If you have a greenfield deployment of vSphere 6.5 in an IPv6 network, configure ESXi and vCenter Server for pure IPv6 management connection by configuring IPv6 on the deployment nodes and connecting them.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the IPv6 addresses for vCenter Server, the ESXi hosts and an external database, if used, are mapped to fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) on the DNS server.
  • Verify that the network infrastructure provides IPv6 connectivity for the ESXi hosts, vCenter Server and external database if used.
  • Verify that you have version 6.5 of vCenter Server installed with FQDN that is mapped to an IPv6 address. See the vCenter Server Installation and Setup documentation.
  • Verify that the hosts have ESXi 6.5 installed. See the vCenter Server Installation and Setup documentation.

Procedure

  1. In the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI), configure each ESXi host as a pure IPv6 node.
    1. In the DCUI, press F2 and log in to the host.
    2. From the Configure Management Network menu, select IPv6 Configuration and press Enter.
    3. Assign an IPv6 address to the host.
      Address Assignment Option Description
      Automatic address assignment using DHCPv6
      1. Select the Use dynamic IPv6 address and network configuration option and select Use DHCPv6.
      2. Press Enter to save the changes.
      Static address assignment
      1. Select the Set static IPv6 address and network configuration option and enter the IPv6 address of the host and the default gateway.
      2. Press Enter to save the changes.
    4. From the Configure Management Network menu, select IPv4 Configuration and press Enter.
    5. Select Disable IPv4 configuration for management network and press Enter.
  2. In the vSphere Client, add the hosts to the inventory.