6.5.1

Table Of Contents
vCenter Single Sign-On Administrator Users
The vCenter Single Sign-On administrative interface is accessible from the vSphere Web Client and from
the Platform Services Controller web interface.
To configure vCenter Single Sign-On and manage vCenter Single Sign-On users and groups, the user
administrator@vsphere.local or a user in the vCenter Single Sign-On Administrators group must log in to
the vSphere Web Client. Upon authentication, that user can access the vCenter Single Sign-On
administration interface from the vSphere Web Client and manage identity sources and default domains,
specify password policies, and perform other administrative tasks. See Configuring vCenter Single Sign-
On Identity Sources.
Note You cannot rename the vCenter Single Sign-On administrator user, which is
administrator@vsphere.local by default or administrator@mydomain if you specified a different domain
during installation. For improved security, consider creating additional named users in the vCenter Single
Sign-On domain and assigning them administrative privileges. You can then stop using the administrator
account.
ESXi Users
Standalone ESXi hosts are not integrated with vCenter Single Sign-On or with the
Platform Services Controller. See vSphere Security for information on adding an ESXi host to Active
Directory.
If you create local ESXi users for a managed ESXi host with the VMware Host Client, vCLI, or PowerCLI.
vCenter Server is not aware those users. Creating local users can therefore result in confusion, especially
if you use the same user names. Users who can authenticate to vCenter Single Sign-On can view and
manage ESXi hosts if they have the corresponding permissions on the ESXi host object.
Note Manage permissions for ESXi hosts through vCenter Server if possible.
How to Log In to vCenter Server Components
You can log in by connecting to the vSphere Web Client or the Platform Services Controller Web
interface.
When a user logs in to a vCenter Server system from the vSphere Web Client, the login behavior
depends on whether the user is in the domain that is set as the default identity source.
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Users who are in the default domain can log in with their user name and password.
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Users who are in a domain that has been added to vCenter Single Sign-On as an identity source but
is not the default domain can log in to vCenter Server but must specify the domain in one of the
following ways.
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Including a domain name prefix, for example, MYDOMAIN\user1
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Including the domain, for example, user1@mydomain.com
Platform Services Controller Administration
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