
Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide
Select VMware ESXi hostnames
All VxRail nodes in a cluster require hostnames.
You can use any host naming convention as long as it is a legitimate format. VxRail can auto-assign the hostnames to VMware ESXi nodes following VxRail rules automatically during the VxRail initial build process. To have VxRail auto-assign the hostnames during the cluster initial build, follow these rules.
All ESXi hostnames in a VxRail cluster are defined by a naming convention that consists of:
- An ESXi hostname prefix (an alphanumeric string)
- A separator (“None” or a dash ”-“)
- An iterator (Alpha, Num X, or Num 0X)
- An offset (empty or numeric)
- A suffix (empty or alphanumeric string with no .)
- A domain
The Preview field during VxRail initialization is an example of the hostname of the first ESXi host. For example, if the prefix is host, the following applies:
- Separator is None
- Iteration is Num 0X
- Offset is empty
- Suffix is lab
- Domain is local,
- First ESXi hostname is host01lab.local
The domain is automatically applied to the VxRail management components. For example: my-vcenter.local.
| Parameter | Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prefix | host | myname | esxi-host |
| Separator | None | N/A | N/A |
| Iterator | Num 0X | Num X | Alpha |
| Offset | N/A | 4 | N/A |
| Suffix | N/A | lab | N/A |
| Domain | local | college.edu | company.com |
| Resulting hostname | host01.local | myname-4lab.college.edu | esxi-host-a.company.com |
Enter the values for building and auto-assigning the ESXi hostnames if that is the chosen method.
| Network configuration table | Action |
|---|---|
| Row 25 to 29 | Enter an example of your ESXi host-naming scheme. Show your chosen prefix, separator, iterator, offset, suffix, and domain. |
| Network configuration table | Action |
|---|---|
| Row 30 to 33 | Enter the reserved hostname for each VMware ESXi host. |