6.5.1

Table Of Contents
The domain name is used by the VMware Directory Service (vmdir) for all Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP) internal structuring.
With vSphere 6.0 and later, you can give your vSphere domain a unique name. To prevent authentication
conflicts, use a name that is not used by OpenLDAP, Microsoft Active Directory, and other directory
services.
Note You cannot change the domain to which a Platform Services Controller or vCenter Server instance
belongs.
If you are upgrading from vSphere 5.5, your vSphere domain name remains the default (vsphere.local).
For all versions of vSphere, you cannot change the name of a domain.
After you specify the name of your domain, you can add users and groups. It usually makes more sense
to add an Active Directory or LDAP identity source and allow the users and groups in that identity source
to authenticate. You can also add vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller instances, or other
VMware products, such as vRealize Operations, to the domain.
Platform Services Controller Sites
You can organize Platform Services Controller domains into logical sites. A site in the VMware Directory
Service is a logical container for grouping Platform Services Controller instances within a vCenter Single
Sign-On domain.
Starting with vSphere 6.5, sites become important. During Platform Services Controller failover, the
vCenter Server instances are affinitized to a different Platform Services Controller in the same site. To
prevent your vCenter Server instances from being affinitized to a Platform Services Controller in a distant
geographic location, you can use multiple sites.
You are prompted for the site name when you install or upgrade a Platform Services Controller. See the
vSphere Installation and Setup documentation.
Platform Services Controller Capabilities
Platform Services Controller supports services such as identity management, certificate management,
and license management in vSphere.
Key Capabilities
Platform Services Controller includes several services, discussed in Platform Services Controller
Services, and has the following key capabilities.
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Authentication through vCenter Single Sign-On
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Provisioning of vCenter Server components and ESXi hosts with VMware Certificate Manager
(VMCA) certificates by default
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Use of custom certificates, which are stored in the VMware Endpoint Certificate Store (VECS)
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Starting with vSphere 6.5, support for Platform Services Controller Services high availability
Platform Services Controller Administration
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