How to Remove an ESXi Host from Your vCenter Server Instance

Remove a managed host from vCenter Server to stop vCenter Server from monitoring and managing that host.

If possible, remove managed hosts while they are connected. Removing a disconnected host does not remove the vCenter Server agent from the managed host.

Prerequisites

• Make sure that NFS mounts are active. If NFS mounts are unresponsive, the operation fails.
• If the host you want to remove from the cluster is connected to a distributed switch, remove the host from the switch. For more information, see Remove Hosts from a vSphere Distributed Switch in the vSphere Networkingdocumentation.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client home page, navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters.
2. 2. Select a host in the inventory.
3. (Optional) If the host is part of a cluster, put it in maintenance mode.
   1. Right-click the host and select Maintenance Mode > Enter Maintenance Mode from the pop-up menu.
      If not all virtual machines on the host are powered off, the host does not enter maintenance mode.

      If the host is part of a DRS cluster, when the host enters maintenance mode, DRS attempts to evacuate powered on virtual machines from the host by using vMotion.

   2. In the confirmation dialog box, click Ok.
      If the host is part of a DRS cluster, you can evacuate powered off or suspended virtual machines to other hosts within the cluster. Select the check box Move powered-off and suspended virtual machines to other hosts in the cluster.
      The host icon changes and the term Maintenance Mode is added to the name in parentheses.
4. Right-click the host you want to remove in the inventory pane, and select Remove from Inventory from the pop-up menu.
5. In the confirmation dialog box, click Yes to remove the host.
   vCenter Server removes the host and the associated virtual machines from the vCenter Server instance. vCenter Server then returns the status of all associated processor and migration licenses to available.