Step-by-step instruction for enabling DHCP usage

1. Testing current state
   • Check if DHCP is used by your guest operating system (guestOS) or if the IP configuration is set statically.
   • In case of a static IP configuration the following steps need to be processesed. If your guest OS is set to DHCP, you do not need to do anything else.
      

2. Requirements and preparations

   • The VM must be switched on.

   • The VMWare Tools (under Windows) or respectively the Open-VM-Tools (under Linus) must be installed in the guest OS. Instructions can be found here.

   • The still statically configured IP configurations needs to be complete and correct so that the IP address of the respective VM is transmitted by the VMWare Tools. Only then a correct DHCP entry can be registered.

     • Check whether the IP assigned by you is in the assigned network range.

     • Check the connectivity of the VM, i.e. using ICMP (ping).

   • Check if the IP is transmitted correctly by the VMWare Tools. In order to do so log in via vSphere Web Client, select the desired VM and check the value of the IP address on the overview page.

      

      

Final activation

Soonest 24 hours after finished all steps from section 2

• Change the guest OS to DHCP. The best way to do this is to use the vSphere Console (VMRC) through the vSphere Web Client because the remote session will be lost after the switch to DHCP.
• After you change the configuration to DHCP, the guest OS should automatically make a DHCP request and pull the IP configuration. If there is no automatic DHCP request, please do it manually.
• Check, whether the IP configuration is correct and if the VM is accessible again, in example by using ICMP (ping).