5.2

Table Of Contents
Configuring Certificate Revocation Checking on Server Certificates
Each View Connection Server instance performs certificate revocation checking on its own certificate and on
those of the security servers paired to it. Each instance also checks the certificates of vCenter and View
Composer servers whenever it establishes a connection to them. By default, all certificates in the chain are
checked except the root certificate. You can, however, change this default.
If a SAML 2.0 authenticator is configured for use by a View Connection Server instance, View Connection
Server also performs certificate revocation checking on the SAML 2.0 server certificate.
View supports various means of certificate revocation checking, such as certificate revocation lists (CRLs)
and the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP). A CRL is a list of revoked certificates published by the
CA that issued the certificates. OCSP is a certificate validation protocol that is used to get the revocation
status of an X.509 certificate.
With CRLs, the list of revoked certificates is downloaded from a certificate distribution point (DP) that is
often specified in the certificate. The View server periodically goes to the CRL DP URL specified in the
certificate, downloads the list, and checks it to determine whether the server certificate has been revoked.
With OCSP, the View server sends a request to an OCSP responder to determine the revocation status of the
certificate.
When you obtain a server certificate from a third-party certificate authority (CA), the certificate includes one
or more means by which its revocation status can be determined, including, for example, a CRL DP URL or
the URL for an OCSP responder. If you have your own CA and generate a certificate but do not include
revocation information in the certificate, the certificate revocation check fails. An example of revocation
information for such a certificate could include, for example, a URL to a Web-based CRL DP on a server
where you host a CRL.
If you have your own CA but do not or cannot include certificate revocation information in your certificate,
you can choose not to check certificates for revocation or to check only certain certificates in a chain. On the
View server, with the Windows Registry Editor, you can create the string (REG_SZ) value
CertificateRevocationCheckType, under HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\Security, and set this
value to one of the following data values.
Value Description
1 Do not perform certificate revocation checking.
2 Check only the server certificate. Do not check any other certificates in the chain.
3 Check all certificates in the chain.
4 (Default) Check all certificates except the root certificate.
If this registry value is not set, or if the value set is not valid (that is, if the value is not 1, 2, 3, or 4), all
certificates are checked except the root certificate. Set this registry value on each View server on which you
intend to modify revocation checking. You do not have to restart the system after you set this value.
NOTE If your organization uses proxy settings for Internet access, you might have to configure your View
Connection Server computers to use the proxy settings to ensure that certificate revocation checking can be
performed for security servers or View Connection Server instances that are used for secure View Client
connections. If a View Connection Server instance cannot access the Internet, certificate revocation checking
might fail, and the View Connection Server instance or paired security servers might show up as red on the
View Administrator dashboard. To resolve this issue, see "Troubleshooting Security Server Certificate
Revocation Checking" in the VMware Horizon View Administration document.
VMware Horizon View Installation
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