5.1

Table Of Contents
Selecting the Authentication Type
Orchestrator requires an authentication method to work properly and manage user permissions. You must
select an authentication method so that you can work with Orchestrator.
Orchestrator 5.1 supports two types of authentications:
LDAP authentication
Orchestrator connects to a working LDAP server.
vCenter Single Sign On
authentication
Orchestrator authenticates through vCenter Single Sign On.
IMPORTANT If you want to use vCenter Orchestrator through the vSphere Web Client for managing vSphere
inventory objects, you must configure Orchestrator to authenticate through vCenter Single Sign On.
Configuring vCenter Single Sign On Settings
VMware vCenter Single Sign On is an authentication service that implements the brokered authentication
architectural pattern. You can configure Orchestrator to connect to a vCenter Single Sign On server.
The vCenter Single Sign On server provides an authentication interface called Security Token Service (STS).
Clients send authentication messages to the STS, which checks the user's credentials against one of the identity
sources. Upon successful authentication, STS generates a token.
In vCenter Server versions earlier than vCenter Server 5.1, when a user connects to vCenter Server,
vCenter Server authenticates the user by validating the user against an Active Directory domain or the list of
local operating system users. In vCenter Server 5.1, users authenticate through vCenter Single Sign On.
The vCenter Single Sign On administrative interface is part of the vSphere Web Client. To configure vCenter
Single Sign On and manage vCenter Single Sign On users and groups, you log in to the vSphere Web Client
as a user with vCenter Single Sign On administrator privileges. This might not be the same user as the
vCenter Server administrator. Enter the credentials on the vSphere Web Client login page and upon
authentication, you can access the vCenter Single Sign On administration tool to create users and assign
administrative permissions to other users.
Using the vSphere Web Client, you authenticate to vCenter Single Sign On by entering your credentials on the
vSphere Web Client login page. You can then view all of the vCenter Server instances for which you have
permissions. After you connect to vCenter Server, no further authentication is required. The actions that you
can perform on objects depend on the user's vCenter Server permissions on those objects.
For more information about vCenter Single Sign On, see vSphere Security.
After you configure Orchestrator to authenticate through vCenter Single Sign On, make sure that you configure
it to work with the vCenter Server instances registered with the vSphere Web Client using the same vCenter
Single Sign On instance.
When you log in to the vSphere Web Client, the Orchestrator Web plug-in communicates with the Orchestrator
server on behalf of the user profile you used to log in.
Import the vCenter Single Sign On SSL Certificate
To register Orchestrator as a vCenter Single Sign On solution and configure it to work with vCenter Single
Sign On, first import the vCenter Single Sign On SSL certificate.
You can import the vCenter Single Sign On SSL certificate from the SSL Trust Manager tab in the Orchestrator
configuration interface.
Prerequisites
Install and configure vCenter Single Sign On.
Installing and Configuring VMware vCenter Orchestrator
36 VMware, Inc.