Manage Esxi Hosts Using DCUI

After successful installation of ESXI, you can manage your host in different ways. One is Direct Control User Interface known as DCUI. Or you can use Vcenter server or Vsphere client for advance configurations.

DCUI is the interface which you can see through console.

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Only the support input method is your keyboard. You will see there is plenty of information about your Esxi server such as processor information, RAM, and the  IP and DNS name if you have configured.

In the bottom you will see two options.

1.  <F2> customize system/View Logs
2. <f12> Shut Down/Restart

To configure your Esxi press F2. then you will be prompted for root password which is set during the installation.

 Once you authenticated you will see lots of option on left pane. After you select specific option it will show a summary on left pane.

If you want to change your root password select Configure Password option and press Enter. The most usable option here is Configure Management Network option which allows you to Add/Remove NIC cards from your managment network, Change IP address DNS and Gateway settings and also change your DNS name. When you select this option it will display the current configuration summary. press Enter for edit these settings.

 After you entering the network configuration menu, the first option in the left pane is network adapters. press Enter for add or remove network adapters from your management network. If you wish to configure load balancing and fault tolerance make sure you select more than one adapter for your management network.

you can select the NICs using the Space Bar and once you selected press Enter otherwise press Esc to cancel.

Select IP configuration option from the left pane to configure IPv4 settings. There is a separate option menu for IPv6

After you apply new IP configurations for your Esxi it will ask for managment network restart to apply these settings.

Use DNS configurations for add DNS address/es and DNS name for your Esxi. After these configurations your Esxi is ready to control via Vcenter Server/Vsphere client and it will have the connectivity to your network.