Changing the IP Address of NSX Manager

I had a customer ask me a simple question and I assumed that there would be a simple answer. How do I change the IP address of my NSX Manager? Good question - I asked around and it seemed like a simple process but being a big fan of "Trust but verify" I wanted to do this in my lab and below is the process I used.



For the TL;DR crowd, it was easy and worked as planned.

First, here are the versions I based this process on:

NSX 6.2.3 (Build 3979471)

vSpehere 6.0U2 (Build 3825889)

VCSA 6.0.0.2000 (Build 3634791)

Before you begin, some things to consider about your environment:

1 – Do I need to change any firewall rules, either in NSX or on another firewall to reflect my NSX Manager’s IP has changed?

2 – How long do DNS updates take in my environment?

Login to NSX Manager UI and verify IP address in upper right hand corner:

Click on Manage Appliance Settings:

 The click on Network

Note – the Unconfigure IPv4 button will remove all of the IP information with no “Are you sure?” prompt.  You can also edit the IP by clicking on the Edit button in the upper right corner

I’ll use edit as I need to keep IP configured, just want to change the IP address.  You’ll see this:

 

Change the settings and click OK.  The change will be accepted and then a banner will appear across the top that indicates a reboot is needed.

 

This is good because otherwise, you’ll be left with a dead HTTPS session. To reboot, simply click on the Gear icon in the upper right and select Reboot Appliance.

It’ll ask you to confirm and then tell you to refresh once the reboot is complete.

It will take some time depending on your hardware and environment.  I setup a ping window to let me know when it’s complete. Maybe this is a good time to catch a few Pokemon?

This would be a good time to update your DNS entry for the NSX Manager (you were using DNS, right?)  ;)

As usual with self-signed certificates, your browser will probably throw a message like this and want you to confirm the exception.

Login with your admin credentials and you should see the IP is now changed.

Click on View Summary and make sure all of the services that were running before are running now and look happy. You will also see a System reboot completed banner across the top.

Now for the real test, login to the vCenter Web Interface and you should be able to see the Networking & Security Icon

Click on it to access the NSX Manager page.  Click on Installation and the change should be reflected there.

That's all there was to it!

Quick update 9/14/17 - This process is unsupported by VMware GSS so use at your own risk.