Platform Services Controller Administration VMware VSphere 6.7 V Center Server Esxi Vcenter 67 EN

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Platform Services Controller Administration

Platform Services

Controller Administration

17 APR 2018

VMware vSphere 6.7

VMware ESXi 6.7

vCenter Server 6.7

Platform Services Controller Administration

VMware, Inc. 2

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware website at:

https://docs.vmware.com/

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to

docfeedback@vmware.com

VMware, Inc.

3401 Hillview Ave.

Palo Alto, CA 94304

www.vmware.com

Contents

About Platform Services Controller Administration 5

1Getting Started with Platform Services Controller 7

vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller Deployment Types 7

Deployment Topologies with External Platform Services Controller Instances and High Availability 11

Understanding vSphere Domains, Domain Names, and Sites 13

Platform Services Controller Capabilities 14

Managing Platform Services Controller Services 15

Managing the Platform Services Controller Appliance 19

2vSphere Authentication with vCenter Single Sign-On 22

Understanding vCenter Single Sign-On 23

Configuring vCenter Single Sign-On Identity Sources 30

Understanding vCenter Server Two-Factor Authentication 37

Using vCenter Single Sign-On as the Identity Provider for Another Service Provider 52

Security Token Service STS 53

Managing vCenter Single Sign-On Policies 59

Managing vCenter Single Sign-On Users and Groups 63

vCenter Single Sign-On Security Best Practices 70

3vSphere Security Certificates 72

Certificate Requirements for Different Solution Paths 73

Certificate Management Overview 77

Managing Certificates with the vSphere Client 90

Managing Certificates from the vSphere Web Client 97

Managing Certificates with the vSphere Certificate Manager Utility 98

Manual Certificate Replacement 113

4Managing Services and Certificates with CLI Commands 147

Required Privileges for Running CLIs 148

Changing the certool Configuration Options 149

certool Initialization Commands Reference 150

certool Management Commands Reference 153

vecs-cli Command Reference 156

dir-cli Command Reference 162

5Troubleshooting Platform Services Controller 169

Determining the Cause of a Lookup Service Error 169

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Unable to Log In Using Active Directory Domain Authentication 170

vCenter Server Login Fails Because the User Account Is Locked 172

VMware Directory Service Replication Can Take a Long Time 173

Export a Platform Services Controller Support Bundle 173

Platform Services Controller Service Logs Reference 174

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About

Platform Services Controller

Administration

The Platform Services Controller Administration documentation explains how the VMware®

Platform Services Controller™ fits into your vSphere environment and helps you perform common tasks

such as certificate management and vCenter Single Sign-On configuration.

Platform Services Controller Administration explains how you can set up authentication with vCenter

Single Sign-On and how to manage certificates for vCenter Server and related services.

Table 1.

Platform Services Controller Administration

Highlights

Topics Content Highlights

Getting Started with Platform Services Controller nvCenter Server and Platform Services Controller

deployment models. NOTE: This information changes with

each release of the product.

nPlatform Services Controller services on Linux and

Windows.

nManaging Platform Services Controller services.

nManaging the Platform Services Controller appliance using

VAMI.

vSphere Authentication with vCenter Single Sign-On nArchitecture of the authentication process.

nHow to add identity sources so users in your domain can

authenticate.

nTwo-factor authentication.

nManaging users, groups, and policies.

vSphere Security Certificates nCertificate model, and options for replacing certificates.

nReplace certificates from the UI (simple cases).

nReplace certificates using the Certificate Manager utility.

nReplace certificates using the CLI (complex situations).

nCertificate management CLI reference.

Directory

Service

vCenter

Server

vCenter Single

Sign-On

For solution users, the interaction proceeds as follows:

1 The solution user attempts to connect to a vCenter service.

2 The solution user is redirected to vCenter Single Sign-On. If the solution user is new to vCenter

Single Sign-On, it has to present a valid certificate.

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3 If the certificate is valid, vCenter Single Sign-On assigns a SAML token (bearer token) to the solution

user. The token is signed by vCenter Single Sign-On.

4 The solution user is then redirected to vCenter Single Sign-On and can perform tasks based on its

permissions.

5 The next time the solution user has to authenticate, it can use the SAML token to log in to

vCenter Server.

By default, this handshake is automatic because VMCA provisions solution users with certificates during

startup. If company policy requires third-party CA-signed certificates, you can replace the solution user

certificates with third-party CA-signed certificates. If those certificates are valid, vCenter Single Sign-On

assigns a SAML token to the solution user. See Use Custom Certificates With vSphere.

Supported Encryption

AES encryption, which is the highest level of encryption, is supported. The supported encryption affects

security when vCenter Single Sign-On uses Active Directory as an identity source.

It also affects security any time an ESXi host or vCenter Server is joined to Active Directory.

vCenter Single Sign-On Components

vCenter Single Sign-On includes the Security Token Service (STS), an administration server, and vCenter

Lookup Service, as well as the VMware Directory Service (vmdir). The VMware Directory Service is also

used for certificate management.

During installation, the components are deployed as part an embedded deployment, or as part of the

Platform Services Controller.

STS (Security Token

Service)

The STS service issues Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)

tokens. These security tokens represent the identity of a user in one of the

identity source types supported byvCenter Single Sign-On. The SAML

tokens allow both human users and solution users who authenticate

successfully to vCenter Single Sign-On to use any vCenter service that

vCenter Single Sign-On supports without authenticating again to each

service.

The vCenter Single Sign-On service signs all tokens with a signing

certificate, and stores the token signing certificate on disk. The certificate

for the service itself is also stored on disk.

Administration server The administration server allows users with administrator privileges to

vCenter Single Sign-On to configure the vCenter Single Sign-On server and

manage users and groups from the vSphere Web Client. Initially, only the

user administrator@your_domain_name has these privileges. In vSphere

5.5, this user was administrator@vsphere.local. With vSphere 6.0, you can

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change the vSphere domain when you install vCenter Server or deploy the

vCenter Server Appliance with a new Platform Services Controller. Do not

name the domain name with your Microsoft Active Directory or OpenLDAP

domain name.

VMware Directory

Service (vmdir)

The VMware Directory service (vmdir) is associated with the domain you

specify during installation and is included in each embedded deployment

and on each Platform Services Controller. This service is a multi-tenanted,

multi-mastered directory service that makes an LDAP directory available on

port 389. The service still uses port 11711 for backward compatibility with

vSphere 5.5 and earlier systems.

If your environment includes more than one instance of the

Platform Services Controller, an update of vmdir content in one vmdir

instance is propagated to all other instances of vmdir.

Starting with vSphere 6.0, the VMware Directory Service stores not only

vCenter Single Sign-On information but also certificate information.

Identity Management

Service

Handles identity sources and STS authentication requests.

How vCenter Single Sign-On Aects Installation

Starting with version 5.1, vSphere includes a vCenter Single Sign-On service as part of the

vCenter Server management infrastructure. This change affects vCenter Server installation.

Authentication with vCenter Single Sign-On makes vSphere more secure because the vSphere software

components communicate with each other by using a secure token exchange mechanism, and all other

users also authenticate with vCenter Single Sign-On.

Starting with vSphere 6.0, vCenter Single Sign-On is either included in an embedded deployment, or part

of the Platform Services Controller. The Platform Services Controller contains all of the services that are

necessary for the communication between vSphere components including vCenter Single Sign-On,

VMware Certificate Authority, VMware Lookup Service, and the licensing service.

The order of installation is important.

First installation If your installation is distributed, you must install the

Platform Services Controller before you install vCenter Server or deploy the

vCenter Server Appliance. For an embedded deployment the correct

installation order happens automatically.

Subsequent

installations

For approximately up to four vCenter Server instances, one

Platform Services Controller can serve your entire vSphere environment.

You can connect the new vCenter Server instances to the same

Platform Services Controller. For more than approximately four

vCenter Server instances, you can install an additional

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Platform Services Controller for better performance. The vCenter Single

Sign-On service on each Platform Services Controller synchronizes

authentication data with all other instances. The precise number depends

on how heavily the vCenter Server instances are being used and on other

factors.

For detailed information about the deployment models, the advantages and disadvantages of each

deployment type, see vCenter Server Installation and Setup.

Using vCenter Single Sign-On with vSphere

When a user logs in to a vSphere component or when a vCenter Server solution user accesses another

vCenter Server service, vCenter Single Sign-On performs authentication. Users must be authenticated

with vCenter Single Sign-On and have the necessary privileges for interacting with vSphere objects.

vCenter Single Sign-On authenticates both solution users and other users.

nSolution users represent a set of services in your vSphere environment. During installation, VMCA

assigns a certificate to each solution user by default. The solution user uses that certificate to

authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On. vCenter Single Sign-On gives the solution user a SAML

token, and the solution user can then interact with other services in the environment.

nWhen other users log in to the environment, for example, from the vSphere Client, vCenter Single

Sign-On prompts for a user name and password. If vCenter Single Sign-On finds a user with those

credentials in the corresponding identity source, it assigns the user a SAML token. The user can now

access other services in the environment without being prompted to authenticate again.

Which objects the user can view, and what a user can do, is usually determined by vCenter Server

permission settings. vCenter Server administrators assign those permissions from the Permissions

interface in the vSphere Web Client or the vSphere Client, not through vCenter Single Sign-On. See

the vSphere Security documentation.

vCenter Single Sign-On and vCenter Server Users

Users authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On by entering their credentials on the login page. After

connecting to vCenter Server, authenticated users can view all vCenter Server instances or other

vSphere objects for which their role gives them privileges. No further authentication is required.

After installation, the administrator of the vCenter Single Sign-On domain, administrator@vsphere.local

by default, has administrator access to both vCenter Single Sign-On and vCenter Server. That user can

then add identity sources, set the default identity source, and manage users and groups in the vCenter

Single Sign-On domain.

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All users that can authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On can reset their password, even if the password

has expired, as long as they know the password. See Change Your vCenter Single Sign-On Password.

Only vCenter Single Sign-On administrators can reset the password for users who no longer have their

password.

Note When you change the password for your SDDC from the vSphere Client, the new password is not

synchronized with the password that is displayed on the Default vCenter Credentials page. That page

shows only the Default credentials. If you change the credentials, you are responsible for keeping track of

the new password. Contact Technical Support and request a password change.

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrator Users

The vCenter Single Sign-On administrative interface is accessible from either the vSphere Client or the

vSphere Web Client.

To configure vCenter Single Sign-On and manage vCenter Single Sign-On users and groups, the user

administrator@vsphere.local or a user in the vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group must log in to

the vSphere Client . Upon authentication, that user can access the vCenter Single Sign-On administration

interface from the vSphere Client and manage identity sources and default domains, specify password

policies, and perform other administrative tasks.

Note You cannot rename the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user, which is

administrator@vsphere.local by default or administrator@mydomain if you specified a different domain

during installation. For improved security, consider creating additional named users in the vCenter Single

Sign-On domain and assigning them administrative privileges. You can then stop using the administrator

account.

ESXi Users

Standalone ESXi hosts are not integrated with vCenter Single Sign-On or with the

Platform Services Controller. See vSphere Security for information on adding an ESXi host to Active

Directory.

If you create local ESXi users for a managed ESXi host with the VMware Host Client, vCLI, or PowerCLI,

vCenter Server is not aware those users. Creating local users can therefore result in confusion, especially

if you use the same user names. Users who can authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On can view and

manage ESXi hosts if they have the corresponding permissions on the ESXi host object.

Note Manage permissions for ESXi hosts through vCenter Server if possible.

How to Log In to vCenter Server Components

You can log in by connecting to the vSphere Client or the vSphere Web Client.

When a user logs in to a vCenter Server system from the vSphere Client, the login behavior depends on

whether the user is in the domain that is set as the default identity source.

nUsers who are in the default domain can log in with their user name and password.

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nUsers who are in a domain that has been added to vCenter Single Sign-On as an identity source but

is not the default domain can log in to vCenter Server but must specify the domain in one of the

following ways.

nIncluding a domain name prefix, for example, MYDOMAIN\user1

nIncluding the domain, for example, user1@mydomain.com

nUsers who are in a domain that is not a vCenter Single Sign-On identity source cannot log in to

vCenter Server. If the domain that you add to vCenter Single Sign-On is part of a domain hierarchy,

Active Directory determines whether users of other domains in the hierarchy are authenticated or not.

If your environment includes an Active Directory hierarchy, see VMware Knowledge Base article 2064250

for details on supported and unsupported setups.

Note Starting with vSphere 6.0 Update 2, two-factor authentication is supported. See Understanding

vCenter Server Two-Factor Authentication.

Groups in the vCenter Single Sign-On Domain

The vCenter Single Sign-On domain (vsphere.local by default) includes several predefined groups. Add

users to one of those groups to enable them to perform the corresponding actions.

See Managing vCenter Single Sign-On Users and Groups.

For all objects in the vCenter Server hierarchy, you can assign permissions by pairing a user and a role

with the object. For example, you can select a resource pool and give a group of users read privileges to

that resource pool object by giving them the corresponding role.

For some services that are not managed by vCenter Server directly, membership in one of the vCenter

Single Sign-On groups determines the privileges. For example, a user who is a member of the

Administrator group can manage vCenter Single Sign-On. A user who is a member of the CAAdmins

group can manage the VMware Certificate Authority, and a user who is in the

LicenseService.Administrators group can manage licenses.

The following groups are predefined in vsphere.local.

Note Many of these groups are internal to vsphere.local or give users high-level administrative

privileges. Add users to any of these groups only after careful consideration of the risks.

Note Do not delete any of the predefined groups in the vsphere.local domain. If you do, errors with

authentication or certificate provisioning might result.

Table 2‑1. Groups in the vsphere.local Domain

Privilege Description

Users Users in the vCenter Single Sign-On domain (vsphere.local by default).

SolutionUsers Solution users group vCenter services. Each solution user authenticates individually to

vCenter Single Sign-On with a certificate. By default, VMCA provisions solution users

with certificates. Do not add members to this group explicitly.

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Table 2‑1. Groups in the vsphere.local Domain (Continued)

Privilege Description

CAAdmins Members of the CAAdmins group have administrator privileges for VMCA. Do not add

members to this group unless you have compelling reasons.

DCAdmins Members of the DCAdmins group can perform Domain Controller Administrator actions

on VMware Directory Service.

Note Do not manage the domain controller directly. Instead, use the vmdir CLI or

vSphere Web Client to perform corresponding tasks.

SystemConfiguration.BashShellAdministr

ators

This group is available only for vCenter Server Appliance deployments.

A user in this group can enable and disable access to the BASH shell. By default a user

who connects to the vCenter Server Appliance with SSH can access only commands in

the restricted shell. Users who are in this group can access the BASH shell.

ActAsUsers Members of Act-As Users are allowed to get Act-As tokens from vCenter Single Sign-

On.

ExternalIPDUsers This internal group is not used by vSphere. VMware vCloud Air requires this group.

SystemConfiguration.Administrators Members of the SystemConfiguration.Administrators group can view and manage the

system configuration in the vSphere Web Client. These users can view, start and restart

services, troubleshoot services, see the available nodes, and manage those nodes.

DCClients This group is used internally to allow the management node access to data in VMware

Directory Service.

Note Do not modify this group. Any changes might compromise your certificate

infrastructure.

ComponentManager.Administrators Members of the ComponentManager.Administrators group can invoke component

manager APIs that register or unregister services, that is, modify services. Membership

in this group is not necessary for read access on the services.

LicenseService.Administrators Members of LicenseService.Administrators have full write access to all licensing-related

data and can add, remove, assign, and unassign serial keys for all product assets

registered in the licensing service.

Administrators Administrators of the VMware Directory Service (vmdir). Members of this group can

perform vCenter Single Sign-On administration tasks. Do not add members to this

group unless you have compelling reasons and understand the consequences.

Conﬁguring vCenter Single Sign-On Identity Sources

When a user logs in with just a user name, vCenter Single Sign-On checks in the default identity source

whether that user can authenticate. When a user logs in and includes the domain name in the login

screen, vCenter Single Sign-On checks the specified domain if that domain has been added as an

identity source. You can add identity sources, remove identity sources, and change the default.

You configure vCenter Single Sign-On from the vSphere Client. To configure vCenter Single Sign-On, you

must have vCenter Single Sign-On administrator privileges. Having vCenter Single Sign-On administrator

privileges is different from having the Administrator role on vCenter Server or ESXi. In a new installation,

only the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator (administrator@vsphere.local by default) can authenticate

to vCenter Single Sign-On.

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nIdentity Sources for vCenter Server with vCenter Single Sign-On

You can use identity sources to attach one or more domains to vCenter Single Sign-On. A domain is

a repository for users and groups that the vCenter Single Sign-On server can use for user

authentication.

nSet the Default Domain for vCenter Single Sign-On

Each vCenter Single Sign-On identity source is associated with a domain. vCenter Single Sign-On

uses the default domain to authenticate a user who logs in without a domain name. Users who

belong to a domain that is not the default domain must include the domain name when they log in.

nAdd or Edit a vCenter Single Sign-On Identity Source

Users can log in to vCenter Server only if they are in a domain that has been added as a vCenter

Single Sign-On identity source. vCenter Single Sign-On administrator users can add identity

sources, or change the settings for identity sources that they added.

nUse vCenter Single Sign-On With Windows Session Authentication

You can use vCenter Single Sign-On with Windows Session Authentication (SSPI). You must join

the Platform Services Controller to an Active Directory domain before you can use SSPI.

Identity Sources for vCenter Server with vCenter Single Sign-On

You can use identity sources to attach one or more domains to vCenter Single Sign-On. A domain is a

repository for users and groups that the vCenter Single Sign-On server can use for user authentication.

An administrator can add identity sources, set the default identity source, and create users and groups in

the vsphere.local identity source.

The user and group data is stored in Active Directory, OpenLDAP, or locally to the operating system of the

machine where vCenter Single Sign-On is installed. After installation, every instance of vCenter Single

Sign-On has the identity source your_domain_name, for example vsphere.local. This identity source is

internal to vCenter Single Sign-On.

vCenter Server versions earlier than version 5.1 supported Active Directory and local operating system

users as user repositories. As a result, local operating system users were always able to authenticate to

the vCenter Server system. vCenter Server version 5.1 and version 5.5 uses vCenter Single Sign-On for

authentication. See the vSphere 5.1 documentation for a list of supported identity sources with vCenter

Single Sign-On 5.1. vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 supports the following types of user repositories as

identity sources, but supports only one default identity source.

nActive Directory versions 2003 and later. Shown as Active Directory (Integrated Windows

Authentication) in the vSphere Client. vCenter Single Sign-On allows you to specify a single Active

Directory domain as an identity source. The domain can have child domains or be a forest root

domain. VMware KB article 2064250 discusses Microsoft Active Directory Trusts supported with

vCenter Single Sign-On.

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nActive Directory over LDAP. vCenter Single Sign-On supports multiple Active Directory over LDAP

identity sources. This identity source type is included for compatibility with the vCenter Single Sign-

On service included with vSphere 5.1. Shown as Active Directory as an LDAP Server in the

vSphere Client.

nOpenLDAP versions 2.4 and later. vCenter Single Sign-On supports multiple OpenLDAP identity

sources. Shown as OpenLDAP in the vSphere Client.

nLocal operating system users. Local operating system users are local to the operating system where

the vCenter Single Sign-On server is running. The local operating system identity source exists only

in basic vCenter Single Sign-On server deployments and is not available in deployments with multiple

vCenter Single Sign-On instances. Only one local operating system identity source is allowed. Shown

as localos in the vSphere Client.

Note Do not use local operating system users if the Platform Services Controller is on a different

machine than the vCenter Server system. Using local operating system users might make sense in

an embedded deployment but is not recommended.

nvCenter Single Sign-On system users. Exactly one system identity source is created when you install

vCenter Single Sign-On.

Note At any time, only one default domain exists. If a user from a non-default domain logs in, that user

must add the domain name (DOMAIN\user) to authenticate successfully.

Set the Default Domain for vCenter Single Sign-On

Each vCenter Single Sign-On identity source is associated with a domain. vCenter Single Sign-On uses

the default domain to authenticate a user who logs in without a domain name. Users who belong to a

domain that is not the default domain must include the domain name when they log in.

When a user logs in to a vCenter Server system from the vSphere Client, the login behavior depends on

whether the user is in the domain that is set as the default identity source.

nUsers who are in the default domain can log in with their user name and password.

nUsers who are in a domain that has been added to vCenter Single Sign-On as an identity source but

is not the default domain can log in to vCenter Server but must specify the domain in one of the

following ways.

nIncluding a domain name prefix, for example, MYDOMAIN\user1

nIncluding the domain, for example, user1@mydomain.com

nUsers who are in a domain that is not a vCenter Single Sign-On identity source cannot log in to

vCenter Server. If the domain that you add to vCenter Single Sign-On is part of a domain hierarchy,

Active Directory determines whether users of other domains in the hierarchy are authenticated or not.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

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2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

4Click Identity Sources, select an identity source, and click Set as Default.

In the domain display, the default domain shows (default) in the Domain column.

Add or Edit a vCenter Single Sign-On Identity Source

Users can log in to vCenter Server only if they are in a domain that has been added as a vCenter Single

Sign-On identity source. vCenter Single Sign-On administrator users can add identity sources, or change

the settings for identity sources that they added.

An identity source can be a native Active Directory (Integrated Windows Authentication) domain or an

OpenLDAP directory service. For backward compatibility, Active Directory as an LDAP Server is also

available. See Identity Sources for vCenter Server with vCenter Single Sign-On.

Immediately after installation, the following default identity sources and users are available:

localos All local operating system users. If you are upgrading, those localos users

who can already authenticate can continue to authenticate. Using the

localos identity source does not make sense in environments that use an

embedded Platform Services Controller.

vsphere.local Contains the vCenter Single Sign-On internal users.

Prerequisites

If you are adding an Active Directory identity source, the vCenter Server Appliance or the vCenter Server

Windows machine must be in the Active Directory domain. See Add a Platform Services Controller

Appliance to an Active Directory Domain.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

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4Click Identity Sources, and click Add Identity Source.

5Select the identity source and enter the identity source settings.

Option Description

Active Directory (Integrated Windows

Authentication)

Use this option for native Active Directory implementations. The machine on

which the vCenter Single Sign-On service is running must be in an Active

Directory domain if you want to use this option.

See Active Directory Identity Source Settings.

Active Directory over LDAP This option is available for backward compatibility. It requires that you specify the

domain controller and other information. See Active Directory LDAP Server and

OpenLDAP Server Identity Source Settings.

OpenLDAP Use this option for an OpenLDAP identity source. See Active Directory LDAP

Server and OpenLDAP Server Identity Source Settings.

Note If the user account is locked or disabled, authentications and group and user searches in the

Active Directory domain fail. The user account must have read-only access over the User and Group

OU, and must be able to read user and group attributes. Active Directory provides this access by

default. Use a special service user for improved security.

6If you configured an Active Directory as an LDAP Server or an OpenLDAP identity source, click Test

Connection to ensure that you can connect to the identity source.

7Click OK.

What to do next

When an identity source is added, all users can be authenticated but have the No access role. A user

with vCenter Server Modify.permissions privileges can give users or groups of users privileges. The

privileges enable the users or groups to log in to vCenter Server and to view and manage objects. See

the vSphere Security documentation.

Active Directory Identity Source Settings

If you select the Active Directory (Integrated Windows Authentication) identity source type, you can

use the local machine account as your SPN (Service Principal Name) or specify an SPN explicitly. You

can use this option only if the vCenter Single Sign-On server is joined to an Active Directory domain.

Prerequisites for Using an Active Directory Identity Source

You can set up vCenter Single Sign-On to use an Active Directory identity source only if that identity

source is available.

nFor a Windows installation, join the Windows machine to the Active Directory domain.

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nFor a vCenter Server Appliance, follow the instructions in the vCenter Server Appliance Configuration

documentation.

Note Active Directory (Integrated Windows Authentication) always uses the root of the Active Directory

domain forest. To configure your Integrated Windows Authentication identity source with a child domain

within your Active Directory forest, see VMware Knowledge Base article 2070433.

Select Use machine account to speed up configuration. If you expect to rename the local machine on

which vCenter Single Sign-On runs, specifying an SPN explicitly is preferable.

Note In vSphere 5.5, vCenter Single Sign-On uses the machine account even if you specify the SPN.

See VMware Knowledge Base article 2087978.

Table 2‑2. Add Identity Source Settings

Text Box Description

Domain name FQDN of the domain name, for example, mydomain.com. Do not

provide an IP address. This domain name must be DNS-

resolvable by the vCenter Server system. If you are using a

vCenter Server Appliance, use the information on configuring

network settings to update the DNS server settings.

Use machine account Select this option to use the local machine account as the SPN.

When you select this option, you specify only the domain name.

Do not select this option if you expect to rename this machine.

Use Service Principal Name (SPN) Select this option if you expect to rename the local machine. You

must specify an SPN, a user who can authenticate with the

identity source, and a password for the user.

Service Principal Name (SPN) SPN that helps Kerberos to identify the Active Directory service.

Include the domain in the name, for example,

STS/example.com.

The SPN must be unique across the domain. Running setspn -

S checks that no duplicate is created. See the Microsoft

documentation for information on setspn.

User Principal Name (UPN)

Password

Name and password of a user who can authenticate with this

identity source. Use the email address format, for example,

jchin@mydomain.com. You can verify the User Principal Name

with the Active Directory Service Interfaces Editor (ADSI Edit).

Active Directory LDAP Server and OpenLDAP Server Identity Source Settings

The Active Directory as an LDAP Server identity source is available for backward compatibility. Use the

Active Directory (Integrated Windows Authentication) option for a setup that requires less input. The

OpenLDAP Server identity source is available for environments that use OpenLDAP.

If you are configuring an OpenLDAP identity source, see VMware Knowledge Base article 2064977 for

additional requirements.

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Table 2‑3. Active Directory as an LDAP Server and OpenLDAP Settings

Option Description

Name Name of the identity source.

Base DN for users Base Distinguished Name for users.

Base DN for groups The base Distinguished Name for groups.

Domain name The FQDN of the domain.

Domain alias For Active Directory identity sources, the domain's NetBIOS

name. Add the NetBIOS name of the Active Directory domain as

an alias of the identity source if you are using SSPI

authentications.

For OpenLDAP identity sources, the domain name in capital

letters is added if you do not specify an alias.

Username ID of a user in the domain who has a minimum of read-only

access to Base DN for users and groups.

Password Password of the user who is specified by Username.

Connect to Domain controller to connect to. Can be any domain controller in

the domain, or specific controllers.

Primary Server URL Primary domain controller LDAP server for the domain.

Use the format ldap://hostname:port or

ldaps://hostname:port. The port is typically 389 for LDAP

connections and 636 for LDAPS connections. For Active

Directory multi-domain controller deployments, the port is

typically 3268 for LDAP and 3269 for LDAPS.

A certificate that establishes trust for the LDAPS endpoint of the

Active Directory server is required when you use ldaps:// in

the primary or secondary LDAP URL.

Secondary server URL Address of a secondary domain controller LDAP server that is

used for failover.

SSL certificates If you want to use LDAPS with your Active Directory LDAP

Server or OpenLDAP Server identity source, click Browse to

choose a certificate.

Use vCenter Single Sign-On With Windows Session

Authentication

You can use vCenter Single Sign-On with Windows Session Authentication (SSPI). You must join the

Platform Services Controller to an Active Directory domain before you can use SSPI.

Using SSPI speeds up the login process for the user who is currently logged in to a machine.

Prerequisites

nJoin the Platform Services Controller appliance or the Windows machine on which

Platform Services Controller is running to an Active Directory domain. See Add a Platform Services

Controller Appliance to an Active Directory Domain.

nVerify that the domain is set up properly. See VMware Knowledge Base article 2064250.

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VMware, Inc. 36

nIf you are using vSphere 6.0 and earlier, verify that the Client Integration Plug-in is installed.

nIf you are using vSphere 6.5 and later, verify that the Enhanced Authentication Plug-In is installed.

See vCenter Server Installation and Setup.

Procedure

1Navigate to the vSphere Client login page.

2Select the Use Windows session authentication check box.

3Log in using the Active Directory user name and password.

nIf the Active Directory domain is the default identity source, log in with your user name, for

example jlee.

nOtherwise, include the domain name, for example, jlee@example.com.

Understanding vCenter Server Two-Factor Authentication

vCenter Single Sign-On allows you to authenticate as a user in an identity source that is known to

vCenter Single Sign-On, or by using Windows session authentication. You can also authenticate by using

a smart card (UPN-based Common Access Card or CAC), or by using an RSA SecurID token.

Two-Factor Authentication Methods

The two-factor authentication methods are often required by government agencies or large enterprises.

Smart card

authentication

Smart card authentication allows access only to users who attach a

physical card to the USB drive of the computer that they log in to. An

example is Common Access Card (CAC) authentication.

The administrator can deploy the PKI so that the smart card certificates are

the only client certificates that the CA issues. For such deployments, only

smart card certificates are presented to the user. The user selects a

certificate, and is prompted for a PIN. Only users who have both the

physical card and the PIN that matches the certificate can log in.

RSA SecurID

Authentication

For RSA SecurID authentication, your environment must include a correctly

configured RSA Authentication Manager. If the Platform Services Controller

is configured to point to the RSA server, and if RSA SecurID Authentication

is enabled, users can log in with their user name and token.

See the two vSphere Blog posts about RSA SecurID setup for details.

Note vCenter Single Sign-On supports only native SecurID. It does not

support RADIUS authentication.

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Specifying a Nondefault Authentication Method

Administrators can set up a nondefault authentication method from the vSphere Client, or by using the

sso-config script.

nFor smart card authentication, you can perform the vCenter Single Sign-On setup from the

vSphere Client or by using sso-config. Setup includes enabling smart card authentication and

configuring certificate revocation policies.

nFor RSA SecurID, you use the sso-config script to configure RSA Authentication Manager for the

domain, and to enable RSA token authentication. You cannot configure RSA SecurID authentication

from the vSphere Client. However, if you enable RSA SecurID, that authentication method appears in

the vSphere Client.

Combining Authentication Methods

You can enable or disable each authentication method separately by using sso-config. Leave user

name and password authentication enabled initially, while you are testing a two-factor authentication

method, and set only one authentication method to enabled after testing.

Smart Card Authentication Login

A smart card is a small plastic card with an embedded integrated circuit chip. Many government agencies

and large enterprises use smart cards such as Common Access Card (CAC) to increase the security of

their systems and to comply with security regulations. A smart card is used in environments where each

machine includes a smart card reader. Smart card hardware drivers that manage the smart card are

typically preinstalled.

Users who log in to a vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller system are prompted to authenticate

with a smart card and PIN combination, as follows.

1 When the user inserts the smart card into the smart card reader, vCenter Single Sign-On reads the

certificates on the card.

2 vCenter Single Sign-On prompts the user to select a certificate, and then prompts the user for the PIN

for that certificate.

3 vCenter Single Sign-On checks whether the certificate on the smart card is known and whether the

PIN is correct. If revocation checking is turned on, vCenter Single Sign-On also checks whether the

certificate is revoked.

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4 If the certificate is known, and is not a revoked certificate, the user is authenticated and can then

perform tasks that the user has permissions for.

Note It usually makes sense to leave user name and password authentication enabled during testing.

After testing is complete, disable user name and password authentication and enable smart card

authentication. Subsequently, the vSphere Client and the vSphere Web Client allow only smart card login.

Only users with root or administrator privileges on the machine can reenable user name and password

authentication by logging in to thePlatform Services Controller directly.

Conﬁguring and Using Smart Card Authentication

You can set up your environment to require smart card authentication when a user connects to a

vCenter Server or associated Platform Services Controller from the either the vSphere Client or the

vSphere Web Client.

How you set up smart card authentication depends on the version of vSphere that you are using.

vSphere Version Procedure Links

6.0 Update 2

Later versions of vSphere

6.0

1 Set up the Tomcat server.

2 Enable and configure smart card

authentication.

vSphere 6.0 documentation center.

6.5 and later 1 Set up the reverse proxy.

2 Enable and configure smart card

authentication.

Configure the Reverse Proxy to Request Client

Certificates

Use the Command Line to Manage Smart Card

Authentication

Manage Smart Card Authentication

Conﬁgure the Reverse Proxy to Request Client Certiﬁcates

Before you enable smart card authentication, you have to configure the reverse proxy on the

Platform Services Controller system. If your environment uses an embedded Platform Services Controller,

you perform this task on the system where both vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller run.

Reverse proxy configuration is required in vSphere 6.5 and later.

Prerequisites

Copy the CA certificates to the Platform Services Controller system.

Procedure

1Log in to the Platform Services Controller.

OS Description

Appliance Log in to the appliance shell as the root user.

Windows Log in to a Windows command prompt as an Administrator user.

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2Create a trusted client CA store.

This store will contain the trusted issuing CA's certificates for client certificate. The client here is the

browser from which the smart card process prompts the end user for information.

The following example shows how you create a certificate store on the Platform Services Controller

appliance.

For a single certificate:

cd /usr/lib/vmware-sso/

openssl x509 -inform PEM -in xyzCompanySmartCardSigningCA.cer > /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-

sts/conf/clienttrustCA.pem

For multiple certificates:

cd /usr/lib/vmware-sso/

openssl x509 -inform PEM -in xyzCompanySmartCardSigningCA.cer >> /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-

sts/conf/clienttrustCA.pem

Note On Platform Services Controller on Windows, use

C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\runtime\VMwareSTSService\conf\ and change the

command to use backward slash.

3Make a backup of the config.xml file that includes the reverse proxy definition, and open

config.xml in an editor.

OS Description

Appliance /etc/vmware-rhttpproxy/config.xml

Windows C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmware-

rhttpproxy\config.xml

4Make the following changes and save the file.

<http>

<clientCAListFile>/usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf/clienttrustCA.pem</clientCAListFile>

</http>

The config.xml file includes some of these elements. Uncomment, update, or add the elements as

needed.

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5Restart the service.

OS Description

Appliance /usr/lib/vmware-vmon/vmon-cli --restart rhttpproxy

Windows Restart the operating system, or restart the VMware HTTP Reverse Proxy by

following these steps:

a Open an elevated command prompt.

b Run the following commands:

cd C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin

service-control --stop vmware-rhttpproxy

service-control --start vmware-rhttpproxy

Use the Command Line to Manage Smart Card Authentication

You can use the sso-config utility to manage smart card authentication from the command line. The

utility supports all smart card configuration tasks.

You can find the sso-config script at the following locations:

Windows C:\Program Files\VMware\VCenter server\VMware Identity Services\sso-config.bat

Linux /opt/vmware/bin/sso-config.sh

Configuration of supported authentication types and revocation settings is stored in VMware Directory

Service and replicated across all Platform Services Controller instances in a vCenter Single Sign-On

domain.

If user name and password authentication are disabled, and if problems occur with smart card

authentication, users cannot log in. In that case, a root or administrator user can turn on user name and

password authentication from the Platform Services Controller command line. The following command

enables user name and password authentication.

OS Command

Windows sso-config.bat -set_authn_policy

-pwdAuthn true -t <tenant_name>

If you use the default tenant, use vsphere.local as the tenant

name.

Linux sso-config.sh -set_authn_policy -pwdAuthn true

-t <tenant_name>

If you use the default tenant, use vsphere.local as the tenant

name.

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If you use OCSP for revocation check, you can rely on the default OCSP specified in the smart card

certificate AIA extension. You can also override the default and configure one or more alternative OCSP

responders. For example, you can set up OCSP responders that are local to the vCenter Single Sign-On

site to process the revocation check request.

Note If your certificate does not have OCSP defined, enable CRL (certificate revocation list) instead.

Prerequisites

nVerify that your environment uses Platform Services Controller version 6.5 or later, and that you use

vCenter Server version 6.0 or later. Platform Services Controller version 6.0 Update 2 supports smart

card authentication, but the setup procedure is different.

nVerify that an enterprise Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is set up in your environment, and that

certificates meet the following requirements:

nA User Principal Name (UPN) must correspond to an Active Directory account in the Subject

Alternative Name (SAN) extension.

nThe certificate must specify Client Authentication in the Application Policy or Enhanced Key

Usage field or the browser does not show the certificate.

nVerify that the Platform Services Controller certificate is trusted by the end user's workstation.

Otherwise, the browser does not attempt authentication.

nAdd an Active Directory identity source to vCenter Single Sign-On.

nAssign the vCenter Server Administrator role to one or more users in the Active Directory identity

source. Those users can then perform management tasks because they can authenticate and they

have vCenter Server administrator privileges.

Note The administrator of the vCenter Single Sign-On domain, administrator@vsphere.local by

default, cannot perform smart card authentication.

nSet up the reverse proxy and restart the physical or virtual machine.

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Procedure

1Obtain the certificates and copy them to a folder that the sso-config utility can see.

Option Description

Windows Log in to the Platform Services Controller Windows installation and use WinSCP

or a similar utility to copy the files.

Appliance a Log in to the appliance console, either directly or by using SSH.

b Enable the appliance shell, as follows.

shell

chsh -s "/bin/bash" root

c Use WinSCP or a similar utility to copy the certificates to

the /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf on the

Platform Services Controller.

d Optionally disable the appliance shell, as follows.

chsh -s "/bin/appliancesh" root

2To enable smart cart authentication for VMware Directory Service (vmdir), run the following

command.

sso-config.[bat|sh] -set_authn_policy -certAuthn true -cacerts

first_trusted_cert.cer,second_trusted_cert.cer -t tenant

For example:

sso-config.[bat|sh] -set_authn_policy -certAuthn true -cacerts MySmartCA1.cer,MySmartCA2.cer -t

vsphere.local

Separate multiple certificates with commas, but do not put spaces after the comma.

3To disable all other authentication methods, run the following commands.

sso-config.[bat|sh] -set_authn_policy -pwdAuthn false -t vsphere.local

sso-config.sh -set_authn_policy -winAuthn false -t vsphere.local

sso-config.sh -set_authn_policy -securIDAuthn false -t vsphere.local

4(Optional) To set a certificate policies white list, run the following command.

sso-config.[bat|sh] -set_authn_policy -certPolicies policies

To specify multiple policies, separate them with a command, for example:

sso-config.bat -set_authn_policy -certPolicies 2.16.840.1.101.2.1.11.9,2.16.840.1.101.2.1.11.19

This white list specifies object IDs of policies that are allowed in the certificate's certificate policy

extension. An X509 certificate can have a Certificate Policy extension.

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5(Optional) Turn on and configure revocation checking using OCSP.

a Turn on revocation checking using OCSP.

sso-config.[bat|sh] -set_authn_policy -t tenantName -useOcsp true

b If the OCSP responder link is not provided by the AIA extension of the certificates, provide the

overriding OCSP responder URL and OCSP authority certificate.

The alternative OCSP is configured for each vCenter Single Sign-On site. You can specify more

than one alternative OCSP responder for your vCenter Single Sign-On site to allow for failover.

sso-config.[bat|sh] -t tenant -add_alt_ocsp [-siteID yourPSCClusterID] -ocspUrl

http://ocsp.xyz.com/ -ocspSigningCert yourOcspSigningCA.cer

Note The configuration is applied to the current vCenter Single Sign-On site by default. Specify

the siteID parameter only if you configure alternative OCSP for other vCenter Single Sign-On

sites.

Consider the following example.

.sso-config.[bat|sh] -t vsphere.local -add_alt_ocsp -ocspUrl

http://failover.ocsp.nsn0.rcvs.nit.disa.mil/ -

ocspSigningCert ./DOD_JITC_EMAIL_CA-29__0x01A5__DOD_JITC_ROOT_CA_2.cer

Adding alternative OCSP responder for tenant :vsphere.local

OCSP reponder is added successfully!

[

site:: 78564172-2508-4b3a-b903-23de29a2c342

[

OCSP url:: http://ocsp.nsn0.rcvs.nit.disa.mil/

OCSP signing CA cert: binary value]

]

[

OCSP url:: http://failover.ocsp.nsn0.rcvs.nit.disa.mil/

OCSP signing CA cert: binary value]

]

c To display the current alternative OCSP responder settings, run this command.

sso-config.[bat|sh] -t tenantName -get_alt_ocsp]

d To remove the current alternative OCSP responder settings, run this command.

sso-config.[bat|sh] -t tenantName -delete_alt_ocsp [-allSite] [-siteID

pscSiteID_for_the_configuration]

6(Optional) To list configuration information, run the following command.

sso-config.[bat|sh] -get_authn_policy -t tenantName

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Manage Smart Card Authentication

You can enable and disable smart card authentication, customize the login banner, and set up the

revocation policy from the vSphere Client.

If smart card authentication is enabled and other authentication methods are disabled, users are then

required to log in using smart card authentication.

If user name and password authentication are disabled, and if problems occur with smart card

authentication, users cannot log in. In that case, a root or administrator user can turn on user name and

password authentication from the Platform Services Controller command line. The following command

enables user name and password authentication.

OS Command

Windows sso-config.bat -set_authn_policy

-pwdAuthn true -t <tenant_name>

If you use the default tenant, use vsphere.local as the tenant

name.

Linux sso-config.sh -set_authn_policy -pwdAuthn true

-t <tenant_name>

If you use the default tenant, use vsphere.local as the tenant

name.

Prerequisites

nVerify that your environment uses Platform Services Controller version 6.5 or later, and that you use

vCenter Server version 6.0 or later. Platform Services Controller version 6.0 Update 2 supports smart

card authentication, but the setup procedure is different.

nVerify that an enterprise Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is set up in your environment, and that

certificates meet the following requirements:

nA User Principal Name (UPN) must correspond to an Active Directory account in the Subject

Alternative Name (SAN) extension.

nThe certificate must specify Client Authentication in the Application Policy or Enhanced Key

Usage field or the browser does not show the certificate.

nVerify that the Platform Services Controller certificate is trusted by the end user's workstation.

Otherwise, the browser does not attempt authentication.

nAdd an Active Directory identity source to vCenter Single Sign-On.

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nAssign the vCenter Server Administrator role to one or more users in the Active Directory identity

source. Those users can then perform management tasks because they can authenticate and they

have vCenter Server administrator privileges.

Note The administrator of the vCenter Single Sign-On domain, administrator@vsphere.local by

default, cannot perform smart card authentication.

nSet up the reverse proxy and restart the physical or virtual machine.

Procedure

1Obtain the certificates and copy them to a folder that the sso-config utility can see.

Option Description

Windows Log in to the Platform Services Controller Windows installation and use WinSCP

or a similar utility to copy the files.

Appliance a Log in to the appliance console, either directly or by using SSH.

b Enable the appliance shell, as follows.

shell

chsh -s "/bin/bash" root

csh -s "bin/appliance/sh" root

c Use WinSCP or a similar utility to copy the certificates to

the /usr/lib/vmware-sso/vmware-sts/conf on the

Platform Services Controller.

d Optionally disable the appliance shell, as follows.

chsh -s "/bin/appliancesh" root

2Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

3Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

4Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

5Under Smart Card Authentication, click Edit.

6Select or deselect authentication methods, and click SAVE.

You can choose smart card authentication by itself, or both smart card authentication and password

and Windows session authentication.

You cannot enable or disable RSA SecurID authentication from this Web interface. However, if RSA

SecurID has been enabled from the command line, the status appears in the Web interface.

The Trusted CA certificates appears.

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7Under the Trusted CA certificates tab, click Add, and click Browse.

8Select all certificates from trusted CAs, and click ADD.

What to do next

Your environment might require enhanced OCSP configuration.

nIf your OCSP response is issued by a different CA than the signing CA of the smart card, provide the

OCSP signing CA certificate.

nYou can configure one or more local OCSP responders for each Platform Services Controller site in a

multi-site deployment. You can configure these alternative OCSP responders using the CLI. See Use

the Command Line to Manage Smart Card Authentication.

Set Revocation Policies for Smart Card Authentication

You can customize certificate revocation checking, and you can specify where vCenter Single Sign-On

looks for information about revoked certificates.

You can customize the behavior by using the vSphere Client or by using the sso-config script. The

settings that you select depend in part on what the CA supports.

nIf revocation checking is disabled, vCenter Single Sign-On ignores any CRL or OCSP settings.

vCenter Single Sign-On does not perform checks on any certificates.

nIf revocation checking is enabled, the recommended setup depends on the PKI setup.

OCSP only If the issuing CA supports an OCSP responder, enable OCSP and

disable CRL as failover for OCSP.

CRL only If the issuing CA does not support OSCP, enable CRL checking and

disable OSCP checking.

Both OSCP and CRL If the issuing CA supports both an OCSP responder and a CRL, vCenter

Single Sign-On checks the OCSP responder first. If the responder

returns an unknown status or is not available, vCenter Single Sign-On

checks the CRL. For this case, enable both OCSP checking and CRL

checking, and enable CRL as failover for OCSP.

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nIf revocation checking is enabled, advanced users can specify the following additional settings.

OSCP URL By default, vCenter Single Sign-On checks the location of the OCSP

responder that is defined in the certificate being validated. If the

Authority Information Access extension is absent from the certificate or if

you want to override it, you can explicitly specify a location.

Use CRL from

certificate

By default, vCenter Single Sign-On checks the location of the CRL that

is defined in the certificate being validated. Disable this option if the CRL

Distribution Point extension is absent from the certificate or if you want

to override the default.

CRL location Use this property if you disable Use CRL from certificate and you want

to specify a location (file or HTTP URL) where the CRL is located.

You can further limit which certificates vCenter Single Sign-On accepts by adding a certificate policy.

Prerequisites

nVerify that your environment uses Platform Services Controller version 6.5 or later, and that you use

vCenter Server version 6.0 or later. Platform Services Controller version 6.0 Update 2 supports smart

card authentication, but the setup procedure is different.

nVerify that an enterprise Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is set up in your environment, and that

certificates meet the following requirements:

nA User Principal Name (UPN) must correspond to an Active Directory account in the Subject

Alternative Name (SAN) extension.

nThe certificate must specify Client Authentication in the Application Policy or Enhanced Key

Usage field or the browser does not show the certificate.

nVerify that the Platform Services Controller certificate is trusted by the end user's workstation.

Otherwise, the browser does not attempt authentication.

nAdd an Active Directory identity source to vCenter Single Sign-On.

nAssign the vCenter Server Administrator role to one or more users in the Active Directory identity

source. Those users can then perform management tasks because they can authenticate and they

have vCenter Server administrator privileges.

Note The administrator of the vCenter Single Sign-On domain, administrator@vsphere.local by

default, cannot perform smart card authentication.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

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3Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

4Click Smart Card Authentication.

5Click Certificate revocation and click Edit to enable or disable revocation checking.

6If certificate policies are in effect in your environment, you can add a policy in the Certificate policies

pane.

Set Up RSA SecurID Authentication

You can set up your environment to require that users log in with an RSA SecurID token. SecurID setup is

supported only from the command line.

See the two vSphere Blog posts about RSA SecurID setup for details.

Note RSA Authentication Manager requires that the user ID is a unique identifier that uses 1 to 255

ASCII characters. The characters ampersand (&), percent (%), greater than (>), less than (<), and single

quote (`) are not allowed.

Prerequisites

nVerify that your environment uses Platform Services Controller version 6.5 or later, and that you use

vCenter Server version 6.0 or later. Platform Services Controller version 6.0 Update 2 supports smart

card authentication, but the setup procedure is different.

nVerify that your environment has a correctly configured RSA Authentication Manager and that users

have RSA tokens. RSA Authentication Manager version 8.0 or later is required.

nVerify that the identity source that RSA Manager uses has been added to vCenter Single Sign-On.

See Add or Edit a vCenter Single Sign-On Identity Source.

nVerify that the RSA Authentication Manager system can resolve the Platform Services Controller host

name, and that the Platform Services Controller system can resolve the RSA Authentication Manager

host name.

nExport the sdconf.rec file from the RSA Manager by selecting Access > Authentication Agents >

Generate configuration file. Decompress the resulting AM_Config.zip file to find the sdconf.rec

file.

nCopy the sdconf.rec file to the Platform Services Controller node.

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Procedure

1Change to the directory where the sso-config script is located.

Option Description

Windows C:\Program Files\VMware\VCenter server\VMware Identity Services

Appliance /opt/vmware/bin

2To enable RSA SecurID authentication, run the following command.

sso-config.[sh|bat] -t tenantName -set_authn_policy –securIDAuthn true

tenantName is the name of the vCenter Single Sign-On domain, vsphere.local by default.

3(Optional) To disable other authentication methods, run the following command.

sso-config.sh -set_authn_policy -pwdAuthn false -winAuthn false -certAuthn false -t vsphere.local

4To configure the environment so that the tenant at the current site uses the RSA site, run the following

command.

sso-config.[sh|bat] -set_rsa_site [-t tenantName] [-siteID Location] [-agentName Name] [-

sdConfFile Path]

For example:

sso-config.sh -set_rsa_site -agentName SSO_RSA_AUTHSDK_AGENT -sdConfFile /tmp/sdconf.rec

You can specify the following options.

Option Description

siteID Optional Platform Services Controller site ID. Platform Services Controller

supports one RSA Authentication Manager instance or cluster per site. If you do

not explicitly specify this option, the RSA configuration is for the current

Platform Services Controller site. Use this option only if you are adding a different

site.

agentName Defined in RSA Authentication Manager.

sdConfFile Copy of the sdconf.rec file that was downloaded from RSA Manager and

includes configuration information for the RSA Manager, such as the IP address.

5(Optional) To change the tenant configuration to nondefault values, run the following command.

sso-config.[sh|bat] -set_rsa_config [-t tenantName] [-logLevel Level] [-logFileSize Size] [-

maxLogFileCount Count] [-connTimeOut Seconds] [-readTimeOut Seconds] [-encAlgList Alg1,Alg2,...]

The default is usually appropriate, for example:

sso-config.sh -set_rsa_config -t vsphere.local -logLevel DEBUG

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6(Optional) If your identity source is not using the User Principal Name as the user ID, set up the

identity source userID attribute.

The userID attribute determines which LDAP attribute is used as the RSA userID.

sso-config.[sh|bat] -set_rsa_userid_attr_map [-t tenantName] [-idsName Name] [-ldapAttr AttrName]

[-siteID Location]

For example:

sso-config.sh -set_rsa_userid_attr_map -t vsphere.local -idsName ssolabs.com -ldapAttr

userPrincipalName

7To display the current settings, run the following command.

sso-config.sh -t tenantName -get_rsa_config

If user name and password authentication is disabled and RSA authentication is enabled, users must log

in with their user name and RSA token. User name and password login is no longer possible.

Note Use the user name format userID@domainName or userID@domain_upn_suffix.

Manage the Login Message

You can include a login message with your environment. You can enable and disable the login message,

and you can require that users click an explicit consent check box.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

4Click the Login Message tab.

5Click Edit and configure the login message.

Option Description

Show login message Toggle on Show login message to enable the login message. You cannot make

default login message with your own text.

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Option Description

Consent checkbox Toggle on Consent checkbox to require that the user clicks a check box before

logging in. You can also display a message without a check box.

Details of login message Message that the user sees when clicking the login message, for example, the

text of the terms and conditions. If you use explicit consent, the message is

required.

6Click Save.

Using vCenter Single Sign-On as the Identity Provider for

Another Service Provider

The vSphere Client is automatically registered as trusted SAML 2.0 Service Provider (SP) to vCenter

Single Sign-On. You can add other trusted service providers to an identity federation where vCenter

Single Sign-On acting as the SAML Identity Provider (IDP). The service providers must conform to the

SAML 2.0 protocol. After the federation is set up, the service provider grants access to a user if that user

can authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On.

Note vCenter Single Sign-On can be the IDP to other SPs.vCenter Single Sign-On cannot be an SP that

uses another IDP.

A registered SAML service provider can grant access to a user that already has a live session, that is, a

user that is logged in to the identity provider. For example, vRealize Automation 7.0 and later supports

vCenter Single Sign-On as an identity provider. You can set up a federation from vCenter Single Sign-On

and from vRealize Automation. After that, vCenter Single Sign-On can perform the authentication when

you log in to vRealize Automation.

To join a SAML service provider to the identity federation, you have to set up trust between the SP and

the IDP by exchanging SAML metadata between them.

You have to perform integration tasks for both vCenter Single Sign-On and the service that is using

vCenter Single Sign-On.

1 Export IDP metadata to a file, then import it to the SP.

2 Export SP metadata and import it into the IDP.

You can use the vSphere Client interface to vCenter Single Sign-On to export the IDP metadata, and to

import the metadate from the SP. If you are using vRealize Automation as the SP, see the vRealize

Automation documentation for details on exporting the SP metadata and importing the IDP metadata.

Note The service must fully support the SAML 2.0 standard or integration does not work.

Join a SAML Service Provider to the Identity Federation

You add a SAML service provider to vCenter Single Sign-On, and add vCenter Single Sign-On as the

identity provider to that service. Going forward, when users log in to the service provider, the service

provider authenticates those users with vCenter Single Sign-On.

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Prerequisites

The target service must fully support the SAML 2.0 standard and the SP metadata must have the

SPSSODescriptor element.

If the metadata do not follow the SAML 2.0 metadata schema precisely, you might have to edit the

metadata before you import it. For example, if you are using an Active Directory Federation Services

(ADFS) SAML service provider, you have to edit the metadata before you can import them. Remove the

following non-standard elements:

fed:ApplicationServiceType

fed:SecurityTokenServiceType

Procedure

1Export the metadata from the service provider to a file.

2Log in with the vSphere Web Client to the vCenter Server connected to the

Platform Services Controller.

3Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

4Import the SP metadata into vCenter Single Sign-On.

a Select the SAML Service Providers tab.

b In the Metadata from your SAML service provider dialog box, import the metadata by pasting

the XML string or by importing a file.

5Export the vCenter Single Sign-On IDP metadata.

a In the Metadata for your SAML service provider text box, click Download.

b Specify a file location.

6Log in to the SAML SP, for example VMware vRealize Automation 7.0, and follow the SP instructions

to add the vCenter Single Sign-On metadata to that service provider.

See the vRealize Automation documentation for details on importing the metadata into that product.

Security Token Service STS

The vCenter Single Sign-On Security Token Service (STS) is a Web service that issues, validates, and

renews security tokens.

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Users present their primary credentials to the STS interface to acquire SAML tokens. The primary

credential depends on the type of user.

User User name and password available in a vCenter Single Sign-On identity

source.

Application user Valid certificate.

STS authenticates the user based on the primary credentials, and constructs a SAML token that contains

user attributes. STS signs the SAML token with its STS signing certificate, and assigns the token to the

user. By default, the STS signing certificate is generated by VMCA. You can replace the default STS

signing certificate from the vSphere Web Client. Do not replace the STS signing certificate unless your

company's security policy requires replacing all certificates.

After a user has a SAML token, the SAML token is sent as part of that user's HTTP requests, possibly

through various proxies. Only the intended recipient (service provider) can use the information in the

SAML token.

Refresh the Security Token Service Certiﬁcate

The vCenter Single Sign-On server includes a Security Token Service (STS). The Security Token Service

is a Web service that issues, validates, and renews security tokens. You can manually refresh the existing

Security Token Service certificate from the vSphere Web Client when the certificate expires or changes.

To acquire a SAML token, a user presents the primary credentials to the Secure Token Server (STS). The

primary credentials depend on the type of user:

Solution user Valid certificate

Other users User name and password available in a vCenter Single Sign-On identity

source.

The STS authenticates the user using the primary credentials, and constructs a SAML token that contains

user attributes. The STS service signs the SAML token with its STS signing certificate, and then assigns

the token to a user. By default, the STS signing certificate is generated by VMCA.

After a user has a SAML token, the SAML token is sent as part of that user's HTTP requests, possibly

through various proxies. Only the intended recipient (service provider) can use the information in the

SAML token.

You can replace the existing STS signing certificate vSphere Web Client if your company policy requires

it, or if you want to update an expired certificate.

Caution Do not replace the file in the filesystem. If you do, errors that are unexpected and difficult to

debug result.

Note After you replace the certificate, you must restart the node to restart both the vSphere Web Client

service and the STS service.

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Prerequisites

Copy the certificate that you just added to the java keystore from the Platform Services Controller to your

local workstation.

Platform Services

Controller appliance

certificate_location/keys/root-trust.jks For

example: /keys/root-trust.jks

For example:

/root/newsts/keys/root-trust.jks

Windows installation certificate_location\root-trust.jks

For example:

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\jre\bin\root-

trust.jks

Procedure

1Log in to the vSphere Web Client as administrator@vsphere.local or as another user with vCenter

Single Sign-On administrator privileges.

Users with vCenter Single Sign-On administrator privileges are in the Administrators group in the

local vCenter Single Sign-On domain, vsphere.local by default.

2Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

3Select the Certificates tab, then the STS Signing subtab, and click the Add STS Signing

Certificate icon.

4Add the certificate.

a Click Browse to browse to the key store JKS file that contains the new certificate and click Open.

b Type the password when prompted.

c Click the top of the STS alias chain and click OK.

d Type the password again when prompted

5Click OK.

6Restart the Platform Services Controller node to start both the STS service and the

vSphere Web Client.

Before the restart, authentication does not work correctly so the restart is essential.

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Generate a New STS Signing Certiﬁcate on the Appliance

Because the vCenter Single Sign-On Security Token Service (STS) signing certificate is an internal

VMware certificate, do not replace it unless your company mandates the replacement of internal

certificates. If you want to replace the default STS signing certificate, you must generate a new certificate

and add it to the Java key store. This procedure explains the steps on an embedded deployment

appliance or an external Platform Services Controller appliance.

Note This certificate is valid for ten years and is not an external-facing certificate. Do not replace this

certificate unless your company's security policy requires it.

See Generate a New STS Signing Certificate on a vCenter Windows Installation if you are running a

Platform Services Controller Windows installation.

Procedure

1Create a top-level directory to hold the new certificate and verify the location of the directory.

mkdir newsts

cd newsts

pwd

#resulting output: /root/newst

2Copy the certool.cfg file into the new directory.

cp /usr/lib/vmware-vmca/share/config/certool.cfg /root/newsts

3Open your copy of the certool.cfg file and edit it to use the local Platform Services Controller IP

address and hostname.

The country is required and has to be two characters, as shown in the following example.

# Template file for a CSR request

# Country is needed and has to be 2 characters

Country = US

Name = STS

Organization = ExampleInc

OrgUnit = ExampleInc Dev

State = Indiana

Locality = Indianapolis

IPAddress = 10.0.1.32

Email = chen@exampleinc.com

Hostname = homecenter.exampleinc.local

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4Generate the key.

/usr/lib/vmware-vmca/bin/certool --server localhost --genkey --privkey=/root/newsts/sts.key --

pubkey=/root/newsts/sts.pub

5Generate the certificate

/usr/lib/vmware-vmca/bin/certool --gencert --cert=/root/newsts/newsts.cer --

privkey=/root/newsts/sts.key --config=/root/newsts/certool.cfg

6Convert the certificate to PK12 format.

openssl pkcs12 -export -in /root/newsts/newsts.cer -inkey /root/newsts/sts.key -

certfile /etc/vmware-sso/keys/ssoserverRoot.crt -name "newstssigning" -passout pass:changeme -out

newsts.p12

7Add the certificate to the Java key store (JKS).

/usr/java/jre-vmware/bin/keytool -v -importkeystore -srckeystore newsts.p12 -srcstoretype pkcs12 -

srcstorepass changeme -srcalias newstssigning -destkeystore root-trust.jks -deststoretype JKS -

deststorepass testpassword -destkeypass testpassword

/usr/java/jre-vmware/bin/keytool -v -importcert -keystore root-trust.jks -deststoretype JKS -

storepass testpassword -keypass testpassword -file /etc/vmware-sso/keys/ssoserverRoot.crt -alias

root-ca

8When prompted, type Yes to accept the certificate into the keystore.

What to do next

You can now import the new certificate. See Refresh the Security Token Service Certificate.

Generate a New STS Signing Certiﬁcate on a vCenter Windows

Installation

Because the vCenter Single Sign-On Security Token Service (STS) signing certificate is an internal

VMware certificate, do not replace it unless your company mandates the replacement of internal

certificates. If you want to replace the default STS signing certificate, you must first generate a new

certificate and add it to the Java key store. This procedure explains the steps on a Windows installation.

Note This certificate is valid for ten years and is not an external-facing certificate. Do not replace this

certificate unless your company's security policy requires it.

See Generate a New STS Signing Certificate on the Appliance if you are using a virtual appliance.

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Procedure

1Create a new directory to hold the new certificate.

cd C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\sso\keys\

mkdir newsts

cd newsts

2Make a copy of the certool.cfg file and place it in the new directory.

copy "C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\certool.cfg" .

3Open your copy of the certool.cfg file and edit it to use the local Platform Services Controller IP

address and hostname.

The country is required and has to be two characters. The following sample illustrates this.

# Template file for a CSR request

# Country is needed and has to be 2 characters

Country = US

Name = STS

Organization = ExampleInc

OrgUnit = ExampleInc Dev

State = Indiana

Locality = Indianapolis

IPAddress = 10.0.1.32

Email = chen@exampleinc.com

Hostname = homecenter.exampleinc.local

4Generate the key.

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\certool.exe" --server localhost --genkey --

privkey=sts.key --pubkey=sts.pub

5Generate the certificate

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\certool.exe" --gencert --cert=newsts.cer --

privkey=sts.key --config=certool.cfg

6Convert the certificate to PK12 format.

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\openSSL\openssl.exe" pkcs12 -export -in newsts.cer -inkey

sts.key -certfile ..\ssoserverRoot.crt -name "newstssigning" -passout pass:changeme -out newsts.p12

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7Add the certificate to the Java key store (JKS).

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\jre\bin\keytool.exe" -v -importkeystore -srckeystore

newsts.p12 -srcstoretype pkcs12 -srcstorepass changeme -srcalias newstssigning -destkeystore root-

trust.jks -deststoretype JKS -deststorepass testpassword -destkeypass testpassword

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\jre\bin\keytool.exe" -v -importcert -keystore root-

trust.jks -deststoretype JKS -storepass testpassword -keypass testpassword -

file ..\ssoserverRoot.crt -alias root-ca

What to do next

You can now import the new certificate. See Refresh the Security Token Service Certificate.

Determine the Expiration Date of an LDAPS SSL Certiﬁcate

If you select an LDAP identity source, and you decide to use LDAPS, you can upload an SSL certificate

for the LDAP traffic. SSL certificates expire after a predefined lifespan. Knowing when a certificate expires

lets you replace or renew the certificate before the expiration date.

You see certificate expiration information only if you use an Active Directory LDAP Server or OpenLDAP

Server and specify an ldaps:// URL for the server. The Identity Sources TrustStore tab remains empty

for other types of identity sources or for ldap:// traffic.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the Certificate Management UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Certificates, click Certificate Management.

4Enter your vCenter Server credentials.

Your certificates appear.

5View a certificate's details and verify the expiration date in the Valid until field.

You might see a warning at the top of the tab which indicates that a certificate is about to expire.

Managing vCenter Single Sign-On Policies

vCenter Single Sign-On policies enforce the security rules in your environment. You can view and edit the

default vCenter Single Sign-On password policy, lockout policy, and token policy.

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Edit the vCenter Single Sign-On Password Policy

The vCenter Single Sign-On password policy determines the password format and password expiration.

Password policy applies only to users in the vCenter Single Sign-On domain (vsphere.local or vmc.local).

By default, vCenter Single Sign-On passwords expire after 90 days. The vSphere Web Client reminds you

when your password is about to expire.

Note The password policy applies only to user accounts, not to system accounts such as

administrator@vsphere.local.

See Change Your vCenter Single Sign-On Password.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

4Click Policies, select Password Policy, and click Edit.

5Edit the password policy.

Option Description

Description Password policy description.

Maximum lifetime Maximum number of days that a password is valid before the user must change it.

Restrict reuse Number of previous passwords that cannot be reused. For example, if you type 6,

the user cannot reuse any of the last six passwords.

Maximum length Maximum number of characters that are allowed in the password.

Minimum length Minimum number of characters required in the password. The minimum length

must be no less than the combined minimum of alphabetic, numeric, and special

character requirements.

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Option Description

Character requirements Minimum number of different character types that are required in the password.

You can specify the number of each type of character, as follows:

nSpecial: & # %

nAlphabetic: A b c D

nUppercase: A B C

nLowercase: a b c

nNumeric: 1 2 3

The minimum number of alphabetic characters must be no less than the

combined uppercase and lowercase characters.

Non-ASCII characters are supported in passwords. In earlier versions of vCenter

Single Sign-On, limitations on supported characters exist.

Identical adjacent characters Maximum number of identical adjacent characters that are allowed in the

password. For example, if you enter 1, the following password is not allowed: p@

$$word.

The number must be greater than 0.

6Click OK.

Edit the vCenter Single Sign-On Lockout Policy

If a user attempts to log in with incorrect credentials, a vCenter Single Sign-On lockout policy specifies

when the user's vCenter Single Sign-On account is locked. Administrators can edit the lockout policy.

If a user logs in to vsphere.local multiple times with the wrong password, the user is locked out. The

lockout policy allows administrators to specify the maximum number of failed login attempts, and set the

time interval between failures. The policy also specifies how much time must elapse before the account is

automatically unlocked.

Note The lockout policy applies only to user accounts, not to system accounts such as

administrator@vsphere.local.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

4Select Lockout Policy and click Edit.

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5Edit the parameters.

Option Description

Description Optional description of the lockout policy.

Maximum number of failed login

attempts

Maximum number of failed login attempts that are allowed before the account is

locked.

Time interval between failures Time period in which failed login attempts must occur to trigger a lockout.

Unlock time Amount of time that the account remains locked. If you enter 0, the administrator

must unlock the account explicitly.

6Click OK.

Edit the vCenter Single Sign-On Token Policy

The vCenter Single Sign-On token policy specifies token properties such as the clock tolerance and

renewal count. You can edit the token policy to ensure that the token specification conforms to security

standards in your corporation.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the Configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Configuration.

4Select Token Policy and click Edit.

5Edit the token policy configuration parameters.

Option Description

Clock Tolerance Time difference, in milliseconds, that vCenter Single Sign-On tolerates between a

client clock and the domain controller clock. If the time difference is greater than

the specified value, vCenter Single Sign-On declares the token invalid.

Maximum Token Renewal Count Maximum number of times that a token can be renewed. After the maximum

number of renewal attempts, a new security token is required.

Maximum Token Delegation Count Holder-of-key tokens can be delegated to services in the vSphere environment. A

service that uses a delegated token performs the service on behalf of the principal

that provided the token. A token request specifies a DelegateTo identity. The

DelegateTo value can either be a solution token or a reference to a solution token.

This value specifies how many times a single holder-of-key token can be

delegated.

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Option Description

Maximum Bearer Token Lifetime Bearer tokens provide authentication based only on possession of the token.

Bearer tokens are intended for short-term, single-operation use. A bearer token

does not verify the identity of the user or entity that is sending the request. This

value specifies the lifetime value of a bearer token before the token has to be

reissued.

Maximum Holder-of-Key Token

Lifetime

Holder-of-key tokens provide authentication based on security artifacts that are

embedded in the token. Holder-of-key tokens can be used for delegation. A client

can obtain a holder-of-key token and delegate that token to another entity. The

token contains the claims to identify the originator and the delegate. In the

vSphere environment, a vCenter Server system obtains delegated tokens on a

user's behalf and uses those tokens to perform operations.

This value determines the lifetime of a holder-of-key token before the token is

marked invalid.

6Click OK.

Managing vCenter Single Sign-On Users and Groups

A vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user can manage users and groups in the vsphere.local domain

from the vSphere Web Client.

The vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user can perform the following tasks.

nAdd vCenter Single Sign-On Users

Users listed on the Users tab in the vSphere Client are internal to vCenter Single Sign-On and

belong to the vsphere.local domain. You add users to that domain from one of the vCenter Single

Sign-On management interfaces.

nDisable and Enable vCenter Single Sign-On Users

When a vCenter Single Sign-On user account is disabled, the user cannot log in to the vCenter

Single Sign-On server until an administrator enables the account. You can disable and enable

accounts from one of the vCenter Single Sign-On management interfaces.

nDelete a vCenter Single Sign-On User

You can delete users that are in the vsphere.local domain from a vCenter Single Sign-On

management interface. You cannot delete local operating system users or users in another domain

from a vCenter Single Sign-On management interface.

nEdit a vCenter Single Sign-On User

You can change the password or other details of a vCenter Single Sign-On user from a vCenter

Single Sign-On management interface. You cannot rename users in the vsphere.local domain. That

means you cannot rename administrator@vsphere.local.

nAdd a vCenter Single Sign-On Group

The vCenter Single Sign-On Groups tab shows groups in the local domain, vsphere.local by default.

You add groups if you need a container for group members (principals).

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nAdd Members to a vCenter Single Sign-On Group

Members of a vCenter Single Sign-On group can be users or other groups from one or more identity

sources. You can add new members from the vSphere Web Client.

nRemove Members from a vCenter Single Sign-On Group

You can remove members from a vCenter Single Sign-On group by using the vSphere Client. When

you remove a member (user or group) from a group, you do not delete the member from the system.

nDelete vCenter Single Sign-On Solution Users

vCenter Single Sign-On displays solution users. A solution user is a collection of services. Several

vCenter Server solution users are predefined and authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On as part of

installation. In troubleshooting situations, for example, if an uninstall did not complete cleanly, you

can delete individual solution users from the vSphere Web Client.

nChange Your vCenter Single Sign-On Password

Users in the local domain, vsphere.local by default, can change their vCenter Single Sign-On

passwords from a Web interface. Users in other domains change their passwords following the rules

for that domain.

Add vCenter Single Sign-On Users

Users listed on the Users tab in the vSphere Client are internal to vCenter Single Sign-On and belong to

the vsphere.local domain. You add users to that domain from one of the vCenter Single Sign-On

management interfaces.

You can select other domains and view information about the users in those domains, but you cannot add

users to other domains from a vCenter Single Sign-On management interface.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the vCenter Single Sign-On user configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Users and Groups.

4If vsphere.local is not the currently selected domain, select it from the drop-down menu.

You cannot add users to other domains.

5On the Users tab, click Add User.

6Type a user name and password for the new user.

You cannot change the user name after you create a user. The password must meet the password

policy requirements for the system.

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7(Optional) Type the first name and last name of the new user.

8(Optional) Enter an email address and description for the user.

9Click OK.

When you add a user, that user initially has no privileges to perform management operations.

What to do next

Add the user to a group in the vsphere.local domain, for example, to the group of users who can

administer VMCA (CAAdmins) or to the group of users who can administer vCenter Single Sign-On

(Administrators). See Add Members to a vCenter Single Sign-On Group.

Disable and Enable vCenter Single Sign-On Users

When a vCenter Single Sign-On user account is disabled, the user cannot log in to the vCenter Single

Sign-On server until an administrator enables the account. You can disable and enable accounts from

one of the vCenter Single Sign-On management interfaces.

Disabled user accounts remain available in the vCenter Single Sign-On system, but the user cannot log in

or perform operations on the server. Users with administrator privileges can disable and enable accounts

from the vCenter Users and Groups page.

Prerequisites

You must be a member of the vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group to disable and enable

vCenter Single Sign-On users.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the vCenter Single Sign-On user configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Users and Groups.

4Select a user name, click the vertical ellipsis icon, and click Disable.

5Click OK.

6To enable the user again, click the vertical ellipsis icon, click Enable, and click OK.

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Delete a vCenter Single Sign-On User

You can delete users that are in the vsphere.local domain from a vCenter Single Sign-On management

interface. You cannot delete local operating system users or users in another domain from a vCenter

Single Sign-On management interface.

Caution If you delete the administrator user in the vsphere.local domain, you can no longer log in to

vCenter Single Sign-On. Reinstall vCenter Server and its components.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the vCenter Single Sign-On user configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Users and Groups.

4Select Users, and select the vsphere.local domain from the drop-down menu.

5In the list of users, select the user that you want to delete and click the vertical ellipsis icon.

6Click Delete.

Proceed with caution. You cannot undo this action.

Edit a vCenter Single Sign-On User

You can change the password or other details of a vCenter Single Sign-On user from a vCenter Single

Sign-On management interface. You cannot rename users in the vsphere.local domain. That means you

cannot rename administrator@vsphere.local.

You can create additional users with the same privileges as administrator@vsphere.local.

vCenter Single Sign-On users are stored in the vCenter Single Sign-On vsphere.local domain.

You can review the vCenter Single Sign-On password policies from the vSphere Client. Log in as

administrator@vsphere.local and from the Administration menu, select Configuration > Policies >

Password Policy.

See also Edit the vCenter Single Sign-On Password Policy.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

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2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the vCenter Single Sign-On user configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Users and Groups.

4Click Users.

5Click the vertical ellipsis icon and select Edit.

6Edit the user attributes.

You cannot change the user name of the user.

The password must meet the password policy requirements for the system.

7Click OK.

Add a vCenter Single Sign-On Group

The vCenter Single Sign-On Groups tab shows groups in the local domain, vsphere.local by default. You

add groups if you need a container for group members (principals).

You cannot add groups to other domains, for example, the Active Directory domain, from the vCenter

Single Sign-On Groups tab.

If you do not add an identity source to vCenter Single Sign-On, creating groups and adding users can

help you organize the local domain.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the vCenter Single Sign-On user configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Users and Groups.

4Select Groups, and click Add Group.

5Enter a name and description for the group.

You cannot change the group name after you create the group.

6Click OK.

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What to do next

nAdd members to the group.

Add Members to a vCenter Single Sign-On Group

Members of a vCenter Single Sign-On group can be users or other groups from one or more identity

sources. You can add new members from the vSphere Web Client.

See VMware Knowledge Base article 2095342 for background information.

Groups listed on the Groups tab in the Web interface are part of the vsphere.local domain. See Groups in

the vCenter Single Sign-On Domain.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the vCenter Single Sign-On user configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Users and Groups.

4Click Groups and click the group (for example, Administrators).

5In the Group Members area, click Add Members.

6Select the identity source that contains the member to add to the group.

7(Optional) Enter a search term and click Search.

8Select the member and click Add.

You can add more than one member.

9Click OK.

Remove Members from a vCenter Single Sign-On Group

You can remove members from a vCenter Single Sign-On group by using the vSphere Client. When you

remove a member (user or group) from a group, you do not delete the member from the system.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

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3Navigate to the vCenter Single Sign-On user configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign On, click Users and Groups.

4Select Groups and click a group.

5In the list of group members, select the user or group that you want to remove and click the vertical

ellipsis icon.

6Click Remove Member.

7Click Remove.

The user is removed from the group, but is still available in the system.

Delete vCenter Single Sign-On Solution Users

vCenter Single Sign-On displays solution users. A solution user is a collection of services. Several

vCenter Server solution users are predefined and authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On as part of

installation. In troubleshooting situations, for example, if an uninstall did not complete cleanly, you can

delete individual solution users from the vSphere Web Client.

When you remove the set of services associated with a vCenter Server solution user or a third-party

solution user from your environment, the solution user is removed from the vSphere Web Client display. If

you forcefully remove an application, or if the system becomes unrecoverable while the solution user is

still in the system, you can remove the solution user explicitly from the vSphere Web Client.

Important If you delete a solution user, the corresponding services can no longer authenticate to

vCenter Single Sign-On.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Web Client to the vCenter Server connected to the

Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the vCenter Single Sign-On user configuration UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Single Sign-On, click Users and Groups.

4Click the Solution Users tab, and click the solution user name.

5Click the Delete Solution User icon.

6Click Yes.

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The services associated with the solution user no longer have access to vCenter Server and cannot

function as vCenter Server services.

Change Your vCenter Single Sign-On Password

Users in the local domain, vsphere.local by default, can change their vCenter Single Sign-On passwords

from a Web interface. Users in other domains change their passwords following the rules for that domain.

The vCenter Single Sign-On lockout policy determines when your password expires. By default, vCenter

Single Sign-On user passwords expire after 90 days, but administrator passwords such as the password

for administrator@vsphere.local do not expire. vCenter Single Sign-On management interfaces show a

warning when your password is about to expire.

Note You can change a password only if it is not expired.

If the password is expired, the administrator of the local domain, administrator@vsphere.local by default,

can reset the password by using the dir-cli password reset command. Only members of the

Administrator group for the vCenter Single Sign-On domain can reset passwords.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3In the upper navigation pane, to the right of the Help menu, click your user name to pull down the

menu.

As an alternative, you can select Single Sign On > Users and Groups and select Edit User from

the vertical ellipsis menu.

4Select Change Password and type your current password.

5Type a new password and confirm it.

The password must conform to the password policy.

6Click OK.

vCenter Single Sign-On Security Best Practices

Follow vCenter Single Sign-On security best practices to protect your vSphere environment.

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The vSphere authentication infrastructure enhances security in your vSphere environment. To make sure

that infrastructure is not compromised, follow vCenter Single Sign-On best practices.

Check password

expiration

The default vCenter Single Sign-On password policy has a password

lifetime of 90 days. After 90 days, the password expires and you can no

longer log in. Check the expiration and refresh passwords in a timely

fashion.

Configure NTP Ensure that all systems use the same relative time source (including the

relevant localization offset), and that the relative time source can be

correlated to an agreed-upon time standard (such as Coordinated Universal

Time—UTC). Synchronized systems are essential for vCenter Single Sign-

On certificate validity, and for the validity of other vSphere certificates.

NTP also makes it easier to track an intruder in log files. Incorrect time

settings can make it difficult to inspect and correlate log files to detect

attacks, and can make auditing inaccurate.

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vSphere Security Certiﬁcates 3

vSphere provides security by using certificates to encrypt communications, authenticate services, and

sign tokens.

vSphere uses certificates to:

nEncrypt communications between two nodes, such as vCenter Server and an ESXi host.

nAuthenticate vSphere services.

nPerform internal actions such as signing tokens.

vSphere's internal certificate authority, VMware Certificate Authority (VMCA), provides all the certificates

necessary for vCenter Server and ESXi. VMCA is installed on every Platform Services Controller,

immediately securing the solution without any other modification. Keeping this default configuration

provides the lowest operational overhead for certificate management. vSphere provides a mechanism to

renew these certificates in the event they expire.

vSphere also provides a mechanism to replace certain certificates with your own certificates. However,

replace only the SSL certificate that provides encryption between nodes, to keep your certificate

management overhead low.

The following options are recommended for managing certificates.

Table 3‑1. Recommended Options for Managing Certiﬁcates

Mode Description Advantages

VMCA Default Certificates VMCA provides all the certificates

for vCenter Server and ESXi

hosts.

Simplest and lowest overhead. VMCA can manage the

certificate lifecycle for vCenter Server and ESXi hosts.

VMCA Default Certificates with

External SSL Certificates (Hybrid

Mode)

You replace the

Platform Services Controller and

vCenter Server Appliance SSL

certificates, and allow VMCA to

manage certificates for solution

users and ESXi hosts. Optionally,

for high-security conscious

deployments, you can replace the

ESXi host SSL certificates as well.

Simple and secure. VMCA manages internal

certificates but you get the benefit of using your

corporate-approved SSL certificates, and having those

certificates trusted by your browsers.

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VMware does not recommend replacing either solution user certificates or STS certificates, nor using a

subordinate CA in place of the VMCA. If you choose either of these options, you might encounter

significant complexity and the potential for a negative impact to your security, and an unnecessary

increase in your operational risk. For more information about managing certificates within a vSphere

environment, see the blog post titled New Product Walkthrough - Hybrid vSphere SSL Certificate

Replacement at http://vmware.com/go/hybridvmca.

You can use the following options to replace the existing certificates:

Table 3‑2. Dierent Approaches to Certiﬁcate Replacement

Option See

Use the vSphere Client. Starting with vSphere 6.7, the Platform

Services Controller is managed through the vSphere Client.

Managing Certificates with the vSphere Client

Use the vSphere Certificate Manager utility from the command

line.

Managing Certificates with the vSphere Certificate Manager

Utility

Use CLI commands for manual certificate replacement. Chapter 4 Managing Services and Certificates with CLI

Commands

vSphere Certificate Management

(http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid2296383276001?

bctid=ref:video_vsphere6_cert_infrastructure)

This chapter includes the following topics:

nCertificate Requirements for Different Solution Paths

nCertificate Management Overview

nManaging Certificates with the vSphere Client

nManaging Certificates from the vSphere Web Client

nManaging Certificates with the vSphere Certificate Manager Utility

nManual Certificate Replacement

Certiﬁcate Requirements for Dierent Solution Paths

Certificate requirements depend on whether you use VMCA as an intermediate CA or you use custom

certificates. Requirements are also different for machine certificates and for solution user certificates.

Before you begin, ensure that all nodes in your environment are time synchronized.

Requirements for All Imported Certiﬁcates

nKey size: 2048 bits or more (PEM encoded)

nPEM format. VMware supports PKCS8 and PKCS1 (RSA keys). When you add keys to VECS, they

are converted to PKCS8.

nx509 version 3

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nSubjectAltName must contain DNS Name=machine_FQDN

nCRT format

nContains the following Key Usages: Digital Signature, Key Encipherment.

nClient Authentication and Server Authentication cannot be present under Enhanced Key Usage.

VMCA does not support the following certificates.

nCertificates with wildcards

nThe algorithms md2WithRSAEncryption 1.2.840.113549.1.1.2, md5WithRSAEncryption

1.2.840.113549.1.1.4, and sha1WithRSAEncryption 1.2.840.113549.1.1.5 are not recommended.

nThe algorithm RSASSA-PSS with OID 1.2.840.113549.1.1.10 is not supported.

Certiﬁcate Compliance to RFC 2253

The certificate must be in compliance with RFC 2253.

If you do not generate CSRs using Certificate Manager, ensure that the CSR includes the following fields.

String X.500 AttributeType

CN commonName

LlocalityName

ST stateOrProvinceName

OorganizationName

OU organizationalUnitName

CcountryName

STREET streetAddress

DC domainComponent

UID userid

If you generate CSRs using Certificate Manager, you are prompted for the following information, and

Certificate Manager adds the corresponding fields to the CSR file.

nThe password of the administrator@vsphere.local user, or for the administrator of the vCenter Single

Sign-On domain that you are connecting to.

nIf you are generating a CSR in an environment with an external Platform Services Controller, you are

prompted for the host name or IP address of the Platform Services Controller.

nInformation that Certificate Manager stores in the certool.cfg file. For most fields, you can accept

the default or provide site-specific values. The FQDN of the machine is required.

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

nTwo-letter country code

nCompany name

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nOrganization name

nOrganization unit

nState

nLocality

nIP address (optional)

nEmail

nHost name, that is, the fully qualified domain name of the machine for which you want to replace

the certificate. If the host name does not match the FQDN, certificate replacement does not

complete correctly and your environment might end up in an unstable state.

nIP address of Platform Services Controller if you are running the command on a vCenter Server

(management) node

Requirements When Using VMCA as an Intermediate CA

When you use VMCA as an intermediate CA, the certificates must meet the following requirements.

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Certificate Type Certificate Requirements

Root certificate nYou can use vSphere Certificate Manager to create the

CSR. See Generate CSR with vSphere Certificate Manager

and Prepare Root Certificate (Intermediate CA)

nIf you prefer to create the CSR manually, the certificate that

you send to be signed must meet the following

requirements.

nKey size: 2048 bits or more

nPEM format. VMware supports PKCS8 and PKCS1

(RSA keys). When keys are added to VECS, they are

converted to PKCS8

nx509 version 3

nIf you are using custom certificates, the CA extension

must be set to true for root certificates, and cert sign

must be in the list of requirements.

nCRL signing must be enabled.

nEnhanced Key Usage must not contain Client

Authentication or Server Authentication.

nNo explicit limit to the length of the certificate chain.

VMCA uses the OpenSSL default, which is 10

certificates.

nCertificates with wildcards or with more than one DNS

name are not supported.

nYou cannot create subsidiary CAs of VMCA.

See VMware Knowledge Base Article 2112009, Creating

a Microsoft Certificate Authority Template for SSL

certificate creation in vSphere 6.0, for an example using

Microsoft Certificate Authority.

Machine SSL certificate You can use vSphere Certificate Manager to create the CSR or

create the CSR manually.

If you create the CSR manually, it must meet the requirements

listed previously under Requirements for All Imported

Certificates. You also have to specify the FQDN for the host.

Solution user certificate You can use vSphere Certificate Manager to create the CSR or

create the CSR manually.

Note You must use a different value for Name for each solution

user. If you generate the certificate manually, this might show up

as CN under Subject, depending on the tool you use.

If you use vSphere Certificate Manager, the tool prompts you for

certificate information for each solution user. vSphere Certificate

Manager stores the information in certool.cfg. See

Information that Certificate Manager Prompts For.

Requirements for Custom Certiﬁcates

When you want to use custom certificates, the certificates must meet the following requirements.

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Certificate Type Certificate Requirements

Machine SSL certificate The machine SSL certificate on each node must have a

separate certificate from your third-party or enterprise CA.

nYou can generate the CSRs using vSphere Certificate

Manager or create the CSR manually. The CSR must meet

the requirements listed previously under Requirements for

All Imported Certificates.

nIf you use vSphere Certificate Manager, the tool prompts

you for certificate information for each solution user.

vSphere Certificate Manager stores the information in

certool.cfg. See Information that Certificate Manager

Prompts For.

nFor most fields, you can accept the default or provide site-

specific values. The FQDN of the machine is required.

Solution user certificate Each solution user on each node must have a separate

certificate from your third-party or enterprise CA.

nYou can generate the CSRs using vSphere Certificate

Manager or prepare the CSR yourself. The CSR must meet

the requirements listed previously under Requirements for

All Imported Certificates.

nIf you use vSphere Certificate Manager, The tool prompts

you for certificate information for each solution user.

vSphere Certificate Manager stores the information in

certool.cfg. See Information that Certificate Manager

Prompts For.

Note You must use a different value for Name for each

solution user. A manually generated certificate might show

up as CN under Subject, depending on the tool you use.

When later you replace solution user certificates with custom

certificates, provide the complete signing certificate chain of the

third-party CA.

Note Do not use CRL Distribution Points, Authority Information Access, or Certificate Template

Information in any custom certificates.

Certiﬁcate Management Overview

The work required for setting up or updating your certificate infrastructure depends on the requirements in

your environment. You must consider whether you are performing a fresh install or an upgrade, and

whether you are considering ESXi or vCenter Server.

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Administrators Who Do Not Replace VMware Certiﬁcates

VMCA can handle all certificate management. VMCA provisions vCenter Server components and ESXi

hosts with certificates that use VMCA as the root certificate authority. If you are upgrading to vSphere 6

from an earlier version of vSphere, all self-signed certificates are replaced with certificates that are signed

by VMCA.

If you do not currently replace VMware certificates, your environment starts using VMCA-signed

certificates instead of self-signed certificates.

Administrators Who Replace VMware Certiﬁcates with Custom

Certiﬁcates

If your company policy requires certificates that are signed by a third-party or enterprise CA, or that

require custom certificate information, you have several choices for a fresh installation.

nHave the VMCA root certificate signed by a third-party CA or enterprise CA. Replace the VMCA root

certificate with that signed certificate. In this scenario, the VMCA certificate is an intermediate

certificate. VMCA provisions vCenter Server components and ESXi hosts with certificates that include

the full certificate chain.

nIf your company policy does not allow intermediate certificates in the chain, you can replace

certificates explicitly. You can use the vSphere Client, vSphere Certificate Manager utility, or perform

manual certificate replacement using the certificate management CLIs.

When upgrading an environment that uses custom certificates, you can retain some of the certificates.

nESXi hosts keep their custom certificates during upgrade. Make sure that the vCenter Server upgrade

process adds all the relevant root certificates to the TRUSTED_ROOTS store in VECS on the

vCenter Server.

After the upgrade to vSphere 6.0 or later, you can set the certificate mode to Custom. If the certificate

mode is VMCA, the default, and the user performs a certificate refresh from the vSphere Web Client,

the VMCA-signed certificates replace the custom certificates.

nFor vCenter Server components, what happens depends on the existing environment.

nFor an upgrade of a simple installation to an embedded deployment, vCenter Server retains

custom certificates. After the upgrade, your environment works as before.

nFor an upgrade of a multi-site deployment, vCenter Single Sign-On can be on a different machine

than other vCenter Server components. In that case, the upgrade process creates a multi-node

deployment that includes a Platform Services Controller node and one or more management

nodes.

This scenario retains the existing vCenter Server and vCenter Single Sign-On certificates. The

certificates are used as machine SSL certificates.

In addition, VMCA assigns a VMCA-signed certificate to each solution user (collection of vCenter

services). The solution user uses this certificate only to authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On.

Replacing solution user certificates is often not required by a company policy.

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You can no longer use the vSphere 5.5 certificate replacement tool, which was available for vSphere

5.5 installations. The new architecture results in a different service distribution and placement. A new

command-line utility, vSphere Certificate Manager, is available for most certificate management tasks.

vSphere Certiﬁcate Interfaces

For vCenter Server, you can view and replace certificates with the following tools and interfaces.

Table 3‑3. Interfaces for Managing vCenter Server Certiﬁcates

Interface Use

vSphere Client Perform common certificate tasks with a graphical user

interface.

vSphere Certificate Manager utility Perform common certificate replacement tasks from the

command line of the vCenter Server installation.

Certificate management CLIs Perform all certificate management tasks with dir-cli,

certool, and vecs-cli.

vSphere Web Client View certificates, including expiration information.

For ESXi, you perform certificate management from the vSphere Web Client. VMCA provisions

certificates and stores them locally on the ESXi host. VMCA does not store ESXi host certificates in

VMDIR or in VECS. See the vSphere Security documentation.

Supported vCenter Certiﬁcates

For vCenter Server, the Platform Services Controller, and related machines and services, the following

certificates are supported:

nCertificates that are generated and signed by VMware Certificate Authority (VMCA).

nCustom certificates.

nEnterprise certificates that are generated from your own internal PKI.

nThird-party CA-signed certificates that are generated by an external PKI such as Verisign,

GoDaddy, and so on.

Self-signed certificates that were created using OpenSSL in which no Root CA exists are not supported.

Certiﬁcate Replacement Overview

You can perform different types of certificate replacement depending on company policy and

requirements for the system that you are configuring. You can perform certificate replacement from the

Platform Services Controller, by using the vSphere Certificate Manager utility or manually by using the

CLIs included with your installation.

VMCA is included in each Platform Services Controller and in each embedded deployment. VMCA

provisions each node, each vCenter Server solution user, and each ESXi host with a certificate that is

signed by VMCA as the certificate authority. vCenter Server solution users are groups of vCenter Server

services.

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You can replace the default certificates. For vCenter Server components, you can use a set of command-

line tools included in your installation. You have several options.

Replace With Certiﬁcates Signed by VMCA

If your VMCA certificate expires or you want to replace it for other reasons, you can use the certificate

management CLIs to perform that process. By default, the VMCA root certificate expires after ten years,

and all certificates that VMCA signs expire when the root certificate expires, that is, after a maximum of

ten years.

Figure 3‑1. Certiﬁcates Signed by VMCA Are Stored in VECS

CA-Cert

VECS

Machine-Cert

Signed

VMCA

You can use the following vSphere Certificate Manager options:

nReplace Machine SSL Certificate with VMCA Certificate

nReplace Solution User Certificate with VMCA Certificate

For manual certificate replacement, see Replace Existing VMCA-Signed Certificates With New VMCA-

Signed Certificates.

Make VMCA an Intermediate CA

You can replace the VMCA root certificate with a certificate that is signed by an enterprise CA or third-

party CA. VMCA signs the custom root certificate each time it provisions certificates, making VMCA an

intermediate CA.

Note If you perform a fresh install that includes an external Platform Services Controller, install the

Platform Services Controller first and replace the VMCA root certificate. Next, install other services or add

ESXi hosts to your environment. If you perform a fresh install with an embedded

Platform Services Controller, replace the VMCA root certificate before you add ESXi hosts. If you do,

VMCA signs the whole chain, and you do not have to generate new certificates.

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Figure 3‑2. Certiﬁcates Signed by a Third-Party or Enterprise CA Use VMCA as an

Intermediate CA

CA-Cert

VECS

Machine-Cert

Signed

VMware vSphere

VMCA

Root

CA-Cert

Enterprise

CA-Cert

Signed Signed

You can use the following vSphere Certificate Manager options:

nReplace VMCA Root Certificate with Custom Signing Certificate and Replace All Certificates

nReplace Machine SSL Certificate with VMCA Certificate (multi-node deployment)

nReplace Solution User Certificate with VMCA Certificate (multi-node deployment)

For manual certificate replacement, see Use VMCA as an Intermediate Certificate Authority.

Do Not Use VMCA, Provision with Custom Certiﬁcates

You can replace the existing VMCA-signed certificates with custom certificates. If you use that approach,

you are responsible for all certificate provisioning and monitoring.

Figure 3‑3. External Certiﬁcates are Stored Directly in VECS

Unused

VECS

Machine-Cert

VMware vSphere

VMCA

External CA

(Commercial or

Enterprise)

Signed

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You can use the following vSphere Certificate Manager options:

nReplace Machine SSL Certificate with Custom Certificate

nReplace Solution User Certificates with Custom Certificates

For manual certificate replacement, see Use Custom Certificates With vSphere.

Hybrid Deployment

You can have VMCA supply some of the certificates, but use custom certificates for other parts of your

infrastructure. For example, because solution user certificates are used only to authenticate to vCenter

Single Sign-On, consider having VMCA provision those certificates. Replace the machine SSL certificates

with custom certificates to secure all SSL traffic.

Company policy often does not allow intermediate CAs. For those cases, hybrid deployment is a good

solution. It minimizes the number of certificates to replace, and secures all traffic. The hybrid deployment

leaves only internal traffic, that is, solution user traffic, to use the default VMCA-signed certificates

ESXi Certiﬁcate Replacement

For ESXi hosts, you can change certificate provisioning behavior from the vSphere Web Client. See the

vSphere Security documentation for details.

Table 3‑4. ESXi Certiﬁcate Replacement Options

Option Description

VMware Certificate Authority mode (default) When you renew certificates from the vSphere Web Client,

VMCA issues the certificates for the hosts. If you changed the

VMCA root certificate to include a certificate chain, the host

certificates include the full chain.

Custom Certificate Authority mode Allows you to manually update and use certificates that are not

signed or issued by VMCA.

Thumbprint mode Can be used to retain 5.5 certificates during refresh. Use this

mode only temporarily in debugging situations.

Where vSphere Uses Certiﬁcates

In vSphere 6.0 and later, the VMware Certificate Authority (VMCA) provisions your environment with

certificates. Certificates include machine SSL certificates for secure connections, solution user certificates

for authentication of services to vCenter Single Sign-On, and certificates for ESXi hosts.

The following certificates are in use.

Table 3‑5. Certiﬁcates in vSphere 6.0 and Later

Certificate Provisioned Comments

ESXi certificates VMCA (default) Stored locally on ESXi host

Machine SSL certificates VMCA (default) Stored in VECS

Solution user certificates VMCA (default) Stored in VECS

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Table 3‑5. Certiﬁcates in vSphere 6.0 and Later (Continued)

Certificate Provisioned Comments

vCenter Single Sign-On SSL

signing certificate

Provisioned during installation. Manage this certificate from the vSphere Web Client.

Note Do not change this certificate in the filesystem

or unpredictable behavior results.

VMware Directory Service (VMDIR)

SSL certificate

Provisioned during installation. Starting with vSphere 6.5, the machine SSL certificate

is used as the vmdir certificate.

ESXi

ESXi certificates are stored locally on each host in the /etc/vmware/ssl directory. ESXi certificates are

provisioned by VMCA by default, but you can use custom certificates instead. ESXi certificates are

provisioned when the host is first added to vCenter Server and when the host reconnects.

Machine SSL Certiﬁcates

The machine SSL certificate for each node is used to create an SSL socket on the server side. SSL

clients connect to the SSL socket. The certificate is used for server verification and for secure

communication such as HTTPS or LDAPS.

Each node has its own machine SSL certificate. Nodes include vCenter Server instance,

Platform Services Controller instance, or embedded deployment instance. All services that are running on

a node use the machine SSL certificate to expose their SSL endpoints.

The following services use the machine SSL certificate.

nThe reverse proxy service on each Platform Services Controller node. SSL connections to individual

vCenter services always go to the reverse proxy. Traffic does not go to the services themselves.

nThe vCenter service (vpxd) on management nodes and embedded nodes.

nThe VMware Directory Service (vmdir) on infrastructure nodes and embedded nodes.

VMware products use standard X.509 version 3 (X.509v3) certificates to encrypt session information.

Session information is sent over SSL between components.

Solution User Certiﬁcates

A solution user encapsulates one or more vCenter Server services. Each solution user must be

authenticated to vCenter Single Sign-On. Solution users use certificates to authenticate to vCenter Single

Sign-On through SAML token exchange.

A solution user presents the certificate to vCenter Single Sign-On when it first has to authenticate, after a

reboot, and after a timeout has elapsed. The timeout (Holder-of-Key Timeout) can be set from the

vSphere Web Client and defaults to 2592000 seconds (30 days).

For example, the vpxd solution user presents its certificate to vCenter Single Sign-On when it connects to

vCenter Single Sign-On. The vpxd solution user receives a SAML token from vCenter Single Sign-On and

can then use that token to authenticate to other solution users and services.

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The following solution user certificate stores are included in VECS on each management node and each

embedded deployment:

nmachine: Used by component manager, license server, and the logging service.

Note The machine solution user certificate has nothing to do with the machine SSL certificate. The

machine solution user certificate is used for the SAML token exchange. The machine SSL certificate

is used for secure SSL connections for a machine.

nvpxd: vCenter service daemon (vpxd) store on management nodes and embedded deployments.

vpxd uses the solution user certificate that is stored in this store to authenticate to vCenter Single

Sign-On.

nvpxd-extension: vCenter extensions store. Includes the Auto Deploy service, inventory service, and

other services that are not part of other solution users.

nvsphere-webclient: vSphere Web Client store. Also includes some additional services such as the

performance chart service.

Each Platform Services Controller node includes a machine certificate.

Internal Certiﬁcates

vCenter Single Sign-On certificates are not stored in VECS and are not managed with certificate

management tools. As a rule, changes are not necessary, but in special situations, you can replace these

certificates.

vCenter Single Sign-On

Signing Certificate

The vCenter Single Sign-On service includes an identity provider service

which issues SAML tokens that are used for authentication throughout

vSphere. A SAML token represents the user's identity, and also contains

group membership information. When vCenter Single Sign-On issues

SAML tokens, it signs each token with its signing certificate so that clients

of vCenter Single Sign-On can verify that the SAML token comes from a

trusted source.

vCenter Single Sign-On issues holder-of-key SAML tokens to solution

users and bearer tokens other users, which log in with a user name and

password.

You can replace this certificate from the vSphere Web Client. See Refresh

the Security Token Service Certificate.

VMware Directory

Service SSL Certificate

Starting with vSphere 6.5, the machine SSL certificate is used as the

VMware directory certificate. For earlier versions of vSphere, see the

corresponding documentation.

vSphere Virtual

Machine Encryption

Certificates

The vSphere Virtual Machine Encryption solution connects with an external

Key Management Server (KMS). Depending on how the solution

authenticates to the KMS, it might generate certificates and store them in

VECS. See the vSphere Security documentation.

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VMCA and VMware Core Identity Services

Core identity services are part of every embedded deployment and every platform services node. VMCA

is part of every VMware core identity services group. Use the management CLIs and the

vSphere Web Client to interact with these services.

VMware core identity services include several components.

Table 3‑6. Core Identity Services

Service Description Included in

VMware Directory Service (vmdir) Handles SAML certificate management for

authentication in conjunction with vCenter Single

Sign-On.

Platform Services Controller

Embedded deployment

VMware Certificate Authority

(VMCA)

Issues certificates for VMware solution users,

machine certificates for machines on which services

are running, and ESXi host certificates. VMCA can be

used as is, or as an intermediary certificate authority.

VMCA issues certificates only to clients that can

authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On in the same

domain.

Platform Services Controller

Embedded deployment

VMware Authentication Framework

Daemon (VMAFD)

Includes the VMware Endpoint Certificate Store

(VECS) and several other authentication services.

VMware administrators interact with VECS; the other

services are used internally.

Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server

Embedded deployment

VMware Endpoint Certiﬁcate Store Overview

VMware Endpoint Certificate Store (VECS) serves as a local (client-side) repository for certificates,

private keys, and other certificate information that can be stored in a keystore. You can decide not to use

VMCA as your certificate authority and certificate signer, but you must use VECS to store all vCenter

certificates, keys, and so on. ESXi certificates are stored locally on each host and not in VECS.

VECS runs as part of the VMware Authentication Framework Daemon (VMAFD). VECS runs on every

embedded deployment, Platform Services Controller node, and management node, and holds the

keystores that contain the certificates and keys.

VECS polls VMware Directory Service (vmdir) periodically for updates to the trusted root store. You can

also explicitly manage certificates and keys in VECS using vecs-cli commands. See vecs-cli Command

Reference.

VECS includes the following stores.

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Table 3‑7. Stores in VECS

Store Description

Machine SSL store (MACHINE_SSL_CERT) nUsed by the reverse proxy service on every vSphere node.

nUsed by the VMware Directory Service (vmdir) on

embedded deployments and on each

Platform Services Controller node.

All services in vSphere 6.0 and later communicate through a

reverse proxy, which uses the machine SSL certificate. For

backward compatibility, the 5.x services still use specific ports.

As a result, some services such as vpxd still have their own port

open.

Trusted root store (TRUSTED_ROOTS) Contains all trusted root certificates.

Solution user stores

nmachine

nvpxd

nvpxd-extension

nvsphere-webclient

VECS includes one store for each solution user. The subject of

each solution user certificate must be unique, for example, the

machine certificate cannot have the same subject as the vpxd

certificate.

Solution user certificates are used for authentication with

vCenter Single Sign-On. vCenter Single Sign-On checks that the

certificate is valid, but does not check other certificate attributes.

In an embedded deployment, all solution user certificates are on

the same system.

The following solution user certificate stores are included in

VECS on each management node and each embedded

deployment:

nmachine: Used by component manager, license server, and

the logging service.

Note The machine solution user certificate has nothing to

do with the machine SSL certificate. The machine solution

user certificate is used for the SAML token exchange. The

machine SSL certificate is used for secure SSL connections

for a machine.

nvpxd: vCenter service daemon (vpxd) store on management

nodes and embedded deployments. vpxd uses the solution

user certificate that is stored in this store to authenticate to

vCenter Single Sign-On.

nvpxd-extension: vCenter extensions store. Includes the

Auto Deploy service, inventory service, and other services

that are not part of other solution users.

nvsphere-webclient: vSphere Web Client store. Also

includes some additional services such as the performance

chart service.

Each Platform Services Controller node includes a machine

certificate.

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Table 3‑7. Stores in VECS (Continued)

Store Description

vSphere Certificate Manager Utility backup store

(BACKUP_STORE)

Used by VMCA (VMware Certificate Manager) to support

certificate revert. Only the most recent state is stored as a

backup, you cannot go back more than one step.

Other stores Other stores might be added by solutions. For example, the

Virtual Volumes solution adds an SMS store. Do not modify the

certificates in those stores unless VMware documentation or a

VMware Knowledge Base article instructs you to do so.

Note Deleting the TRUSTED_ROOTS_CRLS store can

damage your certificate infrastructure. Do not delete or modify

the TRUSTED_ROOTS_CRLS store.

The vCenter Single Sign-On service stores the token signing certificate and its SSL certificate on disk.

You can change the token signing certificate from the vSphere Client.

Some certificates are stored on the filesystem, either temporarily during startup or permanently. Do not

change the certificates on the file system. Use vecs-cli to perform operations on certificates that are

stored in VECS.

Note Do not change any certificate files on disk unless instructed by VMware documentation or

Knowledge Base Articles. Unpredictable behavior might result otherwise.

Managing Certiﬁcate Revocation

If you suspect that one of your certificates has been compromised, replace all existing certificates,

including the VMCA root certificate.

vSphere 6.0 supports replacing certificates but does not enforce certificate revocation for ESXi hosts or

for vCenter Server systems.

Remove revoked certificates from all nodes. If you do not remove revoked certificates, a man-in-the-

middle attack might enable compromise through impersonation with the account's credentials.

Certiﬁcate Replacement in Large Deployments

Certificate replacement in deployments that include multiple management nodes and one or more

Platform Services Controller nodes is similar to replacement in embedded deployments. In both cases,

you can use the vSphere Certificate Management utility or replace certificates manually. Some best

practices guide the replacement process.

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Certiﬁcate Replacement in High Availability Environments That Include a

Load Balancer

In environments with less than eight vCenter Server systems, VMware typically recommends a single

Platform Services Controller instance and associated vCenter Single Sign-On service. In larger

environments, consider using multiple Platform Services Controller instances, protected by a network load

balancer. The white paper vCenter Server 6.0 Deployment Guide on the VMware website discusses this

setup.

Replacement of Machine SSL Certiﬁcates in Environments with Multiple

Management Nodes

If your environment includes multiple management nodes and a single Platform Services Controller, you

can replace certificates with the vSphere Certificate Manager utility, or manually with vSphere CLI

commands.

vSphere Certificate

Manager

You run vSphere Certificate Manager on each machine. On management

nodes, you are prompted for the IP address of the

Platform Services Controller. Depending on the task you perform, you are

also prompted for certificate information.

Manual Certificate

Replacement

For manual certificate replacement, you run the certificate replacement

commands on each machine. On management nodes, you must specify the

Platform Services Controller with the --server parameter. See the

following topics for details:

nReplace Machine SSL Certificates with VMCA-Signed Certificates

nReplace Machine SSL Certificates (Intermediate CA)

nReplace Machine SSL Certificates With Custom Certificates

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Replacement of Solution User Certiﬁcates in Environments with Multiple

Management Nodes

If your environment includes multiple management nodes and a single Platform Services Controller,

follow these steps for certificate replacement.

Note When you list solution user certificates in large deployments, the output of dir-cli list includes

all solution users from all nodes. Run vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name localhost to find

the local machine ID for each host. Each solution user name includes the machine ID.

vSphere Certificate

Manager

You run vSphere Certificate Manager on each machine. On management

nodes, you are prompted for the IP address of the

Platform Services Controller. Depending on the task you perform, you are

also prompted for certificate information.

Manual Certificate

Replacement

1 Generate or request a certificate. You need the following certificates:

nA certificate for the machine solution user on the

Platform Services Controller.

nA certificate for the machine solution user on each management

node.

nA certificate for each of the following solution users on each

management node:

nvpxd solution user

nvpxd-extension solution user

nvsphere-webclient solution user

2 Replace the certificates on each node. The precise process depends

on the type of certificate replacement that you are performing. See

Managing Certificates with the vSphere Certificate Manager Utility

See the following topics for details:

nReplace Solution User Certificates With New VMCA-Signed Certificates

nReplace Solution User Certificates (Intermediate CA)

nReplace Solution User Certificates With Custom Certificates

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Certiﬁcate Replacement in Environments That Include External Solutions

Some solutions, such as VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager or VMware vSphere Replication, are

always installed on a different machine than the vCenter Server system or Platform Services Controller. If

you replace the default machine SSL certificate on the vCenter Server system or the

Platform Services Controller, a connection error results if the solution attempts to connect to the

vCenter Server system.

You can run the ls_update_certs script to resolve the issue. See VMware Knowledge Base article

2109074 for details.

Managing Certiﬁcates with the vSphere Client

You can view and manage certificates by using the vSphere Client. You also can perform many certificate

management tasks with the vSphere Certificate Manager utility.

The vSphere Client enables you to perform these management tasks.

nView the trusted root certificates and SSL certificates.

nRenew existing certificates or replace certificates.

Most parts of the certificate replacement workflows are supported fully from the vSphere Client. For

generating CSRs, you can use the vSphere Certificate Manage utility.

Supported Workﬂows

After you install a Platform Services Controller, the VMware Certificate Authority on that node provisions

all other nodes in the environment with certificates by default. See Chapter 3 vSphere Security

Certificates for recommendations on the current recommendations for managing certificates.

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You can use one of the following workflows to renew or replace certificates.

Renew Certificates You can have VMCA renew SSL and solution user certificates in your

environment from the vSphere Client.

Make VMCA an

Intermediate CA

You can generate a CSR using the vSphere Certificate Manager utility. You

can then edit the certificate you receive from the CSR to add VMCA to the

chain, and then add the certificate chain and private key to your

environment. When you then renew all certificates, VMCA provisions all

machines and solution users with certificates that the full chain has signed.

Replace Certificates

with Custom

Certificates

If you do not want to use VMCA, you can generate CSRs for the certificates

that you want to replace. The CA returns a root certificate and a signed

certificate for each CSR. You can upload the root certificate and the custom

certificates from the Platform Services Controller.

Note If you use VMCA as an intermediate CA, or use custom certificates, you might encounter

significant complexity and the potential for a negative impact to your security, and an unnecessary

increase in your operational risk. For more information about managing certificates within a vSphere

environment, see the blog post titled New Product Walkthrough - Hybrid vSphere SSL Certificate

Replacement at http://vmware.com/go/hybridvmca.

In a mixed-mode environment, you can use CLI commands to replace the vCenter Single Sign-On

certificate after replacing the other certificates. See Replace the VMware Directory Service Certificate in

Mixed Mode Environments.

Explore Certiﬁcate Stores from the vSphere Client

A VMware Endpoint Certificate Store (VECS) instance is included on each Platform Services Controller

node and each vCenter Server node. You can explore the different stores inside the VMware Endpoint

Certificate Store from the vSphere Client.

See VMware Endpoint Certificate Store Overview for details on the different stores inside VECS.

Prerequisites

For most management tasks, you must have the password for the administrator for the local domain

account, administrator@vsphere.local or a different domain if you changed the domain during installation.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

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3Navigate to the Certificate Management UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Certificates, click Certificate Management.

4Enter the credentials of your vCenter Server.

5Explore the certificates stored inside the VMware Endpoint Certificate Store (VECS).

VMware Endpoint Certificate Store Overview explains what is in the individual stores.

6To view details for a certificate, select the certificate and click View Details.

7Use the Actions menu to renew or replace certificates.

For example, if you replace the existing certificate, you can later remove the old root certificate.

Remove certificates only if you are sure that they are no longer in use.

Replace Certiﬁcates with New VMCA-Signed Certiﬁcates from the

vSphere Client

You can replace all VMCA-signed certificates with new VMCA-signed certificates. This process is called

renewing certificates. You can renew selected certificates or all certificates in your environment from the

vSphere Client.

Prerequisites

For certificate management, you have to supply the password of the administrator of the local domain

(administrator@vsphere.local by default). If you are renewing certificates for a vCenter Server system,

you also have to supply the vCenter Single Sign-On credentials for a user with administrator privileges on

the vCenter Server system.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Navigate to the Certificate Management UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Certificates, click Certificate Management.

4Enter the credentials of your vCenter Server.

5Renew the machine SSL certificate for the local system.

a Select Machine SSL Certificate.

b Click Actions > Renew.

A message appears that the certificate is renewed.

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6(Optional) Renew the Solution User certificates for the local system.

a Under Solution Certificates, select a certificate.

b Click Actions > Renew to renew individual selected certificates, or click Renew All to renew all

solution user certificates.

A message appears that the certificate is renewed.

7If your environment includes an external Platform Services Controller, you can then renew the

certificates for each of the vCenter Server system.

a Click the Logout button in the Certificate Management panel.

b When prompted, specify the IP address or FQDN of the vCenter Server system and user name

and password of a vCenter Server administrator who can authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On.

c Renew the machine SSL certificate on the vCenter Server and, optionally, each solution user

certificate.

d If you have multiple vCenter Server systems in your environment, repeat the process for each

system.

What to do next

Restart services on the Platform Services Controller. You can either restart the

Platform Services Controller, or run the following commands from the command line:

Windows On Windows, the service-control command is located at

VCENTER_INSTALL_PATH\bin.

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

Set up Your System to Use Custom Certiﬁcates from the Platform

Services Controller

You can use the Platform Services Controller to set up your environment to use custom certificates.

You can generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) for each machine and for each solution user using

the Certificate Manager utility. When you submit the CSRs to your internal or third-party CA, the CA

returns signed certificates and the root certificate. You can upload both the root certificate and the signed

certificates from the Platform Services Controller UI.

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Generate Certiﬁcate Signing Requests with vSphere Certiﬁcate Manager

(Custom Certiﬁcates)

You can use vSphere Certificate Manager to generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) that you can

then use with your enterprise CA or send to an external certificate authority. You can use the certificates

with the different supported certificate replacement processes.

You can run the Certificate Manager tool from the command line as follows:

Windows

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\certificate-manager.bat

Linux

/usr/lib/vmware-vmca/bin/certificate-manager

Prerequisites

vSphere Certificate Manager prompts you for information. The prompts depend on your environment and

on the type of certificate you want to replace.

nFor any CSR generation, you are prompted for the password of the administrator@vsphere.local

user, or for the administrator of the vCenter Single Sign-On domain that you are connecting to.

nIf you are generating a CSR in an environment with an external Platform Services Controller, you are

prompted for the host name or IP address of the Platform Services Controller.

nTo generate a CSR for a machine SSL certificate, you are prompted for certificate properties, which

are stored in the certool.cfg file. For most fields, you can accept the default or provide site-specific

values. The FQDN of the machine is required.

Procedure

1On each machine in your environment, start vSphere Certificate Manager and select option 1.

2Supply the password and the Platform Services Controller IP address or host name if prompted.

3Select option 1 to generate the CSR, answer the prompts and exit Certificate Manager.

As part of the process, you have to provide a directory. Certificate Manager places the certificate and

key files in the directory.

4If you also want to replace all solution user certificates, restart Certificate Manager.

5Select option 5.

6Supply the password and the Platform Services Controller IP address or host name if prompted.

7Select option 1 to generate the CSRs, answer the prompts and exit Certificate Manager.

As part of the process, you have to provide a directory. Certificate Manager places the certificate and

key files in the directory.

On each Platform Services Controller node, Certificate Manager generates one certificate and key

pair. On each vCenter Server node, Certificate Manager generates four certificate and key pairs.

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What to do next

Perform certificate replacement.

Add a Trusted Root Certiﬁcate to the Certiﬁcate Store

If you want to use third-party certificates in your environment, you must add a trusted root certificate to

the certificate store.

Prerequisites

Obtain the custom root certificate from your third-party or in-house CA.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Log in as an administrator.

4Navigate to the Certificate Management UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Certificates, click Certificate Management.

5Under Trusted Root Certificates, click Add.

6Click Browse and select the location of the certificate chain.

You can use a file of type CER, PEM, or CRT.

What to do next

Replace the Machine SSL certificates and, optionally, the solution user certificates with certificates that

are signed by this CA.

Add Custom Certiﬁcates from the Platform Services Controller

You can add custom Machine SSL certificates and custom solution user certificates to the certificate store

from the Platform Services Controller.

In most cases, replacing the machine SSL certificate for each component is sufficient. The solution user

certificate remains behind a proxy.

Prerequisites

Generate certificate signing requests (CSRs) for each certificate that you want to replace. You can

generate the CSRs with the Certificate Manager utility. Place the certificate and private key in a location

that the Platform Services Controller can access.

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Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server connected to the Platform Services Controller.

2Specify the user name and password for administrator@vsphere.local or another member of the

vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group.

If you specified a different domain during installation, log in as administrator@mydomain.

3Log in as an administrator.

4Navigate to the Certificate Management UI.

a From the Home menu, select Administration.

b Under Certificates, click Certificate Management.

5To replace a machine certificate follow these steps:

a Under Machine SSL Certificate, for the certificate that you want to replace click Actions >

Replace.

b Click Browse to replace the certificate chain, then click Browse to replace the private key.

6To replace the solution user certificates, follow these steps:

a Under Solution Certificates, for the first of the certificates for a component, for example,

machine, click Actions > Replace.

b Click Browse to replace the certificate chain, then click Browse to replace the private key.

c Repeat the process for the other certificates for the same component.

What to do next

Restart services on the Platform Services Controller. You can either restart the

Platform Services Controller, or run the following commands from the command line:

Windows On Windows, the service-control command is located at

VCENTER_INSTALL_PATH\bin.

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

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Managing Certiﬁcates from the vSphere Web Client

You can explore certificates from the vSphere Web Client, and you can set the threshold for expiration

warnings. Perform all other management tasks from the vSphere Client.

See Managing Certificates with the vSphere Client.

View vCenter Certiﬁcates with the vSphere Web Client

You can view the certificates known to the vCenter Certificate Authority (VMCA) to see whether active

certificates are about to expire, to check on expired certificates, and to see the status of the root

certificate. You perform all certificate management tasks using the certificate management CLIs.

You view certificates associated with the VMCA instance that is included with your embedded deployment

or with the Platform Services Controller. Certificate information is replicated across instances of VMware

Directory Service (vmdir).

When you attempt to view certificates in the vSphere Web Client, you are prompted for a user name and

password. Specify the user name and password of a user with privileges for VMware Certificate Authority,

that is, a user in the CAAdmins vCenter Single Sign-On group.

Procedure

1Log in with the vSphere Web Client to vCenter Server as administrator@vsphere.local or another

user of the CAAdmins vCenter Single Sign-On group.

2From the Home menu, select Administration.

3Click Deployment > System Configuration.

4Click Nodes, and select a host under the Nodes list.

5Click the Manage tab, and click Certificate Authority.

6Click the certificate type for which you want to view certificate information.

Option Description

Active Certificates Displays active certificates, including their validation information. The green Valid

To icon changes when certificate expiration is approaching.

Revoked Certificates Displays the list of revoked certificates. Not supported in this release.

Expired Certificates Lists expired certificates.

Root Certificates Displays the root certificates available to this instance of vCenter Certificate

Authority.

7Select a certificate and click the Show Certificate Details button to view certificate details.

Details include the Subject Name, Issuer, Validity, and Algorithm.

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Set the Threshold for vCenter Certiﬁcate Expiration Warnings

Starting with vSphere 6.0, vCenter Server monitors all certificates in the VMware Endpoint Certificate

Store (VECS) and issues an alarm when a certificate is 30 days or less from its expiration. You can

change how soon you are warned with the vpxd.cert.threshold advanced option.

Procedure

1Log in to the vSphere Web Client.

2Select the vCenter Server object and click Configure.

3Click Advanced Settings and filter for threshold.

4Change the setting of vpxd.cert.threshold to the desired value and click OK.

Managing Certiﬁcates with the vSphere Certiﬁcate

Manager Utility

The vSphere Certificate Manager utility allows you to perform most certificate management tasks

interactively from the command line. vSphere Certificate Manager prompts you for the task to perform, for

certificate locations and other information as needed, and then stops and starts services and replaces

certificates for you.

If you use vSphere Certificate Manager, you are not responsible for placing the certificates in VECS

(VMware Endpoint Certificate Store) and you are not responsible for starting and stopping services.

Before you run vSphere Certificate Manager, be sure you understand the replacement process and

procure the certificates that you want to use.

Caution vSphere Certificate Manager supports one level of revert. If you run vSphere Certificate

Manager twice and notice that you unintentionally corrupted your environment, the tool cannot revert the

first of the two runs.

Certiﬁcate Manager Utility Location

You can run the tool on the command line as follows:

Windows

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\certificate-manager.bat

Linux

/usr/lib/vmware-vmca/bin/certificate-manager

1Certificate Manager Options and the Workflows in This Document

You run Certificate Manager options in sequence to complete a workflow. Several options, for

example, generating CSRs, are used in different workflows.

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2Regenerate a New VMCA Root Certificate and Replace All Certificates

You can regenerate the VMCA root certificate, and replace the local machine SSL certificate, and

the local solution user certificates with VMCA-signed certificates. In multi-node deployments, run

vSphere Certificate Manager with this option on the Platform Services Controller and then run the

utility again on all other nodes and select

Replace Machine SSL certificate with VMCA Certificate and

Replace Solution user certificates with VMCA certificates.

3Make VMCA an Intermediate Certificate Authority (Certificate Manager)

You can make VMCA an Intermediate CA by following the prompts from Certificate Manager utility.

After you complete the process, VMCA signs all new certificates with the full chain. If you want, you

can use Certificate Manager to replace all existing certificates with new VMCA-signed certificates.

4Replace All Certificates with Custom Certificate (Certificate Manager)

You can use the vSphere Certificate Manager utility to replace all certificates with custom

certificates. Before you start the process, you must send CSRs to your CA. You can use Certificate

Manager to generate the CSRs.

5Revert Last Performed Operation by Republishing Old Certificates

When you perform a certificate management operation by using vSphere Certificate Manager, the

current certificate state is stored in the BACKUP_STORE store in VECS before certificates are

replaced. You can revert the last performed operation and return to the previous state.

6Reset All Certificates

Use the Reset All Certificates option if you want to replace all existing vCenter certificates

with certificates that are signed by VMCA.

Certiﬁcate Manager Options and the Workﬂows in This Document

You run Certificate Manager options in sequence to complete a workflow. Several options, for example,

generating CSRs, are used in different workflows.

Replace VMCA Root Certiﬁcate with Custom Signing Certiﬁcate and Replace

All Certiﬁcates.

This is a single-option workflow (Option 2) can be used by itself, or in the intermediate certificate

workflow. See Regenerate a New VMCA Root Certificate and Replace All Certificates.

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Make VMCA an Intermediate Certiﬁcate Authority

To make VMCA an intermediate CA, you have to run Certificate Manager several times. The workflow

gives the complete set of steps for replacing both machine SSL certificates and solution user certificates.

It explains what to do in environments with embedded Platform Services Controller or external

Platform Services Controller.

1 To generate a CSR, select Option 2, Replace VMCA Root certificate with Custom Signing Certificate

and replace all Certificates. You might have to provide some information about the certificate next.

When prompted for an option again, select Option 1.

Submit the CSR to your external or enterprise CA. You receive a signed certificate and a root

certificate from the CA.

2 Combine the VMCA root certificate with the CA root certificate and save the file.

3 Select Option 2, Replace VMCA Root certificate with Custom Signing Certificate and replace all

Certificates. This process replaces all certificates on the local machine.

4 In a multi-node deployment, you have to replace certificates on each node.

a First you replace the machine SSL certificate with the (new) VMCA certificate (Option 3)

b Then you replace the solution user certificates with the (new) VMCA certificate (Option 6).

See Make VMCA an Intermediate Certificate Authority (Certificate Manager)

Replacing All Certiﬁcate With Custom Certiﬁcates

To replace all certificates with custom certificates, you have to run Certificate Manager several times. The

workflow gives the complete set of steps for replacing both machine SSL certificates and solution user

certificates. It explains what to do in environments with embedded Platform Services Controller or

external Platform Services Controller.

1 You generate certificate signing requests for the machine SSL certificate and the solution user

certificates separately on each machine.

a To generate CSRs for the machine SSL certificate, you select Option 1.

b If company policy requires that you replace all certificates, you also select Option 5.

2 After you received the signed certificates and the root certificate from your CA, you replace the

machine SSL certificate on each machine by using Option 1.

3 If you also want to replace the solution user certificates, you select Option 5.

4 Finally, in a multi-node deployment, you have to repeat the process on each node.

See Replace All Certificates with Custom Certificate (Certificate Manager).

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Regenerate a New VMCA Root Certiﬁcate and Replace All

Certiﬁcates

You can regenerate the VMCA root certificate, and replace the local machine SSL certificate, and the

local solution user certificates with VMCA-signed certificates. In multi-node deployments, run vSphere

Certificate Manager with this option on the Platform Services Controller and then run the utility again on

all other nodes and select Replace Machine SSL certificate with VMCA Certificate and

Replace Solution user certificates with VMCA certificates.

When you replace the existing machine SSL certificate with a new VMCA-signed certificate, vSphere

Certificate Manager prompts you for information and enters all values, except for the password and the IP

address of the Platform Services Controller, into the certool.cfg file.

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

nTwo-letter country code

nCompany name

nOrganization name

nOrganization unit

nState

nLocality

nIP address (optional)

nEmail

nHost name, that is, the fully qualified domain name of the machine for which you want to replace the

certificate. If the host name does not match the FQDN, certificate replacement does not complete

correctly and your environment might end up in an unstable state.

nIP address of Platform Services Controller if you are running the command on a management node

Prerequisites

You must know the following information when you run vSphere Certificate Manager with this option.

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

nThe FQDN of the machine for which you want to generate a new VMCA-signed certificate. All other

properties default to the predefined values but can be changed.

Procedure

1Start vSphere Certificate Manager on an embedded deployment or on a Platform Services Controller.

2Select option 4.

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3Respond to the prompts.

Certificate Manager generates a new VMCA root certificate based on your input and replaces all

certificates on the system where you are running Certificate Manager. If you use an embedded

deployment, the replacement process is complete after Certificate Manager has restarted the

services.

4If your environment includes an external Platform Services Controller, you have to replace certificates

on each vCenter Server system.

a Log in to the vCenter Server system.

b Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

The service names differ on Windows and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Windows

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

c Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

d To replace the machine SSL certificate, run vSphere Certificate Manager with option 3,

Replace Machine SSL certificate with VMCA Certificate.

e To replace the solution user certificates, run Certificate Manager with option 6,

Replace Solution user certificates with VMCA certificates.

Make VMCA an Intermediate Certiﬁcate Authority (Certiﬁcate

Manager)

You can make VMCA an Intermediate CA by following the prompts from Certificate Manager utility. After

you complete the process, VMCA signs all new certificates with the full chain. If you want, you can use

Certificate Manager to replace all existing certificates with new VMCA-signed certificates.

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To make VMCA an intermediate CA, you have to run Certificate Manager several times. The workflow

gives the complete set of steps for replacing both machine SSL certificates and solution user certificates.

It explains what to do in environments with embedded Platform Services Controller or external

Platform Services Controller.

1 To generate a CSR, select Option 1, Replace Machine SSL certificate with Custom Certificate then

Option 1.

You receive a signed certificate and a root certificate from the CA.

2 Combine the VMCA root certificate with the CA root certificate and save the file.

3 Select Option 2, Replace VMCA Root certificate with Custom Signing Certificate and replace all

Certificates. This process replaces all certificates on the local machine.

4 In a multi-node deployment, you have to replace certificates on each node.

a First you replace the machine SSL certificate with the (new) VMCA certificate (Option 3)

b Then you replace the solution user certificates with the (new) VMCA certificate (Option 6).

Procedure

1Generate CSR with vSphere Certificate Manager and Prepare Root Certificate (Intermediate CA)

You can use vSphere Certificate Manager to generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs). Submit

those CSRs to your enterprise CA or to an external certificate authority for signing. You can use the

signed certificates with the different supported certificate replacement processes.

2Replace VMCA Root Certificate with Custom Signing Certificate and Replace All Certificates

You can use vSphere Certificate Manager to generate a CSR and sent the CSR to an enterprise or

third-party CA for signing. You can then replace the VMCA root certificate with a custom signing

certificate and replace all existing certificates with certificates that are signed by the custom CA.

3Replace Machine SSL Certificate with VMCA Certificate (Intermediate CA)

In a multi-node deployment that uses VMCA as an intermediate CA, you have to replace the

machine SSL certificate explicitly. First you replace the VMCA root certificate on the

Platform Services Controller node, and then you can replace the certificates on the vCenter Server

nodes to have the certificates signed by the full chain. You can also use this option to replace

machine SSL certificates that are corrupt or about to expire.

4Replace Solution User Certificates with VMCA Certificates (Intermediate CA)

In a multi-node environment that uses VMCA as an intermediate CA, you can replace the solution

user certificates explicitly. First you replace the VMCA root certificate on the

Platform Services Controller node, and then you can replace the certificates on the vCenter Server

nodes to have the certificates signed by the full chain. You can also use this option to replace

solution user certificates that are corrupt or about to expire.

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Generate CSR with vSphere Certiﬁcate Manager and Prepare Root Certiﬁcate

(Intermediate CA)

You can use vSphere Certificate Manager to generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs). Submit those

CSRs to your enterprise CA or to an external certificate authority for signing. You can use the signed

certificates with the different supported certificate replacement processes.

nYou can use vSphere Certificate Manager to create the CSR.

nIf you prefer to create the CSR manually, the certificate that you send to be signed must meet the

following requirements.

nKey size: 2048 bits or more

nPEM format. VMware supports PKCS8 and PKCS1 (RSA keys). When keys are added to VECS,

they are converted to PKCS8

nx509 version 3

nIf you are using custom certificates, the CA extension must be set to true for root certificates, and

cert sign must be in the list of requirements.

nCRL signing must be enabled.

nEnhanced Key Usage must not contain Client Authentication or Server Authentication.

nNo explicit limit to the length of the certificate chain. VMCA uses the OpenSSL default, which is

10 certificates.

nCertificates with wildcards or with more than one DNS name are not supported.

nYou cannot create subsidiary CAs of VMCA.

See VMware Knowledge Base Article 2112009, Creating a Microsoft Certificate Authority

Template for SSL certificate creation in vSphere 6.0, for an example using Microsoft Certificate

Authority.

Prerequisites

vSphere Certificate Manager prompts you for information. The prompts depend on your environment and

on the type of certificate that you want to replace.

For any CSR generation, you are prompted for the password of the administrator@vsphere.local user, or

for the administrator of the vCenter Single Sign-On domain that you are connecting to.

Procedure

1Start vSphere Certificate Manager and select Option 2.

Initially, you use this option to generate the CSR, not to replace certificates.

2Supply the password and the Platform Services Controller IP address or host name if prompted.

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3Select Option 1 to generate the CSR and answer the prompts.

As part of the process, you have to provide a directory. Certificate Manager places the certificate to

be signed (*.csr file) and the corresponding key file (*.key file) in the directory.

4Name the certificate signing request (CSR) root_signing_cert.csr.

5Send the CSR to your enterprise or external CA for signing and name the resulting signed certificate

root_signing_cert.cer.

6In a text editor, combine the certificates as follows.

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

Signed VMCA root certificate

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

CA intermediate certificates

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

Root certificate of enterprise or external CA

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

7Save the file as root_signing_chain.cer.

What to do next

Replace the existing root certificate with the chained root certificate. See Replace VMCA Root Certificate

with Custom Signing Certificate and Replace All Certificates.

Replace VMCA Root Certiﬁcate with Custom Signing Certiﬁcate and Replace

All Certiﬁcates

You can use vSphere Certificate Manager to generate a CSR and sent the CSR to an enterprise or third-

party CA for signing. You can then replace the VMCA root certificate with a custom signing certificate and

replace all existing certificates with certificates that are signed by the custom CA.

You run vSphere Certificate Manager on an embedded installation or on an external

Platform Services Controller to replace the VMCA root certificate with a custom signing certificate.

Prerequisites

nGenerate the certificate chain.

nYou can use vSphere Certificate Manager to create the CSR or create the CSR manually.

nAfter you receive the signed certificate from your third-party or enterprise CA, combine it with the

initial VMCA root certificate to create the full chain.

See Generate CSR with vSphere Certificate Manager and Prepare Root Certificate (Intermediate

CA) for certificate requirements and the process of combining the certificates.

nGather the information that you will need.

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

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nValid custom certificate for Root (.crt file).

nValid custom key for Root (.key file).

Procedure

1Start vSphere Certificate Manager on an embedded installation or on an external

Platform Services Controller and select option 2.

2Select option 2 again to start certificate replacement and respond to the prompts.

a Specify the full path to the root certificate when prompted.

b If you are replacing certificates for the first time, you are prompted for information to be used for

the machine SSL certificate.

This information includes the required FQDN of the machine and is stored in the certool.cfg

file.

3If you replace the root certificate on the Platform Services Controller in a multi-node deployment,

follow these steps for each vCenter Server node.

a Restart services on the vCenter Server node.

b Regenerate all certificates on the vCenter Server instance by using options 3 (Replace Machine

SSL certificate with VMCA Certificate) and 6 (Replace Solution user certificates

with VMCA certificates).

When you replace the certificates, VMCA signs with the full chain.

What to do next

If you are upgrading from a vSphere 5.x environment, you might have to replace the vCenter Single Sign-

On certificate inside vmdir. See Replace the VMware Directory Service Certificate in Mixed Mode

Environments.

Replace Machine SSL Certiﬁcate with VMCA Certiﬁcate (Intermediate CA)

In a multi-node deployment that uses VMCA as an intermediate CA, you have to replace the machine

SSL certificate explicitly. First you replace the VMCA root certificate on the Platform Services Controller

node, and then you can replace the certificates on the vCenter Server nodes to have the certificates

signed by the full chain. You can also use this option to replace machine SSL certificates that are corrupt

or about to expire.

When you replace the existing machine SSL certificate with a new VMCA-signed certificate, vSphere

Certificate Manager prompts you for information and enters all values, except for the password and the IP

address of the Platform Services Controller, into the certool.cfg file.

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

nTwo-letter country code

nCompany name

nOrganization name

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nOrganization unit

nState

nLocality

nIP address (optional)

nEmail

nHost name, that is, the fully qualified domain name of the machine for which you want to replace the

certificate. If the host name does not match the FQDN, certificate replacement does not complete

correctly and your environment might end up in an unstable state.

nIP address of Platform Services Controller if you are running the command on a management node

Prerequisites

nRestart all vCenter Server nodes explicitly if you replaced the VMCA root certificate in a multi-node

deployment.

nYou must know the following information to run Certificate Manager with this option.

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

nThe FQDN of the machine for which you want to generate a new VMCA-signed certificate. All

other properties default to the predefined values but can be changed.

nHost name or IP address of the Platform Services Controller if you are running on a

vCenter Server system with an external Platform Services Controller.

Procedure

1Start vSphere Certificate Manager and select option 3.

2Respond to the prompts.

Certificate Manager stores the information in the certool.cfg file.

vSphere Certificate Manager replaces the machine SSL certificate.

Replace Solution User Certiﬁcates with VMCA Certiﬁcates (Intermediate CA)

In a multi-node environment that uses VMCA as an intermediate CA, you can replace the solution user

certificates explicitly. First you replace the VMCA root certificate on the Platform Services Controller node,

and then you can replace the certificates on the vCenter Server nodes to have the certificates signed by

the full chain. You can also use this option to replace solution user certificates that are corrupt or about to

expire.

Prerequisites

nRestart all vCenter Server nodes explicitly if you replaced the VMCA root certificate in a multi-node

deployment.

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nYou must know the following information to run Certificate Manager with this option.

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

nHost name or IP address of the Platform Services Controller if you are running on a

vCenter Server system with an external Platform Services Controller.

Procedure

1Start vSphere Certificate Manager and select option 6.

2Respond to the prompts.

See VMware Knowledge Base article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2112281 for more information.

vSphere Certificate Manager replaces all solution user certificates.

Replace All Certiﬁcates with Custom Certiﬁcate (Certiﬁcate

Manager)

You can use the vSphere Certificate Manager utility to replace all certificates with custom certificates.

Before you start the process, you must send CSRs to your CA. You can use Certificate Manager to

generate the CSRs.

One option is to replace only the machine SSL certificate, and to use the solution user certificates that are

provisioned by VMCA. Solution user certificates are used only for communication between vSphere

components.

When you use custom certificates, you replace the VMCA-signed certificates with custom certificates. You

can use the vSphere Client, the vSphere Certificate Manager utility, or CLIs for manual certificate

replacement. Certificates are stored in VECS.

To replace all certificates with custom certificates, you have to run Certificate Manager several times. The

workflow gives the complete set of steps for replacing both machine SSL certificates and solution user

certificates. It explains what to do in environments with embedded Platform Services Controller or

external Platform Services Controller.

1 You generate certificate signing requests for the machine SSL certificate and the solution user

certificates separately on each machine.

a To generate CSRs for the machine SSL certificate, you select Option 1.

b If company policy does not allow a hybrid deployment, you select Option 5.

2 After you received the signed certificates and the root certificate from your CA, you replace the

machine SSL certificate on each machine by using Option 1.

3 If you also want to replace the solution user certificates, you select Option 5.

4 Finally, in a multi-node deployment, you have to repeat the process on each node.

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Procedure

1Generate Certificate Signing Requests with vSphere Certificate Manager (Custom Certificates)

You can use vSphere Certificate Manager to generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) that you

can then use with your enterprise CA or send to an external certificate authority. You can use the

certificates with the different supported certificate replacement processes.

2Replace Machine SSL Certificate with Custom Certificate

The machine SSL certificate is used by the reverse proxy service on every management node,

Platform Services Controller, and embedded deployment. Each machine must have a machine SSL

certificate for secure communication with other services. You can replace the certificate on each

node with a custom certificate.

3Replace Solution User Certificates with Custom Certificates

Many companies only require that you replace certificates of services that are accessible externally.

However, Certificate Manager also supports replacing solution user certificates. Solution users are

collections of services, for example, all services that are associated with the vSphere Web Client In

multi-node deployments replace the machine solution user certificate on the

Platform Services Controller and the full set of solution users on each management node.

Generate Certiﬁcate Signing Requests with vSphere Certiﬁcate Manager

(Custom Certiﬁcates)

You can use vSphere Certificate Manager to generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) that you can

then use with your enterprise CA or send to an external certificate authority. You can use the certificates

with the different supported certificate replacement processes.

You can run the Certificate Manager tool from the command line as follows:

Windows

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\certificate-manager.bat

Linux

/usr/lib/vmware-vmca/bin/certificate-manager

Prerequisites

vSphere Certificate Manager prompts you for information. The prompts depend on your environment and

on the type of certificate you want to replace.

nFor any CSR generation, you are prompted for the password of the administrator@vsphere.local

user, or for the administrator of the vCenter Single Sign-On domain that you are connecting to.

nIf you are generating a CSR in an environment with an external Platform Services Controller, you are

prompted for the host name or IP address of the Platform Services Controller.

nTo generate a CSR for a machine SSL certificate, you are prompted for certificate properties, which

are stored in the certool.cfg file. For most fields, you can accept the default or provide site-specific

values. The FQDN of the machine is required.

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Procedure

1On each machine in your environment, start vSphere Certificate Manager and select option 1.

2Supply the password and the Platform Services Controller IP address or host name if prompted.

3Select option 1 to generate the CSR, answer the prompts and exit Certificate Manager.

As part of the process, you have to provide a directory. Certificate Manager places the certificate and

key files in the directory.

4If you also want to replace all solution user certificates, restart Certificate Manager.

5Select option 5.

6Supply the password and the Platform Services Controller IP address or host name if prompted.

7Select option 1 to generate the CSRs, answer the prompts and exit Certificate Manager.

As part of the process, you have to provide a directory. Certificate Manager places the certificate and

key files in the directory.

On each Platform Services Controller node, Certificate Manager generates one certificate and key

pair. On each vCenter Server node, Certificate Manager generates four certificate and key pairs.

What to do next

Perform certificate replacement.

Replace Machine SSL Certiﬁcate with Custom Certiﬁcate

The machine SSL certificate is used by the reverse proxy service on every management node,

Platform Services Controller, and embedded deployment. Each machine must have a machine SSL

certificate for secure communication with other services. You can replace the certificate on each node

with a custom certificate.

Prerequisites

Before you start, you need a CSR for each machine in your environment. You can generate the CSR

using vSphere Certificate Manager or explicitly.

1 To generate the CSR using vSphere Certificate Manager, see Generate Certificate Signing Requests

with vSphere Certificate Manager (Custom Certificates).

2 To generate the CSR explicitly, request a certificate for each machine from your third-party or

enterprise CA. The certificate must meet the following requirements:

nKey size: 2048 bits or more (PEM encoded)

nCRT format

nx509 version 3

nSubjectAltName must contain DNS Name=<machine_FQDN>

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nContains the following Key Usages: Digital Signature, Non Repudiation, Key Encipherment

Note Do not use CRL Distribution Points, Authority Information Access, or Certificate Template

Information in any custom certificates.

See also VMware Knowledge Base article 2112014, Obtaining vSphere certificates from a Microsoft

Certificate Authority.

Procedure

1Start vSphere Certificate Manager and select option 1.

2Select option 2 to start certificate replacement and respond to the prompts.

vSphere Certificate Manager prompts you for the following information:

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

nValid Machine SSL custom certificate (.crt file).

nValid Machine SSL custom key (.key file).

nValid signing certificate for the custom machine SSL certificate (.crt file).

nIf you are running the command on a management node in a multi-node deployment, IP address

of the Platform Services Controller.

What to do next

If you are upgrading from a vSphere 5.x environment, you might have to replace the vCenter Single Sign-

On certificate inside vmdir. See Replace the VMware Directory Service Certificate in Mixed Mode

Environments.

Replace Solution User Certiﬁcates with Custom Certiﬁcates

Many companies only require that you replace certificates of services that are accessible externally.

However, Certificate Manager also supports replacing solution user certificates. Solution users are

collections of services, for example, all services that are associated with the vSphere Web Client In multi-

node deployments replace the machine solution user certificate on the Platform Services Controller and

the full set of solution users on each management node.

When you are prompted for a solution user certificate, provide the complete signing certificate chain of

the third-party CA.

The format should be similar to the following.

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

Signing certificate

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

CA intermediate certificates

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-----END CERTIFICATE-----

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

Root certificate of enterprise or external CA

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Prerequisites

Before you start, you need a CSR for each machine in your environment. You can generate the CSR

using vSphere Certificate Manager or explicitly.

1 To generate the CSR using vSphere Certificate Manager, see Generate Certificate Signing Requests

with vSphere Certificate Manager (Custom Certificates).

2 Request a certificate for each solution user on each node from your third-party or enterprise CA. You

can generate the CSR using vSphere Certificate Manager or prepare it yourself. The CSR must meet

the following requirements:

nKey size: 2048 bits or more (PEM encoded)

nCRT format

nx509 version 3

nSubjectAltName must contain DNS Name=<machine_FQDN>

nEach solution user certificate must have a different Subject. Consider, for example, including the

solution user name (such as vpxd) or other unique identifier.

nContains the following Key Usages: Digital Signature, Non Repudiation, Key Encipherment

See also VMware Knowledge Base article 2112014, Obtaining vSphere certificates from a Microsoft

Certificate Authority.

Procedure

1Start vSphere Certificate Manager and select option 5.

2Select option 2 to start certificate replacement and respond to the prompts.

vSphere Certificate Manager prompts you for the following information:

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

nCertificate and key for machine solution user.

nIf you run vSphere Certificate Manager on a Platform Services Controller node, you are prompted

for the certificate and key (vpxd.crt and vpxd.key) for the machine solution user.

nIf you run vSphere Certificate Manager on a management node or an embedded deployment, you

are prompted for the full set of certificates and keys (vpxd.crt and vpxd.key) for all solution

users.

What to do next

If you are upgrading from a vSphere 5.x environment, you might have to replace the vCenter Single Sign-

On certificate inside vmdir. See Replace the VMware Directory Service Certificate in Mixed Mode

Environments.

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Revert Last Performed Operation by Republishing Old Certiﬁcates

When you perform a certificate management operation by using vSphere Certificate Manager, the current

certificate state is stored in the BACKUP_STORE store in VECS before certificates are replaced. You can

revert the last performed operation and return to the previous state.

Note The revert operation restores what is currently in the BACKUP_STORE. If you run vSphere

Certificate Manager with two different options and you then attempt to revert, only the last operation is

reverted.

Reset All Certiﬁcates

Use the Reset All Certificates option if you want to replace all existing vCenter certificates with

certificates that are signed by VMCA.

When you use this option, you overwrite all custom certificates that are currently in VECS.

nOn a Platform Services Controller node, vSphere Certificate Manager can regenerate the root

certificate and replace the machine SSL certificate and the machine solution user certificate.

nOn a management node, vSphere Certificate Manager can replace the machine SSL certificate and

all solution user certificates.

nIn an embedded deployment, vSphere Certificate Manager can replace all certificates.

Which certificates are replaced depends on which options you select.

Manual Certiﬁcate Replacement

For some special cases, for example, if you want to replace only one type of solution user certificate, you

cannot use the vSphere Certificate Manager utility. In that case, you can use the CLIs included with your

installation for certificate replacement.

Understanding Stopping and Starting of Services

For certain parts of manual certificate replacement, you must stop all services and then start only the

services that manage the certificate infrastructure. If you stop services only when needed, you can

minimize downtime.

You have to stop and start services as part of the certificate replacement process.

nIf your environment uses an embedded Platform Services Controller, you start and stop all services,

as discussed in this document.

nIf your environment uses an external Platform Services Controller, you do not have to stop and start

VMware Directory Service (vmdird) and VMware Certificate Authority (vmcad) on the vCenter Server

node. Those services run on the Platform Services Controller.

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Follow these rules of thumb.

nDo not stop services to generate new public/private key pairs or new certificates.

nIf you are the only administrator, you do not have to stop services when you add a new root

certificate. The old root certificate remains available, and all services can still authenticate with that

certificate. Stop and immediately restart all services after you add the root certificate to avoid

problems with your hosts.

nIf your environment includes multiple administrators, stop services before you add a new root

certificate and restart services after you add a new certificate.

nStop services right before you perform these tasks:

nDelete a machine SSL certificate or any solution user certificate in VECS.

nReplace a solution user certificate in vmdir (VMware Directory Service).

Replace Existing VMCA-Signed Certiﬁcates With New VMCA-

Signed Certiﬁcates

If the VMCA root certificate expires in the near future, or if you want to replace it for other reasons, you

can generate a new root certificate and add it to the VMware Directory Service. You can then generate

new machine SSL certificates and solution user certificates using the new root certificate.

Use the vSphere Certificate Manager utility to replace certificates for most cases.

If you need fine-grained control, this scenario gives detailed step-by-step instructions for replacing the

complete set of certificates using CLI commands. You can instead replace only individual certificates

using the procedure in the corresponding task.

Prerequisites

Only administrator@vsphere.local or other users in the CAAdmins group can perform certificate

management tasks. See Add Members to a vCenter Single Sign-On Group.

Procedure

1Generate a New VMCA-Signed Root Certificate

You generate new VMCA-signed certificates with the certool CLI or the vSphere Certificate

Manager utility and publish the certificates to vmdir.

2Replace Machine SSL Certificates with VMCA-Signed Certificates

After you generate a new VMCA-signed root certificate, you can replace all machine SSL certificates

in your environment.

3Replace Solution User Certificates With New VMCA-Signed Certificates

After you replace the machine SSL certificates, you can replace all solution user certificates.

Solution user certificates must be valid, that is, not expired, but none of the other information in the

certificate is used by the certificate infrastructure.

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4Replace the VMware Directory Service Certificate in Mixed Mode Environments

During upgrade, your environment might temporarily include both vCenter Single Sign-On version

5.5 and vCenter Single Sign-On version 6.x. For that case, you have to perform additional steps to

replace the VMware Directory Service SSL certificate if you replace the SSL certificate of the node

on which the vCenter Single Sign-On service is running.

Generate a New VMCA-Signed Root Certiﬁcate

You generate new VMCA-signed certificates with the certool CLI or the vSphere Certificate Manager

utility and publish the certificates to vmdir.

In a multi-node deployment, you run root certificate generation commands on the

Platform Services Controller.

Procedure

1Generate a new self-signed certificate and private key.

certool --genselfcacert --outprivkey <key_file_path> --outcert <cert_file_path> --config

<config_file>

2Replace the existing root certificate with the new certificate.

certool --rootca --cert <cert_file_path> --privkey <key_file_path>

The command generates the certificate, adds it to vmdir, and adds it to VECS.

3Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

The service names differ on Windows and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Note If your environment uses an external Platform Services Controller, you do not have to stop and

start VMware Directory Service (vmdird) and VMware Certificate Authority (vmcad) on the

vCenter Server node. Those services run on the Platform Services Controller.

Windows

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

4(Optional) Publish the new root certificate to vmdir.

dir-cli trustedcert publish --cert newRoot.crt

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The command updates all instances of vmdir immediately. If you don't run the command, propagation

of the new certificate to all nodes might take a while.

5Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

Example: Generate a New VMCA-Signed Root Certiﬁcate

The following example shows all the steps for verifying the current root CA information, and for

regenerating the root certificate.

1 (Optional) List the VMCA root certificate to make sure it is in the certificate store.

nOn a Platform Services Controller node or embedded installation:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --getrootca

nOn a management node (external installation):

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --getrootca --server=<psc-ip-or-

fqdn>

The output looks similar to this:

output:

Certificate:

Data:

Version: 3 (0x2)

Serial Number:

cf:2d:ff:49:88:50:e5:af

...

2 (Optional) List the VECS TRUSTED_ROOTS store and compare the certificate serial number there

with the output from Step 1.

This command works on both Platform Services Controller nodes and management nodes because

VECS polls vmdir.

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry list --store TRUSTED_ROOTS --text

In the simplest case with only one root certificate, the output looks like this:

Number of entries in store : 1

Alias : 960d43f31eb95211ba3a2487ac840645a02894bd

Entry type : Trusted Cert

Certificate:

Data:

Version: 3 (0x2)

Serial Number:

cf:2d:ff:49:88:50:e5:af

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3 Generate a new VMCA root certificate. The command adds the certificate to the TRUSTED_ROOTS

store in VECS and in vmdir (VMware Directory Service).

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --selfca --config="C:\Program

Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\certool.cfg"

On Windows, --config is optional because the command uses the default certool.cfg file.

Replace Machine SSL Certiﬁcates with VMCA-Signed Certiﬁcates

After you generate a new VMCA-signed root certificate, you can replace all machine SSL certificates in

your environment.

Each machine must have a machine SSL certificate for secure communication with other services. In a

multi-node deployment, you must run the Machine SSL certificate generation commands on each node.

Use the --server parameter to point to the Platform Services Controller from a vCenter Server with

external Platform Services Controller.

Prerequisites

Be prepared to stop all services and to start the services that handle certificate propagation and storage.

Procedure

1Make one copy of certool.cfg for each machine that needs a new certificate.

You can find certool.cfg in the following locations:

OS Path

Windows C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad

Linux /usr/lib/vmware-vmca/share/config/

2Edit the custom configuration file for each machine to include that machine's FDQN.

Run NSLookup against the machine’s IP address to see the DNS listing of the name, and use that

name for the Hostname field in the file.

3Generate a public/private key file pair and a certificate for each file, passing in the configuration file

that you just customized.

For example:

certool --genkey --privkey=machine1.priv --pubkey=machine1.pub

certool --gencert --privkey=machine1.priv --cert machine1.crt --Name=Machine1_Cert --config

machine1.cfg

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4Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

The service names differ on Windows and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Note If your environment uses an external Platform Services Controller, you do not have to stop and

start VMware Directory Service (vmdird) and VMware Certificate Authority (vmcad) on the

vCenter Server node. Those services run on the Platform Services Controller.

Windows

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

5Add the new certificate to VECS.

All machines need the new certificate in the local certificate store to communicate over SSL. You first

delete the existing entry, then add the new entry.

vecs-cli entry delete --store MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT

vecs-cli entry create --store MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT --cert machine1.cert

--key machine1.priv

6Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

Example: Replacing Machine Certiﬁcates With VMCA-Signed Certiﬁcates

1 Create a configuration file for the SSL certificate and save it as ssl-config.cfg in the current

directory.

Country = US

Name = vmca-<PSC-FQDN-example>

Organization = <my_company>

OrgUnit = <my_company Engineering>

State = <my_state>

Locality = <mytown>

Hostname = <FQDN>

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2 Generate a key pair for the machine SSL certificate. Run this command on each management node

and Platform Services Controller node; it does not require a --server option.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=ssl-key.priv --

pubkey=ssl-key.pub

The ssl-key.priv and ssl-key.pub files are created in the current directory.

3 Generate the new machine SSL certificate. This certificate is signed by VMCA. If you replaced the

VMCA root certificate with custom certificate, VMCA signs all certificates with the full chain.

nOn a Platform Services Controller node or embedded installation:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vmca-ssl.crt --

privkey=ssl-key.priv --config=ssl-config.cfg

nOn a vCenter Server (external installation):

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vmca-ssl.crt --

privkey=ssl-key.priv --config=ssl-config.cfg --server=<psc-ip-or-fqdn>

The new-vmca-ssl.crt file is created in the current directory.

4 (Optional) List the content of VECS.

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\" vecs-cli store list

nSample output on Platform Services Controller:

MACHINE_SSL_CERT

TRUSTED_ROOTS

TRUSTED_ROOT_CRLS

machine

nSample output on vCenter Server:

output (on vCenter):

MACHINE_SSL_CERT

TRUSTED_ROOTS

TRUSTED_ROOT_CRLS

machine

vpxd

vpxd-extension

vsphere-webclient

sms

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5 Replace the Machine SSL certificate in VECS with the new Machine SSL certificate. The --store

and --alias values have to exactly match with the default names.

nOn the Platform Services Controller, run the following command to update the Machine SSL

certificate in the MACHINE_SSL_CERT store.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store

MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store

MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT --cert new-vmca-ssl.crt --key ssl-key.priv

nOn each management node or embedded deployment, run the following command to update the

Machine SSL certificate in the MACHINE_SSL_CERT store. You must update the certificate for

each machine separately because each has a different FQDN.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store

MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store

MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT --cert new-vmca-ssl.crt --key ssl-key.priv

What to do next

You can also replace the certificates for your ESXi hosts. See the vSphere Security publication.

After replacing the root certificate in a multi-node deployment, you must restart services on all

vCenter Server with external Platform Services Controller nodes.

Replace Solution User Certiﬁcates With New VMCA-Signed Certiﬁcates

After you replace the machine SSL certificates, you can replace all solution user certificates. Solution

user certificates must be valid, that is, not expired, but none of the other information in the certificate is

used by the certificate infrastructure.

Many VMware customers do not replace solution user certificates. They replace only the machine SSL

certificates with custom certificates. This hybrid approach satisfies the requirements of their security

teams.

nCertificates either sit behind a proxy, or they are custom certificates.

nNo intermediate CAs are used.

You replace the machine solution user certificate on each management node and on each

Platform Services Controller node. You replace the other solution user certificates only on each

management node. Use the --server parameter to point to the Platform Services Controller when you

run commands on a management node with an external Platform Services Controller.

Note When you list solution user certificates in large deployments, the output of dir-cli list includes

all solution users from all nodes. Run vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name localhost to find

the local machine ID for each host. Each solution user name includes the machine ID.

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Prerequisites

Be prepared to stop all services and to start the services that handle certificate propagation and storage.

Procedure

1Make one copy of certool.cfg, remove the Name, IP address, DNS name, and email fields, and

rename the file, for example, to sol_usr.cfg.

You can name the certificates from the command line as part of generation. The other information is

not needed for solution users. If you leave the default information, the certificates that are generated

are potentially confusing.

2Generate a public/private key file pair and a certificate for each solution user, passing in the

configuration file that you just customized.

For example:

certool --genkey --privkey=vpxd.priv --pubkey=vpxd.pub

certool --gencert --privkey=vpxd.priv --cert vpxd.crt --Name=VPXD_1 --config sol_usr.cfg

3Find the name for each solution user.

dir-cli service list

You can use the unique ID that is returned when you replace the certificates. The input and output

might look as follows.

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd>dir-cli service list

Enter password for administrator@vsphere.local:

1. machine-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

2. vpxd-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

3. vpxd-extension-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

4. vsphere-webclient-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

When you list solution user certificates in multi-node deployments, the output of dir-cli list includes

all solution users from all nodes. Run vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name localhost to

find the local machine ID for each host. Each solution user name includes the machine ID.

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4Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

The service names differ on Windows and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Note If your environment uses an external Platform Services Controller, you do not have to stop and

start VMware Directory Service (vmdird) and VMware Certificate Authority (vmcad) on the

vCenter Server node. Those services run on the Platform Services Controller.

Windows

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

5For each solution user, replace the existing certificate in vmdir and then in VECS.

The following example shows how to replace the certificates for the vpxd service.

dir-cli service update --name <vpxd-xxxx-xxx-7c7b769cd9f4> --cert ./vpxd.crt

vecs-cli entry delete --store vpxd --alias vpxd

vecs-cli entry create --store vpxd --alias vpxd --cert vpxd.crt --key vpxd.priv

Note Solution users cannot authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On if you do not replace the

certificate in vmdir.

6Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

Example: Using VMCA-Signed Solution User Certiﬁcates

1 Generate a public/private key pair for each solution user. That includes a pair for the machine solution

user on each Platform Services Controller and each management node and a pair for each additional

solution user (vpxd, vpxd-extension, vsphere-webclient) on each management node.

a Generate a key pair for the machine solution user of an embedded deployment or for the machine

solution user of the Platform Services Controller.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=machine-key.priv

--pubkey=machine-key.pub

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b (Optional) For deployments with an external Platform Services Controller, generate a key pair for

the machine solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=machine-key.priv

--pubkey=machine-key.pub

c Generate a key pair for the vpxd solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=vpxd-key.priv --

pubkey=vpxd-key.pub

d Generate a key pair for the vpxd-extension solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=vpxd-extension-

key.priv --pubkey=vpxd-extension-key.pub

e Generate a key pair for the vsphere-webclient solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=vsphere-

webclient-key.priv --pubkey=vsphere-webclient-key.pub

2 Generate solution user certificates that are signed by the new VMCA root certificate for the machine

solution user on each Platform Services Controller and each management node and for each

additional solution user (vpxd, vpxd-extension, vsphere-webclient) on each management node.

Note The --Name parameter has to be unique. Including the name of the solution user store name

makes it easy to see which certificate maps to which solution user. The example includes the name,

for example vpxd or vpxd-extension in each case.

a Run the following command on the Platform Services Controller node to generate a solution user

certificate for the machine solution user on that node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-machine.crt --

privkey=machine-key.priv --Name=machine

b Generate a certificate for the machine solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-machine.crt --

privkey=machine-key.priv --Name=machine --server=<psc-ip-or-fqdn>

c Generate a certificate for the vpxd solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vpxd.crt --

privkey=vpxd-key.priv --Name=vpxd --server=<psc-ip-or-fqdn>

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d Generate a certificate for the vpxd-extensions solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vpxd-

extension.crt --privkey=vpxd-extension-key.priv --Name=vpxd-extension --server=<psc-ip-or-fqdn>

e Generate a certificate for the vsphere-webclient solution user on each management node by

running the following command.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vsphere-

webclient.crt --privkey=vsphere-webclient-key.priv --Name=vsphere-webclient --server=<psc-ip-

or-fqdn>

3 Replace the solution user certificates in VECS with the new solution user certificates.

Note The --store and --alias parameters have to exactly match the default names for services.

a On the Platform Services Controller node, run the following command to replace the machine

solution user certificate:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store machine --

alias machine

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store machine --

alias machine --cert new-machine.crt --key machine-key.priv

b Replace the machine solution user certificate on each management node:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store machine --

alias machine

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store machine --

alias machine --cert new-machine-vc.crt --key machine-vc-key.priv

c Replace the vpxd solution user certificate on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store vpxd --alias

vpxd

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store vpxd --alias

vpxd --cert new-vpxd.crt --key vpxd-key.priv

d Replace the vpxd-extension solution user certificate on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store vpxd-

extension --alias vpxd-extension

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store vpxd-

extension --alias vpxd-extension --cert new-vpxd-extension.crt --key vpxd-extension-key.priv

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e Replace the vsphere-webclient solution user certificate on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store vsphere-

webclient --alias vsphere-webclient

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store vsphere-

webclient --alias vsphere-webclient --cert new-vsphere-webclient.crt --key vsphere-webclient-

key.priv

4 Update VMware Directory Service (vmdir) with the new solution user certificates. You are prompted

for a vCenter Single Sign-On administrator password.

a Run dir-cli service list to get the unique service ID suffix for each solution user. You can

run this command on a Platform Services Controller or a vCenter Server system.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli>dir-cli service list

output:

1. machine-29a45d00-60a7-11e4-96ff-00505689639a

2. machine-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69

3. vpxd-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69

4. vpxd-extension-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69

5. vsphere-webclient-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69

Note When you list solution user certificates in large deployments, the output of dir-cli list

includes all solution users from all nodes. Run vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name

localhost to find the local machine ID for each host. Each solution user name includes the

machine ID.

b Replace the machine certificate in vmdir on the Platform Services Controller. For example, if

machine-29a45d00-60a7-11e4-96ff-00505689639a is the machine solution user on the

Platform Services Controller, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name

machine-29a45d00-60a7-11e4-96ff-00505689639a --cert new-machine-1.crt

c Replace the machine certificate in vmdir on each management node. For example, if

machine-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 is the machine solution user on the

vCenter Server, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name

machine-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 --cert new-machine-2.crt

d Replace the vpxd solution user certificate in vmdir on each management node. For example, if

vpxd-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 is the vpxd solution user ID, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name

vpxd-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 --cert new-vpxd.crt

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e Replace the vpxd-extension solution user certificate in vmdir on each management node. For

example, if vpxd-extension-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 is the vpxd-extension

solution user ID, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name vpxd-

extension-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 --cert new-vpxd-extension.crt

f Replace the vsphere-webclient solution user certificate on each management node. For example,

if vsphere-webclient-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 is the vsphere-webclient solution

user ID, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name vsphere-

webclient-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 --cert new-vsphere-webclient.crt

What to do next

Restart all services on each Platform Services Controller node and each management node.

Replace the VMware Directory Service Certiﬁcate in Mixed Mode

Environments

During upgrade, your environment might temporarily include both vCenter Single Sign-On version 5.5 and

vCenter Single Sign-On version 6.x. For that case, you have to perform additional steps to replace the

VMware Directory Service SSL certificate if you replace the SSL certificate of the node on which the

vCenter Single Sign-On service is running.

The VMware Directory Service SSL certificate is used by vmdir to perform handshakes between

Platform Services Controller nodes that perform vCenter Single Sign-On replication.

These steps are not required for a mixed mode environment that includes vSphere 6.0 and vSphere 6.5

nodes. These steps are required only if:

nYour environment includes both vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 and vCenter Single Sign-On 6.x services.

nThe vCenter Single Sign-On services are set up to replicate vmdir data.

nYou plan to replace the default VMCA-signed certificates with custom certificates for the node on

which the vCenter Single Sign-On 6.x service runs.

Note Upgrading the complete environment before restarting the services is best practice. Replacing the

VMware Directory Service certificate is not usually recommended.

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Procedure

1On the node on which the vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 service runs, set up the environment so the

vCenter Single Sign-On 6.x service is known.

a Back up all files C:\ProgramData\VMware\CIS\cfg\vmdird.

b Make a copy of the vmdircert.pem file on the 6.x node, and rename it to

<sso_node2.domain.com>.pem, where <sso_node2.domain.com> is the FQDN of the 6.x node.

c Copy the renamed certificate to C:\ProgramData\VMware\CIS\cfg\vmdird to replace the

existing replication certificate.

2Restart the VMware Directory Service on all machines where you replaced certificates.

You can restart the service from the vSphere Web Client or use the service-control command.

Use VMCA as an Intermediate Certiﬁcate Authority

You can replace the VMCA root certificate with a third-party CA-signed certificate that includes VMCA in

the certificate chain. Going forward, all certificates that VMCA generates include the full chain. You can

replace existing certificates with newly generated certificates.

Procedure

1Replace the Root Certificate (Intermediate CA)

The first step in replacing the VMCA certificates with custom certificates is generating a CSR,

sending the CSR to be signed. You then add the signed certificate to VMCA as a root certificate.

2Replace Machine SSL Certificates (Intermediate CA)

After you have received the signed certificate from the CA and made it the VMCA root certificate,

you can replace all machine SSL certificates.

3Replace Solution User Certificates (Intermediate CA)

After you replace the machine SSL certificates, you can replace the solution user certificates.

4Replace the VMware Directory Service Certificate in Mixed Mode Environments

During upgrade, your environment might temporarily include both vCenter Single Sign-On version

5.5 and vCenter Single Sign-On version 6.x. For that case, you have to perform additional steps to

replace the VMware Directory Service SSL certificate if you replace the SSL certificate of the node

on which the vCenter Single Sign-On service is running.

Replace the Root Certiﬁcate (Intermediate CA)

The first step in replacing the VMCA certificates with custom certificates is generating a CSR, sending the

CSR to be signed. You then add the signed certificate to VMCA as a root certificate.

You can use the Certificate Manager utility or other tool to generate the CSR. The CSR must meet the

following requirements:

nKey size: 2048 bits or more

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nPEM format. VMware supports PKCS8 and PKCS1 (RSA keys). When keys are added to VECS, they

are converted to PKCS8

nx509 version 3

nIf you are using custom certificates, the CA extension must be set to true for root certificates, and cert

sign must be in the list of requirements.

nCRL signing must be enabled.

nEnhanced Key Usage must not contain Client Authentication or Server Authentication.

nNo explicit limit to the length of the certificate chain. VMCA uses the OpenSSL default, which is 10

certificates.

nCertificates with wildcards or with more than one DNS name are not supported.

nYou cannot create subsidiary CAs of VMCA.

See VMware Knowledge Base Article 2112009, Creating a Microsoft Certificate Authority Template for

SSL certificate creation in vSphere 6.0, for an example using Microsoft Certificate Authority.

VMCA validates the following certificate attributes when you replace the root certificate:

nKey size 2048 bits or more

nKey Usage: Cert Sign

nBasic Constraint: Subject Type CA

Procedure

1Generate a CSR and send it to your CA.

Follow your CA's instructions.

2Prepare a certificate file that includes the signed VMCA certificate and the full CA chain of your third-

party CA or enterprise CA. Save the file, for example as rootca1.crt.

You can accomplish this step by copying all CA certificates in PEM format into a single file. You start

with the VMCA root certificate and end up with the root CA PEM certificate. For example:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

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3Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

The service names differ on Windows and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Note If your environment uses an external Platform Services Controller, you do not have to stop and

start VMware Directory Service (vmdird) and VMware Certificate Authority (vmcad) on the

vCenter Server node. Those services run on the Platform Services Controller.

Windows

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

4Replace the existing VMCA root CA.

certool --rootca --cert=rootca1.crt --privkey=root1.key

When you run this command, it:

nAdds the new custom root certificate to the certificate location in the file system.

nAppends the custom root certificate to the TRUSTED_ROOTS store in VECS (after a delay).

nAdds the custom root certificate to vmdir (after a delay).

5(Optional) To propagate the change to all instances of vmdir (VMware Directory Service), publish the

new root certificate to vmdir, supplying the full file path for each file.

For example:

dir-cli trustedcert publish --cert rootca1.crt

Replication between vmdir nodes happens every 30 seconds. You do not have to add the root

certificate to VECS explicitly because VECS polls vmdir for new root certificate files every 5 minutes.

6(Optional) If necessary, you can force a refresh of VECS.

vecs-cli force-refresh

7Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

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Example: Replacing the Root Certiﬁcate

Replace the VMCA root certificate with the custom CA root certificate using the certool command with the

--rootca option.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\certool" --rootca --cert=C:\custom-certs\root.pem -–

privkey=C:\custom-certs\root.key

When you run this command, it:

nAdds the new custom root certificate to the certificate location in the file system.

nAppends the custom root certificate to the TRUSTED_ROOTS store in VECS.

nAdds the custom root certificate to vmdir.

What to do next

You can remove the original VMCA root certificate from the certificate store if your company policy

requires it. If you do, you have to replace the vCenter Single Sign-On Signing certificate. See Refresh the

Security Token Service Certificate.

Replace Machine SSL Certiﬁcates (Intermediate CA)

After you have received the signed certificate from the CA and made it the VMCA root certificate, you can

replace all machine SSL certificates.

These steps are essentially the same as the steps for replacing with a certificate that uses VMCA as the

certificate authority. However, in this case, VMCA signs all certificates with the full chain.

Each machine must have a machine SSL certificate for secure communication with other services. In a

multi-node deployment, you must run the Machine SSL certificate generation commands on each node.

Use the --server parameter to point to the Platform Services Controller from a vCenter Server with

external Platform Services Controller.

Prerequisites

For each machine SSL certificate, the SubjectAltName must contain DNS Name=<Machine FQDN>.

Procedure

1Make one copy of certool.cfg for each machine that needs a new certificate.

You can find certool.cfg in the following locations:

Windows C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad

Linux /usr/lib/vmware-vmca/share/config/

2Edit the custom configuration file for each machine to include that machine's FDQN.

Run NSLookup against the machine’s IP address to see the DNS listing of the name, and use that

name for the Hostname field in the file.

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3Generate a public/private key file pair and a certificate for each machine, passing in the configuration

file that you just customized.

For example:

certool --genkey --privkey=machine1.priv --pubkey=machine1.pub

certool --gencert --privkey=machine1.priv --cert machine42.crt --Name=Machine42_Cert --config

machine1.cfg

4Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

The service names differ on Windows and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Note If your environment uses an external Platform Services Controller, you do not have to stop and

start VMware Directory Service (vmdird) and VMware Certificate Authority (vmcad) on the

vCenter Server node. Those services run on the Platform Services Controller.

Windows

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

5Add the new certificate to VECS.

All machines need the new certificate in the local certificate store to communicate over SSL. You first

delete the existing entry, then add the new entry.

vecs-cli entry delete --store MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT

vecs-cli entry create --store MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT --cert machine1.cert

--key machine1.priv

6Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

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Example: Replacing Machine SSL Certiﬁcates (VMCA is Intermediate CA)

1 Create a configuration file for the SSL certificate and save it as ssl-config.cfg in the current

directory.

Country = US

Name = vmca-<PSC-FQDN-example>

Organization = VMware

OrgUnit = VMware Engineering

State = California

Locality = Palo Alto

Hostname = <FQDN>

2 Generate a key pair for the machine SSL certificate. Run this command on each management node

and Platform Services Controller node; it does not require a --server option.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=ssl-key.priv --

pubkey=ssl-key.pub

The ssl-key.priv and ssl-key.pub files are created in the current directory.

3 Generate the new machine SSL certificate. This certificate is signed by VMCA. If you replaced the

VMCA root certificate with custom certificate, VMCA signs all certificates with the full chain.

nOn a Platform Services Controller node or embedded installation:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vmca-ssl.crt --

privkey=ssl-key.priv --config=ssl-config.cfg

nOn a vCenter Server (external installation):

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vmca-ssl.crt --

privkey=ssl-key.priv --config=ssl-config.cfg --server=<psc-ip-or-fqdn>

The new-vmca-ssl.crt file is created in the current directory.

4 (Optional) List the content of VECS.

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\" vecs-cli store list

nSample output on Platform Services Controller:

MACHINE_SSL_CERT

TRUSTED_ROOTS

TRUSTED_ROOT_CRLS

machine

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nSample output on vCenter Server:

output (on vCenter):

MACHINE_SSL_CERT

TRUSTED_ROOTS

TRUSTED_ROOT_CRLS

machine

vpxd

vpxd-extension

vsphere-webclient

sms

5 Replace the Machine SSL certificate in VECS with the new Machine SSL certificate. The --store

and --alias values have to exactly match with the default names.

nOn the Platform Services Controller, run the following command to update the Machine SSL

certificate in the MACHINE_SSL_CERT store.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store

MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store

MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT --cert new-vmca-ssl.crt --key ssl-key.priv

nOn each management node or embedded deployment, run the following command to update the

Machine SSL certificate in the MACHINE_SSL_CERT store. You must update the certificate for

each machine separately because each has a different FQDN.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store

MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store

MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT --cert new-vmca-ssl.crt --key ssl-key.priv

Replace Solution User Certiﬁcates (Intermediate CA)

After you replace the machine SSL certificates, you can replace the solution user certificates.

Many VMware customers do not replace solution user certificates. They replace only the machine SSL

certificates with custom certificates. This hybrid approach satisfies the requirements of their security

teams.

nCertificates either sit behind a proxy, or they are custom certificates.

nNo intermediate CAs are used.

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You replace the machine solution user certificate on each management node and on each

Platform Services Controller node. You replace the other solution user certificates only on each

management node. Use the --server parameter to point to the Platform Services Controller when you

run commands on a management node with an external Platform Services Controller.

Note When you list solution user certificates in large deployments, the output of dir-cli list includes

all solution users from all nodes. Run vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name localhost to find

the local machine ID for each host. Each solution user name includes the machine ID.

Prerequisites

Each solution user certificate must have a different Subject. Consider, for example, including the solution

user name (such as vpxd) or other unique identifier.

Procedure

1Make one copy of certool.cfg, remove the Name, IP address, DNS name, and email fields, and

rename the file, for example, to sol_usr.cfg.

You can name the certificates from the command line as part of generation. The other information is

not needed for solution users. If you leave the default information, the certificates that are generated

are potentially confusing.

2Generate a public/private key file pair and a certificate for each solution user, passing in the

configuration file that you just customized.

For example:

certool --genkey --privkey=vpxd.priv --pubkey=vpxd.pub

certool --gencert --privkey=vpxd.priv --cert vpxd.crt --Name=VPXD_1 --config sol_usr.cfg

3Find the name for each solution user.

dir-cli service list

You can use the unique ID that is returned when you replace the certificates. The input and output

might look as follows.

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd>dir-cli service list

Enter password for administrator@vsphere.local:

1. machine-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

2. vpxd-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

3. vpxd-extension-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

4. vsphere-webclient-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

When you list solution user certificates in multi-node deployments, the output of dir-cli list includes

all solution users from all nodes. Run vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name localhost to

find the local machine ID for each host. Each solution user name includes the machine ID.

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4Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

The service names differ on Windows and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Note If your environment uses an external Platform Services Controller, you do not have to stop and

start VMware Directory Service (vmdird) and VMware Certificate Authority (vmcad) on the

vCenter Server node. Those services run on the Platform Services Controller.

Windows

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

5Replace the existing certificate in vmdir and then in VECS.

For solution users, you must add the certificates in that order. For example:

dir-cli service update --name <vpxd-xxxx-xxx-7c7b769cd9f4> --cert ./vpxd.crt

vecs-cli entry delete --store vpxd --alias vpxd

vecs-cli entry create --store vpxd --alias vpxd --cert vpxd.crt --key vpxd.priv

Note Solution users cannot log in to vCenter Single Sign-On if you don't replace the certificate in

vmdir.

6Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

Example: Replacing Solution User Certiﬁcates (Intermediate CA)

1 Generate a public/private key pair for each solution user. That includes a pair for the machine solution

user on each Platform Services Controller and each management node and a pair for each additional

solution user (vpxd, vpxd-extension, vsphere-webclient) on each management node.

a Generate a key pair for the machine solution user of an embedded deployment or for the machine

solution user of the Platform Services Controller.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=machine-key.priv

--pubkey=machine-key.pub

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b (Optional) For deployments with an external Platform Services Controller, generate a key pair for

the machine solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=machine-key.priv

--pubkey=machine-key.pub

c Generate a key pair for the vpxd solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=vpxd-key.priv --

pubkey=vpxd-key.pub

d Generate a key pair for the vpxd-extension solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=vpxd-extension-

key.priv --pubkey=vpxd-extension-key.pub

e Generate a key pair for the vsphere-webclient solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --genkey --privkey=vsphere-

webclient-key.priv --pubkey=vsphere-webclient-key.pub

2 Generate solution user certificates that are signed by the new VMCA root certificate for the machine

solution user on each Platform Services Controller and each management node and for each

additional solution user (vpxd, vpxd-extension, vsphere-webclient) on each management node.

Note The --Name parameter has to be unique. Including the name of the solution user store name

makes it easy to see which certificate maps to which solution user. The example includes the name,

for example vpxd or vpxd-extension in each case.

a Run the following command on the Platform Services Controller node to generate a solution user

certificate for the machine solution user on that node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-machine.crt --

privkey=machine-key.priv --Name=machine

b Generate a certificate for the machine solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-machine.crt --

privkey=machine-key.priv --Name=machine --server=<psc-ip-or-fqdn>

c Generate a certificate for the vpxd solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vpxd.crt --

privkey=vpxd-key.priv --Name=vpxd --server=<psc-ip-or-fqdn>

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d Generate a certificate for the vpxd-extensions solution user on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vpxd-

extension.crt --privkey=vpxd-extension-key.priv --Name=vpxd-extension --server=<psc-ip-or-fqdn>

e Generate a certificate for the vsphere-webclient solution user on each management node by

running the following command.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\"certool --gencert --cert=new-vsphere-

webclient.crt --privkey=vsphere-webclient-key.priv --Name=vsphere-webclient --server=<psc-ip-

or-fqdn>

3 Replace the solution user certificates in VECS with the new solution user certificates.

Note The --store and --alias parameters have to exactly match the default names for services.

a On the Platform Services Controller node, run the following command to replace the machine

solution user certificate:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store machine --

alias machine

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store machine --

alias machine --cert new-machine.crt --key machine-key.priv

b Replace the machine solution user certificate on each management node:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store machine --

alias machine

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store machine --

alias machine --cert new-machine-vc.crt --key machine-vc-key.priv

c Replace the vpxd solution user certificate on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store vpxd --alias

vpxd

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store vpxd --alias

vpxd --cert new-vpxd.crt --key vpxd-key.priv

d Replace the vpxd-extension solution user certificate on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store vpxd-

extension --alias vpxd-extension

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store vpxd-

extension --alias vpxd-extension --cert new-vpxd-extension.crt --key vpxd-extension-key.priv

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e Replace the vsphere-webclient solution user certificate on each management node.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store vsphere-

webclient --alias vsphere-webclient

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store vsphere-

webclient --alias vsphere-webclient --cert new-vsphere-webclient.crt --key vsphere-webclient-

key.priv

4 Update VMware Directory Service (vmdir) with the new solution user certificates. You are prompted

for a vCenter Single Sign-On administrator password.

a Run dir-cli service list to get the unique service ID suffix for each solution user. You can

run this command on a Platform Services Controller or a vCenter Server system.

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli>dir-cli service list

output:

1. machine-29a45d00-60a7-11e4-96ff-00505689639a

2. machine-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69

3. vpxd-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69

4. vpxd-extension-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69

5. vsphere-webclient-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69

Note When you list solution user certificates in large deployments, the output of dir-cli list

includes all solution users from all nodes. Run vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name

localhost to find the local machine ID for each host. Each solution user name includes the

machine ID.

b Replace the machine certificate in vmdir on the Platform Services Controller. For example, if

machine-29a45d00-60a7-11e4-96ff-00505689639a is the machine solution user on the

Platform Services Controller, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name

machine-29a45d00-60a7-11e4-96ff-00505689639a --cert new-machine-1.crt

c Replace the machine certificate in vmdir on each management node. For example, if

machine-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 is the machine solution user on the

vCenter Server, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name

machine-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 --cert new-machine-2.crt

d Replace the vpxd solution user certificate in vmdir on each management node. For example, if

vpxd-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 is the vpxd solution user ID, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name

vpxd-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 --cert new-vpxd.crt

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e Replace the vpxd-extension solution user certificate in vmdir on each management node. For

example, if vpxd-extension-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 is the vpxd-extension

solution user ID, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name vpxd-

extension-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 --cert new-vpxd-extension.crt

f Replace the vsphere-webclient solution user certificate on each management node. For example,

if vsphere-webclient-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 is the vsphere-webclient solution

user ID, run this command:

C:\>"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"dir-cli service update --name vsphere-

webclient-6fd7f140-60a9-11e4-9e28-005056895a69 --cert new-vsphere-webclient.crt

Replace the VMware Directory Service Certiﬁcate in Mixed Mode

Environments

During upgrade, your environment might temporarily include both vCenter Single Sign-On version 5.5 and

vCenter Single Sign-On version 6.x. For that case, you have to perform additional steps to replace the

VMware Directory Service SSL certificate if you replace the SSL certificate of the node on which the

vCenter Single Sign-On service is running.

The VMware Directory Service SSL certificate is used by vmdir to perform handshakes between

Platform Services Controller nodes that perform vCenter Single Sign-On replication.

These steps are not required for a mixed mode environment that includes vSphere 6.0 and vSphere 6.5

nodes. These steps are required only if:

nYour environment includes both vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 and vCenter Single Sign-On 6.x services.

nThe vCenter Single Sign-On services are set up to replicate vmdir data.

nYou plan to replace the default VMCA-signed certificates with custom certificates for the node on

which the vCenter Single Sign-On 6.x service runs.

Note Upgrading the complete environment before restarting the services is best practice. Replacing the

VMware Directory Service certificate is not usually recommended.

Procedure

1On the node on which the vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 service runs, set up the environment so the

vCenter Single Sign-On 6.x service is known.

a Back up all files C:\ProgramData\VMware\CIS\cfg\vmdird.

b Make a copy of the vmdircert.pem file on the 6.x node, and rename it to

<sso_node2.domain.com>.pem, where <sso_node2.domain.com> is the FQDN of the 6.x node.

c Copy the renamed certificate to C:\ProgramData\VMware\CIS\cfg\vmdird to replace the

existing replication certificate.

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2Restart the VMware Directory Service on all machines where you replaced certificates.

You can restart the service from the vSphere Web Client or use the service-control command.

Use Custom Certiﬁcates With vSphere

If company policy requires it, you can replace some or all certificates used in vSphere with certificates that

are signed by a third-party or enterprise CA. If you do that, VMCA is not in your certificate chain. You are

responsible for storing all vCenter certificates in VECS.

You can replace all certificates or use a hybrid solution. For example, consider replacing all certificates

that are used for network traffic but leaving VMCA-signed solution user certificates. Solution user

certificates are used only for authentication to vCenter Single Sign-On.

Note If you do not want to use VMCA, you are responsible for replacing all certificates yourself, for

provisioning new components with certificates, and for keeping track of certificate expiration.

Even if you decide to use custom certificates, you can still use the VMware Certificate Manager utility for

certificate replacement. See Replace All Certificates with Custom Certificate (Certificate Manager).

If you encounter problems with vSphere Auto Deploy after replacing certificates, see VMware Knowledge

Base Article 2000888.

Procedure

1Request Certificates and Import a Custom Root Certificate

You can use custom certificates from an enterprise or third-party CA. The first step is requesting the

certificates from the CA and importing the root certificates into VECS.

2Replace Machine SSL Certificates With Custom Certificates

After you receive the custom certificates, you can replace each machine certificate.

3Replace Solution User Certificates With Custom Certificates

After you replace the machine SSL certificates, you can replace the VMCA-signed solution user

certificates with third-party or enterprise certificates.

4Replace the VMware Directory Service Certificate in Mixed Mode Environments

During upgrade, your environment might temporarily include both vCenter Single Sign-On version

5.5 and vCenter Single Sign-On version 6.x. For that case, you have to perform additional steps to

replace the VMware Directory Service SSL certificate if you replace the SSL certificate of the node

on which the vCenter Single Sign-On service is running.

Request Certiﬁcates and Import a Custom Root Certiﬁcate

You can use custom certificates from an enterprise or third-party CA. The first step is requesting the

certificates from the CA and importing the root certificates into VECS.

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Prerequisites

The certificate must meet the following requirements:

nKey size: 2048 bits or more (PEM encoded)

nPEM format. VMware supports PKCS8 and PKCS1 (RSA keys). When keys are added to VECS, they

are converted to PKCS8

nx509 version 3

nFor root certificates, the CA extension must be set to true, and the cert sign must be in the list of

requirements.

nSubjectAltName must contain DNS Name=<machine_FQDN>

nCRT format

nContains the following Key Usages: Digital Signature, Non Repudiation, Key Encipherment

nStart time of one day before the current time

nCN (and SubjectAltName) set to the host name (or IP address) that the ESXi host has in the

vCenter Server inventory.

Procedure

1Send CSRs for the following certificates to your enterprise or third-party certificate provider.

nA machine SSL certificate for each machine. For the machine SSL certificate, the

SubjectAltName field must contain the fully qualified domain name (DNS

NAME=machine_FQDN)

nOptionally, four solution user certificates for each embedded system or management node.

Solution user certificates should not include IP address, host name, or email address. Each

certificate must have a different certificate Subject.

nOptionally, a machine solution user certificate for external Platform Services Controller instances.

This certificate differs from the machine SSL certificate for the Platform Services Controller.

Typically, the result is a PEM file for the trusted chain, plus the signed SSL certificates for each

Platform Services Controller or management node.

2List the TRUSTED_ROOTS and machine SSL stores.

vecs-cli store list

a Ensure that the current root certificate and all machine SSL certificates are signed by VMCA.

b Note down the Serial number, issuer, and Subject CN fields.

c (Optional) With a Web browser, open a HTTPS connection to a node where the certificate will be

replaced, check the certificate information, and ensure that it matches the machine SSL

certificate.

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3Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

The service names differ on Windows and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Note If your environment uses an external Platform Services Controller, you do not have to stop and

start VMware Directory Service (vmdird) and VMware Certificate Authority (vmcad) on the

vCenter Server node. Those services run on the Platform Services Controller.

Windows

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

4Publish the custom root certificate.

dir-cli trustedcert publish --cert <my_custom_root>

If you do not specify a user name and password on the command line, you are prompted.

5Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

What to do next

You can remove the original VMCA root certificate from the certificate store if company policy requires it.

If you do, you have to refresh the vCenter Single Sign-On certificate. See Refresh the Security Token

Service Certificate.

Replace Machine SSL Certiﬁcates With Custom Certiﬁcates

After you receive the custom certificates, you can replace each machine certificate.

Each machine must have a machine SSL certificate for secure communication with other services. In a

multi-node deployment, you must run the Machine SSL certificate generation commands on each node.

Use the --server parameter to point to the Platform Services Controller from a vCenter Server with

external Platform Services Controller.

You must have the following information before you can start replacing the certificates:

nPassword for administrator@vsphere.local.

nValid Machine SSL custom certificate (.crt file).

nValid Machine SSL custom key (.key file).

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nValid custom certificate for Root (.crt file).

nIf you are running the command on a vCenter Server with external Platform Services Controller in a

multi-node deployment, IP address of the Platform Services Controller.

Prerequisites

You must have received a certificate for each machine from your third-party or enterprise CA.

nKey size: 2048 bits or more (PEM encoded)

nCRT format

nx509 version 3

nSubjectAltName must contain DNS Name=<machine_FQDN>

nContains the following Key Usages: Digital Signature, Non Repudiation, Key Encipherment

Procedure

1Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

The service names differ on Windows and the vCenter Server Appliance.

Note If your environment uses an external Platform Services Controller, you do not have to stop and

start VMware Directory Service (vmdird) and VMware Certificate Authority (vmcad) on the

vCenter Server node. Those services run on the Platform Services Controller.

Windows

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start VMWareAfdService

service-control --start VMWareDirectoryService

service-control --start VMWareCertificateService

vCenter Server

Appliance service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmcad

2Log in to each node and add the new machine certificates that you received from the CA to VECS.

All machines need the new certificate in the local certificate store to communicate over SSL.

vecs-cli entry delete --store MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT

vecs-cli entry create --store MACHINE_SSL_CERT --alias __MACHINE_CERT --cert <cert-file-path>

--key <key-file-path>

3Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

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Example: Replace Machine SSL Certiﬁcates with Custom Certiﬁcates

You can replace the machine SSL certificate on each node the same way.

1 First, delete the existing certificate in VECS.

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry delete --store MACHINE_SSL_CERT --

alias __MACHINE_CERT

2 Next, add the replacement certificate.

"C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\"vecs-cli entry create --store MACHINE_SSL_CERT --

alias __MACHINE_CERT --cert E:\custom-certs\ms-ca\signed-ssl\custom-w1-vim-cat-

dhcp-094.eng.vmware.com.crt --key E:\custom-certs\ms-ca\signed-ssl\custom-x3-vim-cat-

dhcp-1128.vmware.com.priv

Replace Solution User Certiﬁcates With Custom Certiﬁcates

After you replace the machine SSL certificates, you can replace the VMCA-signed solution user

certificates with third-party or enterprise certificates.

Many VMware customers do not replace solution user certificates. They replace only the machine SSL

certificates with custom certificates. This hybrid approach satisfies the requirements of their security

teams.

nCertificates either sit behind a proxy, or they are custom certificates.

nNo intermediate CAs are used.

Solution users use certificates only to authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On. If the certificate is valid,

vCenter Single Sign-On assigns a SAML token to the solution user, and the solution user uses the SAML

token to authenticate to other vCenter components.

You replace the machine solution user certificate on each management node and on each

Platform Services Controller node. You replace the other solution user certificates only on each

management node. Use the --server parameter to point to the Platform Services Controller when you

run commands on a management node with an external Platform Services Controller.

Note When you list solution user certificates in large deployments, the output of dir-cli list includes

all solution users from all nodes. Run vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name localhost to find

the local machine ID for each host. Each solution user name includes the machine ID.

Prerequisites

nKey size: 2048 bits or more (PEM encoded)

nCRT format

nx509 version 3

nSubjectAltName must contain DNS Name=<machine_FQDN>

nEach solution user certificate must have a different Subject. Consider, for example, including the

solution user name (such as vpxd) or other unique identifier.

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nContains the following Key Usages: Digital Signature, Non Repudiation, Key Encipherment

Procedure

1Stop all services and start the services that handle certificate creation, propagation, and storage.

service-control --stop --all

service-control --start vmafdd

service-control --start vmdird

service-control --start vmca

2Find the name for each solution user.

dir-cli service list

You can use the unique ID that is returned when you replace the certificates. The input and output

might look as follows.

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd>dir-cli service list

Enter password for administrator@vsphere.local:

1. machine-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

2. vpxd-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

3. vpxd-extension-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

4. vsphere-webclient-1d364500-4b45-11e4-96c2-020011c98db3

When you list solution user certificates in multi-node deployments, the output of dir-cli list includes

all solution users from all nodes. Run vmafd-cli get-machine-id --server-name localhost to

find the local machine ID for each host. Each solution user name includes the machine ID.

3For each solution user, replace the existing certificate in VECS and then in vmdir.

You must add the certificates in that order.

vecs-cli entry delete --store vpxd --alias vpxd

vecs-cli entry create --store vpxd --alias vpxd --cert vpxd.crt --key vpxd.priv

dir-cli service update --name <vpxd-xxxx-xxx-xxxxxx> --cert vpxd.crt

Note Solution users cannot authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On if you do not replace the

certificate in vmdir.

4Restart all services.

service-control --start --all

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Replace the VMware Directory Service Certiﬁcate in Mixed Mode

Environments

During upgrade, your environment might temporarily include both vCenter Single Sign-On version 5.5 and

vCenter Single Sign-On version 6.x. For that case, you have to perform additional steps to replace the

VMware Directory Service SSL certificate if you replace the SSL certificate of the node on which the

vCenter Single Sign-On service is running.

The VMware Directory Service SSL certificate is used by vmdir to perform handshakes between

Platform Services Controller nodes that perform vCenter Single Sign-On replication.

These steps are not required for a mixed mode environment that includes vSphere 6.0 and vSphere 6.5

nodes. These steps are required only if:

nYour environment includes both vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 and vCenter Single Sign-On 6.x services.

nThe vCenter Single Sign-On services are set up to replicate vmdir data.

nYou plan to replace the default VMCA-signed certificates with custom certificates for the node on

which the vCenter Single Sign-On 6.x service runs.

Note Upgrading the complete environment before restarting the services is best practice. Replacing the

VMware Directory Service certificate is not usually recommended.

Procedure

1On the node on which the vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 service runs, set up the environment so the

vCenter Single Sign-On 6.x service is known.

a Back up all files C:\ProgramData\VMware\CIS\cfg\vmdird.

b Make a copy of the vmdircert.pem file on the 6.x node, and rename it to

<sso_node2.domain.com>.pem, where <sso_node2.domain.com> is the FQDN of the 6.x node.

c Copy the renamed certificate to C:\ProgramData\VMware\CIS\cfg\vmdird to replace the

existing replication certificate.

2Restart the VMware Directory Service on all machines where you replaced certificates.

You can restart the service from the vSphere Web Client or use the service-control command.

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Managing Services and

Certiﬁcates with CLI Commands 4

A set of CLIs allows you to manage VMCA (VMware Certificate Authority), VECS (VMware Endpoint

Certificate Store), and VMware Directory Service (vmdir). The vSphere Certificate Manager utility

supports many related tasks as well, but the CLIs are required for manual certificate management and for

managing other services.

You normally access the CLI tools for managing certificates and associated services by using SSH to

connect to the appliance shell. See VMware Knowledge Base article 2100508 for more information.

Manual Certificate Replacement gives examples for replacing certificates using CLI commands.

Table 4‑1. CLI Tools for Managing Certiﬁcates and Associated Services

CLI Description See

certool Generate and manage certificates and

keys. Part of VMCAD, the VMware

Certificate Management service.

certool Initialization Commands Reference

vecs-cli Manage the contents of VMware

Certificate Store instances. Part of

VMAFD.

vecs-cli Command Reference

dir-cli Create and update certificates in

VMware Directory Service. Part of

VMAFD.

dir-cli Command Reference

sso-config Some vCenter Single Sign-On

configuration. In most cases, use either

the vSphere Web Client or the

vSphere Client. Use this command for

two-factor authentication setup.

Command-line help.

Understanding vCenter Server Two-Factor

Authentication

service-control Start or stop services, for example as

part of a certificate replacement

workflow.

CLI Locations

By default, you find the CLIs in the following locations on each node.

Windows C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\vecs-cli.exe

C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmafdd\dir-cli.exe

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C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\certool.exe

C:\Program Files\VMware\VCenter server\VMware Identity

Services\sso-config

VCENTER_INSTALL_PATH\bin\service-control

Linux /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vecs-cli

/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/dir-cli

/usr/lib/vmware-vmca/bin/certool

/opt/vmware/bin

On Linux, the service-control command does not require that you

specify the path.

If you run commands from a vCenter Server system with an external Platform Services Controller, you

can specify the Platform Services Controller with the --server parameter.

This chapter includes the following topics:

nRequired Privileges for Running CLIs

nChanging the certool Configuration Options

ncertool Initialization Commands Reference

ncertool Management Commands Reference

nvecs-cli Command Reference

ndir-cli Command Reference

Required Privileges for Running CLIs

Required privileges depend on the CLI that you are using and on the command that you want to run. For

example, for most certificate management operations, you have to an Administrator for the local vCenter

Single Sign-On domain (vsphere.local by default). Some commands are available for all users.

dir-cli You must be a member of the Administrators group in the local domain

(vsphere.local by default) to run dir-cli commands. If you do not specify

a user name and password, you are prompted for the password for the

administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

vecs-cli Initially, only the store owner and users with blanket access privileges have

access to a store. Users in the Administrators group on Windows and root

users on Linux have blanket access privileges.

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The MACHINE_SSL_CERT and TRUSTED_ROOTS stores are special

stores. Only the root user or administrator user, depending on the type of

installation, has complete access.

certool Most of the certool commands require that the user is in the

Administrators group. All users can run the following commands.

ngenselfcacert

ninitscr

ngetdc

nwaitVMDIR

nwaitVMCA

ngenkey

nviewcert

Changing the certool Conﬁguration Options

When you run certool --gencert or certain other certificate initialization or management commands,

the command reads all the values from a configuration file. You can edit the existing file, override the

default configuration file with the -–config=<file name> option, or override values on the command

line.

The configuration file, certool.cfg, is at the following location by default.

OS Location

Linux /usr/lib/vmware-vmca/config

Windows C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmcad\

The file has several fields with the following default values:

Country = US

Name= Acme

Organization = AcmeOrg

OrgUnit = AcmeOrg Engineering

State = California

Locality = Palo Alto

IPAddress = 127.0.0.1

Email = email@acme.com

Hostname = server.acme.com

You can change the values by specifying a modified file on the command line, or by overriding individual

values on the command line, as follows.

nCreate a copy of the configuration file and edit the file. Use the --config command-line option to

specify the file. Specify the full path to avoid path name issues.

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certool -–gencert --config C:\Temp\myconfig.cfg

nOverride individual values on the command line. For example, to override Locality, run this command:

certool -–gencert -–privkey=private.key –-Locality="Mountain View"

Specify --Name to replace the CN field of the Subject name of the certificate.

nFor solution user certificates, the name is <sol_user name>@<domain> by convention, but you can

change the name if a different convention is used in your environment.

nFor machine SSL certificates, the FQDN of the machine is used.

VMCA allows only one DNSName (in the Hostname field) and no other Alias options. If the IP address

is specified by the user, it is stored in SubAltName as well.

Use the --Hostname parameter to specify the DNSName of a certificate's SubAltName.

certool Initialization Commands Reference

The certool initialization commands allow you to generate certificate signing requests, view and

generate certificates and keys that are signed by VMCA, import root certificates, and perform other

certificate management operations.

In many cases, you pass a configuration file in to a certool command. See Changing the certool

Configuration Options. See Replace Existing VMCA-Signed Certificates With New VMCA-Signed

Certificates for some usage examples. The command-line help provides details about the options.

certool --initcsr

Generates a Certificate Signing Request (CSR). The command generates a PKCS10 file and a private

key.

Option Description

--initcsr Required for generating CSRs.

--privkey <key_file> Name of the private key file.

--pubkey <key_file> Name of the public key file.

--csrfile <csr_file> File name for the CSR file to be sent to the CA provider.

--config <config_file> Optional name of the configuration file. Defaults to

certool.cfg.

Example:

certool --initcsr --privkey=<filename> --pubkey=<filename> --csrfile=<filename>

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certool --selfca

Creates a self-signed certificate and provisions the VMCA server with a self-signed root CA. Using this

option is one of the simplest ways to provision the VMCA server. You can instead provision the VMCA

server with a third-party root certificate so that VMCA is an intermediate CA. See Use VMCA as an

Intermediate Certificate Authority.

This command generates a certificate that is predated by three days to avoid time zone conflicts.

Option Description

--selfca Required for generating a self-signed certificate.

--predate <number_of_minutes> Allows you to set the Valid Not Before field of the root certificate

to the specified number of minutes before the current time. This

option can be helpful to account for potential time zone issues.

The maximum is three days.

--config <config_file> Optional name of the configuration file. Defaults to

certool.cfg.

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

Example:

machine-70-59:/usr/lib/vmware-vmca/bin # ./certool --predate=2280 --selfca --server= 192.0.2.24 --srp-

upn=administrator@vsphere.local

certool --rootca

Imports a root certificate. Adds the specified certificate and private key to VMCA. VMCA always uses the

most recent root certificate for signing, but other root certificates remain trusted until you manually delete

them. That means you can update your infrastructure one step at a time, and finally delete certificates

that you no longer use.

Option Description

--rootca Required for importing a root CA.

--cert <certfile> Name of the certificate file.

--privkey <key_file> Name of the private key file. This file must be in PEM encoded

format.

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

Example:

certool --rootca --cert=root.cert --privkey=privatekey.pem

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certool --getdc

Returns the default domain name that is used by vmdir.

Option Description

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

--port <port_num> Optional port number. Defaults to port 389.

Example:

certool --getdc

certool --waitVMDIR

Wait until the VMware Directory Service is running or until the timeout specified by --wait has elapsed.

Use this option in conjunction with other options to schedule certain tasks, for example returning the

default domain name.

Option Description

--wait Optional number of minutes to wait. Defaults to 3.

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

--port <port_num> Optional port number. Defaults to port 389.

Example:

certool --waitVMDIR --wait 5

certool --waitVMCA

Wait until the VMCA service is running or until the specified timeout has elapsed. Use this option in

conjunction with other options to schedule certain tasks, for example, generating a certificate.

Option Description

--wait Optional number of minutes to wait. Defaults to 3.

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

--port <port_num> Optional port number. Defaults to port 389.

Example:

certool --waitVMCA --selfca

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certool --publish-roots

Forces an update of root certificates. This command requires administrative privileges.

Option Description

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

Example:

certool --publish-roots

certool Management Commands Reference

The certool management commands allow you to view, generate, and revoke certificates and to view

information about certificates.

certool --genkey

Generates a private and public key pair. Those files can then be used to generate a certificate that is

signed by VMCA.

Option Description

--genkey Required for generating a private and public key.

--privkey <keyfile> Name of the private key file.

--pubkey <keyfile> Name of the public key file.

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

Example:

certool --genkey --privkey=<filename> --pubkey=<filename>

certool --gencert

Generates a certificate from the VMCA server. This command uses the information in certool.cfg or in

the specified configuration file. You can use the certificate to provision machine certificates or solution

user certificates.

Option Description

--gencert Required for generating a certificate.

--cert <certfile> Name of the certificate file. This file must be in PEM encoded

format.

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Option Description

--privkey <keyfile> Name of the private key file. This file must be in PEM encoded

format.

--config <config_file> Optional name of the configuration file. Defaults to

certool.cfg.

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

Example:

certool --gencert --privkey=<filename> --cert=<filename>

certool --getrootca

Prints the current root CA certificate in human-readable form. If you are running this command from a

management node, use the machine name of the Platform Services Controller node to retrieve the root

CA. This output is not usable as a certificate, it is changed to be human readable.

Option Description

--getrootca Required for printing the root certificate.

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

Example:

certool --getrootca --server=remoteserver

certool --viewcert

Print all the fields in a certificate in human-readable form.

Option Description

--viewcert Required for viewing a certificate.

--cert <certfile> Optional name of the configuration file. Defaults to

certool.cfg.

Example:

certool --viewcert --cert=<filename>

certool --enumcert

List all certificates that the VMCA server knows about. The required filter option lets you list all

certificates or only revoked, active, or expired certificates.

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Option Description

--enumcert Required for listing all certificates.

--filter [all | active] Required filter. Specify all or active. The revoked and expired

options are not currently supported.

Example:

certool --enumcert --filter=active

certool --status

Sends a specified certificate to the VMCA server to check whether the certificate has been revoked.

Prints Certificate: REVOKED if the certificate is revoked, and Certificate: ACTIVE otherwise.

Option Description

--status Required to check the status of a certificate.

--cert <certfile> Optional name of the configuration file. Defaults to

certool.cfg.

--server <server> Optional name of the VMCA server. By default, the command

uses localhost.

Example:

certool --status --cert=<filename>

certool --genselfcacert

Generates a self-signed certificate based on the values in the configuration file. This command generates

a certificate that is predated by three days to avoid time zone conflicts.

Option Description

--genselfcacert Required for generating a self-signed certificate.

--outcert <cert_file> Name of the certificate file. This file must be in PEM encoded

format.

--outprivkey <key_file> Name of the private key file. This file must be in PEM encoded

format.

--config <config_file> Optional name of the configuration file. Defaults to

certool.cfg.

Example:

certool --genselfcert --privkey=<filename> --cert=<filename>

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vecs-cli Command Reference

The vecs-cli command set allows you to manage instances of VMware Certificate Store (VECS). Use

these commands together with dir-cli and certool to manage your certificate infrastructure and other

Platform Services Controller services.

vecs-cli store create

Creates a certificate store.

Option Description

--name <name> Name of the certificate store.

--server <server-name> Used to specify a server name if you connect to a remote VECS

instance.

--upn <user-name> User Principle Name that is used to log in to the server instance

specified by --server <server-name> . When you create a

store, it is created in the context of the current user. Therefore,

the owner of the store is the current user context and not always

the root user.

Example:

vecs-cli store create --name <store>

vecs-cli store delete

Deletes a certificate store. You cannot delete the MACHINE_SSL_CERT, TRUSTED_ROOTS and

TRUSTED_ROOT_CRLS system stores. Users with required privileges can delete solution user stores.

Option Description

--name <name> Name of the certificate store to delete.

--server <server-name> Used to specify a server name if you connect to a remote VECS

instance.

--upn <user-name> User Principle Name that is used to log in to the server instance

specified by --server <server-name> . When you create a

store, it is created in the context of the current user. Therefore,

the owner of the store is the current user context and not always

the root user.

Example:

vecs-cli store delete --name <store>

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vecs-cli store list

List certificate stores.

Option Description

--server <server-name> Used to specify a server name if you connect to a remote VECS

instance.

--upn <user-name> User Principle Name that is used to log in to the server instance

specified by --server <server-name> . When you create a

store, it is created in the context of the current user. Therefore,

the owner of the store is the current user context and not always

the root user.

VECS includes the following stores.

Table 4‑2. Stores in VECS

Store Description

Machine SSL store (MACHINE_SSL_CERT) nUsed by the reverse proxy service on every vSphere node.

nUsed by the VMware Directory Service (vmdir) on

embedded deployments and on each

Platform Services Controller node.

All services in vSphere 6.0 and later communicate through a

reverse proxy, which uses the machine SSL certificate. For

backward compatibility, the 5.x services still use specific ports.

As a result, some services such as vpxd still have their own port

open.

Trusted root store (TRUSTED_ROOTS) Contains all trusted root certificates.

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Table 4‑2. Stores in VECS (Continued)

Store Description

Solution user stores

nmachine

nvpxd

nvpxd-extension

nvsphere-webclient

VECS includes one store for each solution user. The subject of

each solution user certificate must be unique, for example, the

machine certificate cannot have the same subject as the vpxd

certificate.

Solution user certificates are used for authentication with

vCenter Single Sign-On. vCenter Single Sign-On checks that the

certificate is valid, but does not check other certificate attributes.

In an embedded deployment, all solution user certificates are on

the same system.

The following solution user certificate stores are included in

VECS on each management node and each embedded

deployment:

nmachine: Used by component manager, license server, and

the logging service.

Note The machine solution user certificate has nothing to

do with the machine SSL certificate. The machine solution

user certificate is used for the SAML token exchange. The

machine SSL certificate is used for secure SSL connections

for a machine.

nvpxd: vCenter service daemon (vpxd) store on management

nodes and embedded deployments. vpxd uses the solution

user certificate that is stored in this store to authenticate to

vCenter Single Sign-On.

nvpxd-extension: vCenter extensions store. Includes the

Auto Deploy service, inventory service, and other services

that are not part of other solution users.

nvsphere-webclient: vSphere Web Client store. Also

includes some additional services such as the performance

chart service.

Each Platform Services Controller node includes a machine

certificate.

vSphere Certificate Manager Utility backup store

(BACKUP_STORE)

Used by VMCA (VMware Certificate Manager) to support

certificate revert. Only the most recent state is stored as a

backup, you cannot go back more than one step.

Other stores Other stores might be added by solutions. For example, the

Virtual Volumes solution adds an SMS store. Do not modify the

certificates in those stores unless VMware documentation or a

VMware Knowledge Base article instructs you to do so.

Note Deleting the TRUSTED_ROOTS_CRLS store can

damage your certificate infrastructure. Do not delete or modify

the TRUSTED_ROOTS_CRLS store.

Example:

vecs-cli store list

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vecs-cli store permissions

Grants or revokes permissions to the store. Use either the --grant or the --revoke option.

The owner of the store can perform all operations, including granting and revoking permissions. The

administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain, administrator@vsphere.local by default, has all

privileges on all stores, including granting and revoking permissions.

You can use vecs-cli get-permissions --name <store-name> to retrieve the current settings for the

store.

Option Description

--name <name> Name of the certificate store.

--user <username> Unique name of the user who is granted permissions.

--grant [read|write] Permission to grant, either read or write.

--revoke [read|write] Permission to revoke, either read or write. Not currently

supported.

vecs-cli store get-permissions

Retrieves the current permission settings for the store.

Option Description

--name <name> Name of the certificate store.

--server <server-name> Used to specify a server name if you connect to a remote VECS

instance.

--upn <user-name> User Principle Name that is used to log in to the server instance

specified by --server <server-name> . When you create a

store, it is created in the context of the current user. Therefore,

the owner of the store is the current user context and not always

the root user.

vecs-cli entry create

Creates an entry in VECS. Use this command to add a private key or certificate to a store.

Option Description

--store <NameOfStore> Name of the certificate store.

--alias <Alias> Optional alias for the certificate. This option is ignored for the

trusted root store.

--cert <certificate_file_path> Full path of the certificate file.

--key <key-file-path> Full path of the key that corresponds to the certificate.

Optional.

--password <password> Optional password for encrypting the private key.

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Option Description

--server <server-name> Used to specify a server name if you connect to a remote VECS

instance.

--upn <user-name> User Principle Name that is used to log in to the server instance

specified by --server <server-name> . When you create a

store, it is created in the context of the current user. Therefore,

the owner of the store is the current user context and not always

the root user.

vecs-cli entry list

Lists all entries in a specified store.

Option Description

--store <NameOfStore> Name of the certificate store.

vecs-cli entry getcert

Retrieves a certificate from VECS. You can send the certificate to an output file or display it as human-

readable text.

Option Description

--store <NameOfStore> Name of the certificate store.

--alias <Alias> Alias of the certificate.

--output <output_file_path> File to write the certificate to.

--text Displays a human-readable version of the certificate.

--server <server-name> Used to specify a server name if you connect to a remote VECS

instance.

--upn <user-name> User Principle Name that is used to log in to the server instance

specified by --server <server-name> . When you create a

store, it is created in the context of the current user. Therefore,

the owner of the store is the current user context and not always

the root user.

vecs-cli entry getkey

Retrieves a key that is stored in VECS. You can send the key to an output file or display it as human-

readable text.

Option Description

--store <NameOfStore> Name of the certificate store.

--alias <Alias> Alias for the key.

--output <output_file_path> Output file to write the key to.

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Option Description

--text Displays a human-readable version of the key.

--server <server-name> Used to specify a server name if you connect to a remote VECS

instance.

--upn <user-name> User Principle Name that is used to log in to the server instance

specified by --server <server-name> . When you create a

store, it is created in the context of the current user. Therefore,

the owner of the store is the current user context and not always

the root user.

vecs-cli entry delete

Deletes an entry in a certificate store. If you delete an entry in VECS, you permanently remove it from

VECS. The only exception is the current root certificate. VECS polls vmdir for a root certificate.

Option Description

--store <NameOfStore> Name of the certificate store.

--alias <Alias> Alias for the entry you want to delete.

--server <server-name> Used to specify a server name if you connect to a remote VECS

instance.

--upn <user-name> User Principle Name that is used to log in to the server instance

specified by --server <server-name> . When you create a

store, it is created in the context of the current user. Therefore,

the owner of the store is the current user context and not always

the root user.

-y Suppresses the confirmation prompt. For advanced users only.

vecs-cli force-refresh

Forces a refresh of VECS. By default, VECS polls vmdir for new root certificate files every 5 minutes. Use

this command for an immediate update of VECS from vmdir.

Option Description

--server <server-name> Used to specify a server name if you connect to a remote VECS

instance.

--upn <user-name> User Principle Name that is used to log in to the server instance

specified by --server <server-name> . When you create a

store, it is created in the context of the current user. Therefore,

the owner of the store is the current user context and not always

the root user.

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dir-cli Command Reference

The dir-cli utility supports creation and updates to solution users, account management, and

management of certificates and passwords in VMware Directory Service (vmdir). You can also use dir-

cli to manage and query the domain functional level of Platform Services Controller instances.

dir-cli nodes list

Lists all vCenter Server system for the specified Platform Services Controller instance.

Option Description

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

--server <psc_ip_or_fqdn> Use this option if you do not want to target the affinitized

Platform Services Controller. Specify the IP address or FQDN of

the Platform Services Controller;

dir-cli computer password-reset

Enables you to reset the password of the machine account in the domain. This option is useful if you have

to restore a Platform Services Controller instance.

Option Description

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

--live-dc-hostname <server name> Current name of the Platform Services Controller instance.

dir-cli service create

Creates a solution user. Primarily used by third-party solutions.

Option Description

--name <name> Name of the solution user to create

--cert <cert file> Path to the certificate file. This can be a certificate signed by

VMCA or a third-party certificate.

--ssogroups <comma-separated-groupnames> Makes the solution user a member of the specified groups.

--wstrustrole <ActAsUser> Makes the solution user a member of the built-in administrators

or users group. In other words, determines whether the solution

user has administrative privileges.

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Option Description

--ssoadminrole <Administrator/User> Makes the solution user a member of the ActAsUser group. The

ActAsUser role enables users to act on behalf of other users.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli service list

List the solution users that dir-cli knows about.

Option Description

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli service delete

Delete a solution user in vmdir. When you delete the solution user, all associated services become

unavailable to all management nodes that use this instance of vmdir.

Option Description

--name Name of the solution user to delete.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli service update

Updates the certificate for a specified solution user, that is, collection of services. After running this

command, VECS picks up the change after 5 minutes, or you can use vecs-cli force-refresh to

force a refresh.

Option Description

--name <name> Name of the solution user to update .

--cert <cert_file> Name of the certificate to assign to the service.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

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dir-cli user create

Creates a regular user inside vmdir. This command can be used for human users who authenticate to

vCenter Single Sign-On with a user name and password. Use this command only during prototyping.

Option Description

--account <name> Name of the vCenter Single Sign-On user to create.

--user-password <password> Initial password for the user.

--first-name <name> First name for the user.

--last-name <name> Last name for the user.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli user modify

Deletes the specified user inside vmdir.

Option Description

--account <name> Name of the vCenter Single Sign-On user to delete.

--password-never-expires Set this option to true if you are creating a user account for

automated tasks that have to authenticate to

Platform Services Controller, and you want to ensure that the

tasks do not stop running because of password expiration.

Use this option with care.

--password-expires Set this option to true if you want to revert the

--password-never-expires option.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli user delete

Deletes the specified user inside vmdir.

Option Description

--account <name> Name of the vCenter Single Sign-On user to delete.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

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dir-cli user ﬁnd-by-name

Finds a user inside vmdir by name. The information that this command returns depends on what you

specify in the --level option.

Option Description

--account <name> Name of the vCenter Single Sign-On user to delete.

--level <info level 0|1|2> Returns the following information:

nLevel 0 - Account and UPN

nLevel 1 - level 0 info + First and last name

nLevel 2 : level 0 + Account disabled flag, Account locked

flag, Password never expires flag, password expired flag

and password expiry flag.

The default level is 0.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli group modify

Adds a user or group to an already existing group.

Option Description

--name <name> Name of the group in vmdir.

--add <user_or_group_name> Name of the user or group to add.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli group list

Lists a specified vmdir group.

Option Description

--name <name> Optional name of the group in vmdir. This option allows you to

check whether a specific group exists.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

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dir-cli ssogroup create

Create a group inside the local domain (vsphere.local by default).

Use this command if you want to create groups to manage user permissions for the vCenter Single Sign-

On domain. For example, if you create a group and then add it to the Administrators group of the vCenter

Single Sign-On domain, then all users that you add to that group have administrator permissions for the

domain.

It is also possible to give permissions to vCenter inventory objects to groups in the vCenter Single Sign-

On domain. See the vSphere Security documentation.

Option Description

--name <name> Name of the group in vmdir. Maximum length is 487 characters.

--description <description> Optional description for the group.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli trustedcert publish

Publishes a trusted root certificate to vmdir.

Option Description

--cert <file> Path to certificate file.

--crl <file> This option is not supported by VMCA.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

--chain Specify this option if you are publishing a chained certificate. No

option value is needed.

dir-cli trustedcert publish

Publishes a trusted root certificate to vmdir.

Option Description

--cert <file> Path to certificate file.

--crl <file> This option is not supported by VMCA.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

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Option Description

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

--chain Specify this option if you are publishing a chained certificate. No

option value is needed.

dir-cli trustedcert unpublish

Unpublishes a trusted root certificate currently in vmdir. Use this command, for example, if you added a

different root certificate to vmdir that is now the root certificate for all other certificates in your

environment. Unpublishing certificates that are no longer in use is part of hardening your environment.

Option Description

--cert-file <file> Path to the certificate file to unpublish

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli trustedcert list

Lists all trusted root certificates and their corresponding IDs. You need the certificate IDs to retrieve a

certificate with dir-cli trustedcert get.

Option Description

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli trustedcert get

Retrieves a trusted root certificate from vmdir and writes it to a specified file.

Option Description

--id <cert_ID> ID of the certificate to retrieve. The dir-cli trustedcert

list command shows the ID.

--outcert <path> Path to write the certificate file to.

--outcrl <path> Path to write the CRL file to. Not currently used.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

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dir-cli password create

Creates a random password that meets the password requirements. This command can be used by third-

party solution users.

Option Description

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli password reset

Allows an administrator to reset a user's password. If you are a non-administrator user who wants to reset

a password, use dir-cli password change instead.

Option Description

--account Name of the account to assign a new password to.

--new New password for the specified user.

--login <admin_user_id> The administrator of the local vCenter Single Sign-On domain,

administrator@vsphere.local by default.

--password <admin_password> Password of the administrator user. If you do not specify the

password, you are prompted.

dir-cli password change

Allows a user to change their password. You must be the user who owns the account to make this

change. Administrators can use dir-cli password reset to reset any password.

Option Description

--account Account name.

--current Current password of the user who owns the account.

--new New password of the user who owns the account.

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Troubleshooting

Platform Services Controller 5

The following topics provide a starting point for troubleshooting Platform Services Controller. Search this

documentation center and the VMware Knowledge Base system for additional pointers.

This chapter includes the following topics:

nDetermining the Cause of a Lookup Service Error

nUnable to Log In Using Active Directory Domain Authentication

nvCenter Server Login Fails Because the User Account Is Locked

nVMware Directory Service Replication Can Take a Long Time

nExport a Platform Services Controller Support Bundle

nPlatform Services Controller Service Logs Reference

Determining the Cause of a Lookup Service Error

vCenter Single Sign-On installation displays an error referring to the vCenter Server or the vSphere Web

Client.

Problem

vCenter Server and Web Client installers show the error Could not contact Lookup Service.

Please check VM_ssoreg.log....

Cause

This problem has several causes, including unsynchronized clocks on the host machines, firewall

blocking, and services that must be started.

Solution

1Verify that the clocks on the host machines running vCenter Single Sign-On, vCenter Server, and the

Web Client are synchronized.

2View the specific log file found in the error message.

In the message, system temporary folder refers to %TEMP%.

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3Within the log file, search for the following messages.

The log file contains output from all installation attempts. Locate the last message that shows

Initializing registration provider...

Message Cause and solution

java.net.ConnectException:

Connection timed out: connect

The IP address is incorrect, a firewall is blocking access to vCenter Single Sign-

On, or vCenter Single Sign-On is overloaded.

Ensure that a firewall is not blocking the vCenter Single Sign-On port (by default

7444). Ensure also that the machine on which vCenter Single Sign-On is installed

has adequate free CPU, I/O, and RAM capacity.

java.net.ConnectException:

Connection refused: connect

The IP address or FQDN is incorrect and the vCenter Single Sign-On service has

not started or has started within the past minute.

Verify that vCenter Single Sign-On is working by checking the status of vCenter

Single Sign-On service (Windows) and vmware-sso daemon (Linux).

Restart the service. If this does not correct the problem, see the recovery section

of the vSphere troubleshooting guide.

Unexpected status code: 404. SSO

Server failed during

initialization

Restart vCenter Single Sign-On. If this does not correct the problem, see the

Recovery section of the vSphere Troubleshooting Guide.

The error shown in the UI begins with

Could not connect to vCenter

Single Sign-On

You also see the return code SslHandshakeFailed. This error indicates that the

provided IP address or FQDN that resolves to vCenter Single Sign-On host was

not the address used when you installed vCenter Single Sign-On.

In %TEMP%\VM_ssoreg.log, find the line that contains the following message.

host name in certificate did not match: <install-configured FQDN

or IP> != <A> or <B> or <C> where A was the FQDN you entered during the

vCenter Single Sign-On installation, and B and C are system-generated allowable

alternatives.

Correct the configuration to use the FQDN on the right of the != sign in the log

file. In most cases, use the FQDN that you specified during vCenter Single Sign-

On installation.

If none of the alternatives are possible in your network configuration, recover your

vCenter Single Sign-On SSL configuration.

Unable to Log In Using Active Directory Domain

Authentication

You log in to a vCenter Server component from the vSphere Web Client. You use your Active Directory

user name and password. Authentication fails.

Problem

You add an Active Directory identity source to vCenter Single Sign-On, but users cannot log in to

vCenter Server.

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Cause

Users use their user name and password to log in to the default domain. For all other domains, users

must include the domain name (user@domain or DOMAIN\user).

If you are using the vCenter Server Appliance, other problems might exist.

Solution

For all vCenter Single Sign-On deployments, you can change the default identity source. After that

change, users can log in to the default identity source with user name and password only.

To configure your Integrated Windows Authentication identity source with a child domain within your

Active Directory forest, see VMware Knowledge Base article 2070433. By default, Integrated Windows

Authentication uses the root domain of your Active Directory forest.

If you are using the vCenter Server Appliance, and changing the default identity source does not resolve

the issue, perform the following additional troubleshooting steps.

1 Synchronize the clocks between the vCenter Server Appliance and the Active Directory domain

controllers.

2 Verify that each domain controller has a pointer record (PTR) in the Active Directory domain DNS

service.

Verify that the PTR record information for the domain controller matches the DNS name of the

controller. When using the vCenter Server Appliance, run the following commands to perform the

task:

a To list the domain controllers, run the following command:

# dig SRV _ldap._tcp.my-ad.com

The relevant addresses are in the answer section, as in the following example:

;; ANSWER SECTION:

_ldap._tcp.my-ad.com. (...) my-controller.my-ad.com

...

b For each domain controller, verify forward and reverse resolution by running the following

command:

# dig my-controller.my-ad.com

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The relevant addresses are in the answer section, as in the following example:

;; ANSWER SECTION:

my-controller.my-ad.com (...) IN A controller IP address

...

# dig -x <controller IP address>

The relevant addresses are in the answer section, as in the following example:

;; ANSWER SECTION:

IP-in-reverse.in-addr.arpa. (...) IN PTR my-controller.my-ad.com

...

3 If that does not resolve the problem, remove the vCenter Server Appliance from the Active Directory

domain and then rejoin the domain. See the vCenter Server Appliance Configuration documentation.

4 Close all browser sessions connected to the vCenter Server Appliance and restart all services.

/bin/service-control --restart --all

vCenter Server Login Fails Because the User Account Is

Locked

When you log in to vCenter Server from the vSphere Web Client login page, an error indicates that the

account is locked.

Problem

After several failed attempts, you cannot log in to the vSphere Web Client using vCenter Single Sign-On.

You see the message that your account is locked.

Cause

You exceeded the maximum number of failed login attempts.

Solution

nIf you attempted log in as a user from the system domain (vsphere.local by default), ask your vCenter

Single Sign-On administrator to unlock your account. If the lock is set to expire in the lockout policy,

you can wait until your account is unlocked. vCenter Single Sign-On administrators can use CLI

commands to unlock your account.

nIf you log in as a user from an Active Directory or LDAP domain, ask your Active Directory or LDAP

administrator to unlock your account.

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VMware Directory Service Replication Can Take a Long

Time

If your environment includes multiple Platform Services Controller instances, and if one of the

Platform Services Controller instances becomes unavailable, your environment continues to function.

When the Platform Services Controller becomes available again, user data and other information are

usually replicated within 60 seconds. In certain special circumstances, however, replication might take a

long time.

Problem

In certain situations, for example, when your environment includes multiple Platform Services Controller

instances in different locations, and you make significant changes while one Platform Services Controller

is unavailable, you do not see replication across VMware Directory Service instances right away. For

example, you do not see a new user that was added to the available Platform Services Controller

instance in the other instance until replication is complete.

Cause

During normal operation, changes to a VMware Directory Service (vmdir) instance in one

Platform Services Controller instance (node) show up in its direct replication partner within about 60

seconds. Depending on the replication topology, changes in one node might have to propagate through

intermediate nodes before they arrive at each vmdir instance in each node. Information that is replicated

includes user information, certificate information, license information for virtual machines that are created,

cloned, or migrated with VMware vMotion, and more.

When the replication link is broken, for example, because of a network outage or because a node

becomes unavailable, changes in the federation do not converge. After the unavailable node is restored,

each node tries to catch up with all changes. Eventually, all vmdir instances converge to a consistent

state but it might take a while to reach that consistent state if many changes occurred while one node was

unavailable.

Solution

Your environment functions normally while replication happens. Do not attempt to solve the problem

unless it persists for over an hour.

Export a Platform Services Controller Support Bundle

You can export a support bundle that contains the log files for the Platform Services Controller services.

After the export, you can explore the logs locally or send the bundle to VMware Support.

Prerequisites

Verify that the Platform Services Controller virtual appliance is successfully deployed and running.

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Procedure

1From a Web browser, connect to the Platform Services Controller management interface at

https://platform_services_controller_ip:5480

2Log in as the root user for the virtual appliance.

3From the Actions menu, select Create Support Bundle.

4Unless browser settings prevent an immediate download, the support bundle is saved to your local

machine.

Platform Services Controller Service Logs Reference

The Platform Services Controller services use syslog for logging. You can examine the log files to

determine the reasons for failures.

Table 5‑1. Service Logs

Service Description

VMware Directory Service By default, vmdir logging goes to /var/log/messages

or /var/log/vmware/vmdird/.

For issues at deployment

time, /var/log/vmware/vmdir/vmafdvmdirclient.log might

also contain useful troubleshooting data.

VMware Single Sign-On vCenter Single Sign-On logging goes

to /var/log/vmware/sso/.

VMWare Certificate Authority (VMCA) VMCA service log is located

in /var/log/vmware/vmcad/vmcad-syslog.log.

VMware Endpoint Certificate Store (VECS) VECS service log is located

in /var/log/vmware/vmafdd/vmafdd-syslog.log.

VMware Lookup Service Lookup service log is located

in /var/log/vmware/sso/lookupServer.log.

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Platform Services Controller Administration VMware VSphere 6.7 V Center Server Esxi Vcenter 67 EN

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