Refresh or remove all ESX servers discovered through VMware vCenter

After discovering a number of ESX servers through VMware vCenter it may be necessary to remove or refresh the servers.  It is a tedious process to create individual jobs for each server, especially in large environments.

The steps below describe how to refresh or remove all discovered servers managed by vCenter.

Refresh:

1. Open the ..\PlateSpin Migrate Server\bin\PlateSpin.Browser.exe
2. Click Connect, then OK
3. Expand Networks -> Default
4. Right-click on Containers -> hover over Commands that Apply To Children -> select Refresh ESX Servers in Cluster
5. Ensure the correct vCenter address is entered
6. If intending to refresh all servers, leave All selected.  If intending to refresh only one of the DRS clusters, select VMware cluster name and enter the name of the cluster (as it appears in VMware).
7. Enter the correct vCenter username and password.  Note: username does not need to be in DOMAIN\username format.
8. Click Ok
9. The window may come up several times.  It is safe to cancel out of any pop-ups once the data has been entered; it is only necessary to enter it once

The refresh job will appear in the Jobs view named "Discover Server Details for {DRS Cluster Name}".  Once it completes, all ESX servers will be refreshed.

Remove:

1. Open the ..\PlateSpin Migrate Server\bin\PlateSpin.Browser.exe
2. Click Connect, then OK
3. Expand Networks -> Default
4. Right-click on Containers -> hover over Commands that Apply To Children -> select Undiscover
5. Ensure the correct vCenter address is entered
6. If intending to remove all servers, leave All selected.  If intending to remove only ESX servers part of a specific DRS cluster, select VMware cluster name and enter the name of the cluster (as it appears in VMware).
7. Enter the correct vCenter username and password.  Note: username does not need to be in DOMAIN\username format.
8. Click Ok
9. The window may come up several times.  It is safe to cancel out of any pop-ups once the data has been entered; it is only necessary to enter it once.

The remove job will appear in the Jobs named "Undiscover Server Details for {ESX Server Name}" (this will typically take the first ESX server listed under Containers).  Once it completes, all ESX servers will be removed.

The undiscover may appear as Failed if the vCenter server used to discover the ESX servers has changed IP/hostname (and is thus not currently accessible at the address in the database, but is accessible when manually entering the IP).  To verify the ESX servers are removed right-click on Containers in the PlateSpin Browser and select Refresh; if the ESX servers are removed they should no longer appear under Containers.