vApp Network Notes

Use Case

A vApp network (vapp_network_1) was created with an IP Address block of 10.1.1.1/24. Later, it was decided that 10.100.1.1/24 would be more appropriate.

Solution

After a bit of research, I realized their wasn’t a good way to do this with the existing network. These are the steps I took to make the change.

1. Shutdown the affected VM’s
2. Edit the Properties of each VM
3. Change the Network Interface associated with the vApp network in question (vapp_network_1) and associate it with a new vApp network that defines the new IP block (vapp_network_2)
4. Once all VM NIC’s are changed to point to the vapp_network_2 network, delete the vapp_network_1 and rename vapp_network_2 to vapp_network_1
5. Power On and Force Recustomization each of the VM’s affected

NOTE:

I have found that sometimes, the Force Recustomization doesn’t work. You may need to Force Recustomization several times, before it “takes”.

The easiest way to tell if it works is to open up a console in vCloud and watch the machine boot. If it only boots once, you can be fairly confident that it didn’t force the recustomization, and that you need to power it off and try again. Once you see it reboot twice, it should be ready.

If you don’t have access to the console, wait until you can ssh to the box, and run ifconfig, if Linux, or ipconfig on Windows. If you don’t see the new IP address assigned, you’ll need to shutdown and Force Recustomization again.

I have never had to do that more than twice. I’m not sure why it doesn’t work sometimes. I can’t find a pattern, but I’ll keep looking!