Repoint vCenter Server to Another External Platform Services Controller

Joining external Platform Services Controller instances in the same vCenter Single Sign-On domain, ensures high availability of your system.

If an external Platform Services Controller stops responding or if you want to distribute the load of an external Platform Services Controller, you can repoint the vCenter Server instances to another Platform Services Controller in the same domain and site.

• You can repoint the vCenter Server instance to an existing functional Platform Services Controller instance with free load capacity in the same domain and site.
• You can install or deploy a new Platform Services Controller instance in the same domain and site to which to repoint the vCenter Server instance.

Prerequisites

• If the old Platform Services Controller instance has stopped responding, remove the node and clean up the stale vmdir data by running the cmsso-util unregister command. For information about decommissioning a Platform Services Controller instance, see https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2106736.
• Verify that the old and the new Platform Services Controller instances are in the same vCenter Single Sign-On domain and site by running the vdcrepadmin -f showservers command. For information about using the command, see https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2127057.
• If you want to repoint a vCenter Server Appliance that is configured in a vCenter HA cluster, remove the vCenter HA configuration. For information about removing a vCenter HA configuration, see vSphere Availability.

Procedure

1. Log in to the vCenter Server instance.
   • For a vCenter Server Appliance, log in to the vCenter Server Appliance shell as root.
   • For a vCenter Server instance on Windows, log in as an administrator to the vCenter Server virtual machine or physical server.
2. If the vCenter Server instance runs on Windows, in the Windows command prompt, navigate to C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin.
3. Run the cmsso-util repoint command.

   cmsso-util repoint --repoint-psc psc_fqdn_or_static_ip [--dc-port port_number]

   where the square brackets [ ] enclose the command options.
   Here, psc_fqdn_or_static_ip is the system name used to identify the Platform Services Controller. This system name must be an FQDN or a static IP address.

   Note: The FQDN value is case-sensitive.

   Use the --dc-port port_number option if the Platform Services Controller runs on a custom HTTPS port. The default value of the HTTPS port is 443.

4. Log in to the vCenter Server instance by using the vSphere Web Client to verify that the vCenter Server instance is running and can be managed.

Results

The vCenter Server instance is registered with the new Platform Services Controller.

What to do next

If you repointed a vCenter Server Appliance that was configured in a vCenter HA cluster, you can reconfigure the vCenter HA cluster. For information about configuring vCenter HA, see vSphere Availability.