You can power off or restart any ESXi host by using the VMware Host Client. Powering off a managed host disconnects it from vCenter Server, but does not remove it from the inventory.

Prerequisites

To be able to reboot or shut down a host, you need these privileges.

  • Host.Configuration.Maintenance
  • Global.Log event

Always perform the following tasks before you reboot or shut down a host:

  • Power off all virtual machines on the host.
  • Place the host in maintenance mode.

Procedure

  1. Right-click the host, select Shut down host or Reboot host.
    Note: If the host is not in maintenance mode, shutting down or rebooting it does not stop the virtual machines that are running on this host safely and unsaved data may be lost. If the host is part of a vSAN cluster, you might lose access to the vSAN data on the host.
  2. Click Shut down or Reboot to complete the procedure.