I was trying to upload an ova file thru vCenter when I got an error message about a controller type in this particular ova. From prior troubleshooting, I knew that the workaround was to just log directly onto a host and upload the ova directly to the host. I know I had done this before so I was confused for a brief moment when I got the error message:

Access to resource settings on the host is restricted to the server that is managing it: xx.xx.xx.xx.

Okay… so the ESXi host is being managed by vCenter. How do I finagle my upload onto a host? Here’s how…

• Enable SSH (if it is disabled) on the ESXi host you want to upload/deploy your ova or ovf to.
  • You should know how/where to enable SSH… If you don’t there are plenty of articles you can google.
• Connect to the host via SSH.
• We want to stop the service that allows the ESXi host and the vCenter to communicate. To do so we want to run the following commands.

/etc/init.d/vpxa stop
/etc/init.d/hostd restart

• Deploy your ova or ovf to your host thru the ESXi host’s DCUI WebGUI.
• After you deploy your virtual machine, restart the VPXA service via SSH on the ESXi host.

/etc/init.d/vpxa start

• Wait a couple of minutes while the ESXi host and your vCenter re-establish communication between each other.
• If SSH was previously disabled, re-disable it on your host.