6.5.1

Table Of Contents
Some certificates are stored on the filesystem, either temporarily during startup or permanently. Do not
change the certificates on the file system. Use vecs-cli to perform operations on certificates that are
stored in VECS.
Note Do not change any certificate files on disk unless instructed by VMware documentation or
Knowledge Base Articles. Unpredictable behavior might result otherwise.
Managing Certificate Revocation
If you suspect that one of your certificates has been compromised, replace all existing certificates,
including the VMCA root certificate.
vSphere 6.0 supports replacing certificates but does not enforce certificate revocation for ESXi hosts or
for vCenter Server systems.
Remove revoked certificates from all nodes. If you do not remove revoked certificates, a man-in-the-
middle attack might enable compromise through impersonation with the account's credentials.
Certificate Replacement in Large Deployments
Certificate replacement in deployments that include multiple management nodes and one or more
Platform Services Controller nodes is similar to replacement in embedded deployments. In both cases,
you can use the vSphere Certificate Management utility or replace certificates manually. Some best
practices guide the replacement process.
Certificate Replacement in High Availability Environments That Include a
Load Balancer
In environments with less than eight vCenter Server systems, VMware typically recommends a single
Platform Services Controller instance and associated vCenter Single Sign-On service. In larger
environments, consider using multiple Platform Services Controller instances, protected by a network load
balancer. The white paper vCenter Server 6.0 Deployment Guide on the VMware website discusses this
setup.
Platform Services Controller Administration
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