static DHCP-Mapping to be sure it won't change and add the DNS-A Entry in the respective DNS-Server of your Network.

  • As I mentioned above, it seems like DHCP does update the DNS server since I can ping all the machines in the office, including VMs, by their host name. Only the ESXi server behaves differently. – Gordon Jun 24 '22 at 14:04
  • @Gordon The ability to have DHCP communicate with DNS is not innate: it's integration and configuration. For example you might be accustomed to this behavior if everything is provided by Windows servers in an AD environment. You should take capture from DHCP dialog between the working case and the non-working case and see if you can spot a difference. There's also something which isn't DNS that could happen: mDNS (multicast DNS) for names ending with .local . If the ESX doesn't handle mDNS this won't happen. – A.B Jun 24 '22 at 17:37
  • @a-b I guess my question is, does the fact that all the Win10 & Win11 workstations CAN be accessed by HostName suggest that the configuration of the ESXi host is the only possible issue, and if so what specifically do I need to change in the ESXi host configuration? Or is there a difference in Windows client/Windows server interaction vs ESXi client/Windows server such that the "fix" involves changes in the server config, over which I have no control, and no faith in the competence of those that do. – Gordon Jun 25 '22 at 07:09
  • @Gordon writing it again: "You should take capture from DHCP dialog between the working case and the non-working case and see if you can spot a difference." – A.B Jun 25 '22 at 11:37
  • @a-b what "DHCP dialog"? On both the ESXi host and client machines, VM or PM, DHCP happens invisibly. All are configured to "Use DHCP", and for the ESXi host this means DNS does not have the host name and IP address info, and for every other machine on the network, it does. That feels to me like EITHER a config issue on the ESXI host, or a limitation of ESXi. But the ESXi boot screen says you can access it with either the host name or the IP address, so that REALLY suggests an ESXi config issue. – Gordon Jun 25 '22 at 17:09
  • As for configuring a static IP address and adding a DNS-A entry, that requires effort from the IT clowns, and if they had any competence at all, we wouldn't have needed to build our own ESXi host. :) – Gordon Jun 25 '22 at 17:10
  • For what it is worth, I am just an Architect and PowerShell nerd who automated Autodesk installs. I am not well versed in Windows Server stuff, and until last week I knew nothing about ESXi. But after 3 YEARS of poor performance and horrible stability on the ESXi host the IT clowns provided, charged money for and presented themselves as professionals with regards to, myself and a couple of Architects repurposed an old BIM workstation as a new ESXi host and it works 1000 times better, with this one limitation we are trying to resolve. – Gordon Jun 25 '22 at 17:17
  • The IT clown provided ESXi host also has this problem, but that doesn't make me think that it can't be resolved, int makes me think they don't know anything about ESXi and couldn't be bothered to do any research or ask any actual experts. I don't know anything either, but I know how to do web searches, and I know where to ask experts. :) – Gordon Jun 25 '22 at 17:19