6.5.1

Table Of Contents
Procedure
1 Make 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/
2 Edit 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.
3 Generate 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
4 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
5 Add 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
6 Restart all services.
service-control --start --all
Platform Services Controller Administration
VMware, Inc. 137