- Replacing Vmware Vcenter Ssl Certificates
- Vcenter 6.5 Ssl Certificate
- Vcenter Ssl Certificate Verification Failed
One of the exiting recent announcements from VMUG was the addition of VMware’s Site Recovery Manager for vSphere being added to the catalog of downloable software for VMUG Advantage Subscribers. Since the announcement, among other things going on in the home lab, I have been wanting to get an instance of SRM up and running inside the home lab to take it for a spin as it has been a few versions ago since I have played around with it and its capabilities. If you are not familiar with Site Recovery Manager or SRM, it is VMware’s solution for automated disaster recovery and failover. SRM can make use of third party back solutions or VMware’s vSphere Replication to copy data between primary and secondary sites. The process for failover is then automated by creating plans to start virtual machines in the correct order, reconfiguring network connections, etc. So it is a key component if using VMware’s native software component offerings in assuring a smooth disaster recovery experience and ensuring business continuity. The first step however is to stand up Site Recovery Manager. What is involved with installing Site Recovery Manager? Let’s take a look at Installing VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 8.1 and see what the process looks like.
Installing VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager SRM 8.1
The Platform Services Controller handles the authentication between Site Recovery Manager and vCenter Server at the vCenter Single Sign-On level. All communications between Site Recovery Manager and vCenter Server instances take place over transport layer security (TLS) connections. Previous versions of Site Recovery Manager supported both secure sockets layer (SSL) and TLS connections. Discover the newest edition of vSphere and learn how it delivers built-in security for complete data center protection. VMware Cloud on AWS helps ACI manage its. Using the Certificate Manager utility and the SSL Certificate Template we created in a previous blog article, we generated a Certificate Signing Request for the externally-facing vSphere Web Client login page (The Machine SSL certificate).
Unlike many of the OVA/OVF deployed solutions, Site Recovery Manager or SRM is a Windows executable package that is downloaded from VMware. The package that I downloaded and installed at the time of this writing is:
- Cannot install vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM) using custom SSL certificates. This issue occurs when the custom SSL certificate file contains more than one certificate. Using multiple certificates in a single custom SSL certificate file is not supported. VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager.
- VMware Cloud on AWS. VCenter Site Recovery Manager. VMware Integrated OpenStack. Hybrid Cloud eXtension (HCX). The VMware Feature Walkthrough.
VMware-srm-8.1.0-8527244.exe – Size on disk 369,618 KB So 361 MB or so. Not at large a download as you might expect for a solution that provides fully automated disaster recovery and automation. The system requirements as outlined by VMware include:
Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
Processor | At least two 2.0GHz or higher Intel or AMD x86 processors. Site Recovery Manager deployments that manage large environments require four 2.0GHz CPUs. |
Memory | 2GB minimum. You might require more memory if you use the embedded database, as the content of the database grows. The memory requirement increases if Site Recovery Manager manages large environments. |
Disk Storage | 5GB minimum. If you install Site Recovery Manager on a different drive to the C: drive, the Site Recovery Manager installer still requires at least 1GB of free space on the C: drive. This space is required for extracting and caching the installation package. You might require more disk storage if you use the embedded database, as the content of the database grows. |
Networking | 1 Gigabit recommended for communication between Site Recovery Manager sites. Use a trusted network for the deployment and use of Site Recovery Manager and for the management of ESXi hosts. |
We won’t go in depth about licensing in this post, however, it is important that you understand what the license requirements are for SRM:
For my home lab environment, I am using a Windows Server 2016 Server template cloned out to a purpose built VM for housing SRM. Let’s see what the installation looks like running through the Install wizard.
VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.1 Installation Screenshots
Below are screenshots taken from running the installation of VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 8.1 in Windows Server 2016. After downloading the executable, the installation process is simply “next, next, finish” (with proper forethought of course). Before beginning, make sure you have the FQDNs of Platform Services controller, vCenter Server, Windows service account if you choose to scope this down as well as what type of DB configuration you want to use as you will see below.
Beginning the installation of Site Recovery Manager 8.1
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Installation Wizard begins
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Copyright information
Agree to the EULA during Site Recovery Manager installation
Review the prerequisites for installing Site Recovery Manager
Site Recovery Manager destination folder storage configuration
Here you point the installation at your PSC if you have an external configuration, however, will be the same as vCenter if you are using the embedded configuration.
Platform Services Controller configuration during vCenter Site Recovery Manager installation
You will be prompted to Accept the certificate presented by the PSC server/vCenter server. Be sure to click Accept and not OK as this will simply take you back to the install and you will wonder why it is not moving forward.
Certificate trust prompt connecting to platform services controller
Next, you enter the vCenter Server FQDN address.
Configuring the vCenter Server address installing Site Recovery Manager
Next, the information that is presented and registered with your vCenter Server regarding SRM. Take note of ports configured if there are any firewalls to be considered in between.
Registering the site recovery manager extension in vCenter
Choose the default site recovery manager plug-in identifier or a customer identifier. For most, the default is what you will want.
Specifying a plug-in idenfication for Site Recovery Manager
The installation will prompt you to choose to generate a certificate for the SRM installation. You can also choose to use an existing certificate.
Generating a server certificate for Site Recovery Manager
Choose the certificate organization information.
Certificate identification information configuration
Next is one of the most important considerations for the installation. Choose the DB configuration. You can choose to utilize the embedded database or connect the installation to an external DB such as SQL Server.
Choosing the database configuration during SRM installation
For simplicity in the home lab, I simply chose the embedded Postgres option. You have to create a data source along with user credentials for the DB.
Embedded database configuration during Site Recovery Manager installation
On the Windows side, you need to either select the Local System account or choose a specific service account for the Windows service that SRM runs under.
Configuring the service account to run Site Recovery Manager in Windows
Now, the installation is actually ready to begin.
After choosing configuration parameters beginning the actual installation of SRM
Installation begins and copies files, etc.
The installation is successful.
VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager installation completes successfully
Replacing Vmware Vcenter Ssl Certificates
Now that SRM is installed, you can navigate to Home>> Site Recovery. The Open Site Recovery link will open the link to your SRM server to begin setting up the Site Pair.
Site Recovery Manager is registered in VMware vCenter Server
Vcenter 6.5 Ssl Certificate
Takeaways
Vcenter Ssl Certificate Verification Failed
Since being added to VMUG Advantage, VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager is a great new piece of software that VMUG subscribers will be able to take advantage of for lab purposes. Installing VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager SRM 8.1 is extremely easy as it is a simple Windows installation to get the extension added into vCenter Server. Now, the fun begins setting up a Site Pair and finishing out a test configuration. Stay tuned as I delve more into Site Recovery Manager in the home lab with the configuration piece coming next.