Could not connect to the vCenter Server over the network. PCNS 3.1 (VMWare vSphere connection issue)

[stijnvdv_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 1/13/2014

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Hi,

I am stuck at this error when configuring the network shutdown client (pcns v3.1) for VMWare

When the client is installed the initial configuration wizard pops up in the webinterface, there we choose for "Host managed by vCenter Server." and fill in the vCenter Server IP Address/Hostname, vCenter Server Username and vCenter Server Password.

Our vSphere Server version is 5.1, and it is installed on a dedicated physical machine. (not part of the domain)

The PCNS 3.1 is installed on a vMA 5.5 and runs in our VMWare cluster.

I followed the APC application note #180 (at the end --> Active Directory / VMware Single Sign-On Configuration http://www.apcmedia.com/salestools/SJHN-92FLU8/SJHN-92FLU8_R0_EN.pdf)

but when we try connecting with one of the ESX Admins we still get the same error message.

We can perfectly logon with the domain account (ESX Admins) in the vSphere webinterface / vSphere client. So the Active Directory single sign on (SSO) seems to work properly.

I can't find any logging in the vMA where the client is installed.

I also tried disabling the windows firewall with no luck.

Both the vMA with the PCNS 3.1 and the vSphere Server are in the same subnet.

Anyone an idea where I can find additional error logs or a solution to this particular problem?

I was thinking to upgrade my vSphere Center to version 5.5 but I thought that it should work with the vSphere Center 5.1 also.

Regards

Stijn

[BillP]

This reply was originally posted by Bill on APC forums on 1/13/2014

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Hi,

You can enable debug logging by editing log4j.xml in the group1 directory. This will create a the error.log file in that directory.

Stop the PCNS daemon, edit log4j.xml as below, save it and re-start the daemon.

Change the above to:

[stijnvdv_apc]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 1/14/2014

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Hi Bill,

Thanks for the support!

Now I know that the error is related to ssl certificates.

DEBUG 2138772592@qtp-1650487184-2 com.apcc.m11.components.WebServer.CfgWizard.pages.VCenterServerDetailsPage - Connection to vCenter Server could not be made

java.rmi.RemoteException: VI SDK invoke exception:javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: java.security.cert.CertificateException: Certificates does not conform to algorithm constraints

Somebody an idea how to solve this?

Kind regards,

Stijn

[stijnvdv_apc · Accepted solution]

This was originally posted on APC forums on 1/14/2014

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Hello,

I googled the error message containing the SSL certificates and was able to fix the problem

Disable (hash out) the following line in

/opt/APC/PowerChute/jre1.7.0_45/lib/security/java.security

jdk.certpath.disabledAlgorithms=MD2, RSA keySize < 1024

Regards

Stijn