Same host via vCenter and as a standalone host - Can I simply delete the standalone host?

[Westfale]

Hello,

We have the same host integrated into the backup infrastructure once via vCenter and once as a standalone host (I don't know why, I didn't configure this originally). After I renewed the host's certificate via vCenter, I now regularly get the error “Disks and volumes discover failed Error: The remote certificate is invalid according to the validation procedure” for the standalone host.

How can I resolve this error? Or can I simply delete the standalone host? There are no backup jobs that relate to it.

Thanks in advance,
Martin

[david.domask]

Hi Martin,

If you're not using the host, I would advise just remove it.

My guess is that it was done this way as a fall-back for if the VCSA went down and the person who configured the environment wanted to be able to restore from a backup of the VCSA. Our KB on the subject advises following VMware's guidance and using the VCSA native backup utility to protect the VCSA, and I think it's best to approach that scenario this way (deploy new appliance, restore the VCSA configuration)

But in short for your immediate question, I would just remove it. Likely to resolve the error it should be as simple as right-clicking the standaone host in the Backup Infrastructure Tab and going through the properties and clicking "Finish" -- you _may_ need to remove and readd it, but again, if you cannot really recall using it, there's no problem with simply removing it.

[Andreas Neufert]

If you run vcenter virtual, you need to be able to restore the vcenter without the vcenter.
For that reason it is common to add a ESXi host from your cluster directly with the IP address (not DNS name) as managed server.
That way you can select the ESXi host for restor of the vcenter. Do not use it for backup as it would use an additional license and is not aware of DRS and manual vmotions.

If you have this error, I would maybe go to the managed servers and run the wizard for the esxi host and the vcenter again. This way the certificate get´s updated for both. This should address the issue. If not I would open a support ticket to check on the root cause of this issue.

For the backup processing it should not matter that esxi host is added additionally to the vcenter as we process the vcenter separately in the jobs. Maybe something is wrong with the certificates itself and this is why you get this error.

[Westfale]

Hello,

Many thanks for the answers. Confirming the properties with “Finish” has solved the problem.