Former IT company wont give us vCenter password

tdeantdean Member Posts: 520
we have 3 vmware boxes. Apparently the former IT company that was managing this network was using a pc in the server room as the vCenter server. eveything is vsphere 3.5. they wont give us the password for the vcenter account b/c they said its a password they use on all clients and they dont want us to have it. can i install our updated vCenter 4.1 on my workstation and manage the cluster or would all the settings be lost?

Comments

  • TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
    tdean wrote: »
    we have 3 vmware boxes. Apparently the former IT company that was managing this network was using a pc in the server room as the vCenter server. eveything is vsphere 3.5. they wont give us the password for the vcenter account b/c they said its a password they use on all clients and they dont want us to have it. can i install our updated vCenter 4.1 on my workstation and manage the cluster or would all the settings be lost?

    Im not sure. I suggest you also ask this question on VMWare's forum before you risk making a difficult situation worse.
  • cyberguyprcyberguypr Mod Posts: 6,928 Mod
    Is the vCenter PC/server joined to a domain? If so, you should be able to log in with a domain admin account.
  • tdeantdean Member Posts: 520
    cyberguypr wrote: »
    Is the vCenter PC/server joined to a domain? If so, you should be able to log in with a domain admin account.
    it is not. just a standalone pc.
  • Stiltz79Stiltz79 Member Posts: 74 ■■□□□□□□□□
    Can you login as another account wth admin rights and change the password?
  • MentholMooseMentholMoose Member Posts: 1,525 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Can you ask the former company to send someone to change the password? You can reset the the Windows administrator account password to get access to the server and vCenter:
    Forgot the Administrator's Password? - Windows Password Recovery - Windows Password Reset

    Don't install vCenter on your workstation, except as a temporary solution. It is a database-driven server application that controls the ESX machines, not simply a client.
    MentholMoose
    MCSA 2003, LFCS, LFCE (expired), VCP6-DCV
  • tdeantdean Member Posts: 520
    thanks for the replies guys... i read that it was tied to the local admin acct, so i changed that and im in!!

    when we upgrade, should i install this on a server or a stand alone pc like this?
  • kalebkspkalebksp Member Posts: 1,033 ■■■■■□□□□□
    Install it on a server, it's an important part of the infrastructure. Personally I like to virtualize my VC so that it can benefit from HA like the other VMs and I have one less physical server.
  • tdeantdean Member Posts: 520
    kalebksp wrote: »
    Install it on a server, it's an important part of the infrastructure. Personally I like to virtualize my VC so that it can benefit from HA like the other VMs and I have one less physical server.
    ok, i will make anote of this. i am just learning this stuff now. kinda got thrown into the fire. when we upgrade to 4.1 i will keep this in mind.
  • RTmarcRTmarc Member Posts: 1,082 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Just to throw an alternative preference into the mix, I prefer the vSphere server as either a separate physical server or a virtual server in a separate environment. You don't run into an annoying issues when you need to bring the entire environment down for yearly / major updates / modifications or disaster events when your virtual environment is down. Same goes for at least a single domain controller.
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