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Table Of Contents
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Identity Sources for vCenter Server with vCenter Single Sign-On
You can use identity sources to attach one or more domains to vCenter Single Sign-On. A domain is
a repository for users and groups that the vCenter Single Sign-On server can use for user
authentication.
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Set the Default Domain for vCenter Single Sign-On
Each vCenter Single Sign-On identity source is associated with a domain. vCenter Single Sign-On
uses the default domain to authenticate a user who logs in without a domain name. Users who
belong to a domain that is not the default domain must include the domain name when they log in.
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Add or Edit a vCenter Single Sign-On Identity Source
Users can log in to vCenter Server only if they are in a domain that has been added as a vCenter
Single Sign-On identity source. vCenter Single Sign-On administrator users can add identity
sources, or change the settings for identity sources that they added.
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Use vCenter Single Sign-On With Windows Session Authentication
You can use vCenter Single Sign-On with Windows Session Authentication (SSPI). You must join
the Platform Services Controller to an Active Directory domain before you can use SSPI.
Identity Sources for vCenter Server with vCenter Single Sign-On
You can use identity sources to attach one or more domains to vCenter Single Sign-On. A domain is a
repository for users and groups that the vCenter Single Sign-On server can use for user authentication.
An administrator can add identity sources, set the default identity source, and create users and groups in
the vsphere.local identity source.
The user and group data is stored in Active Directory, OpenLDAP, or locally to the operating system of the
machine where vCenter Single Sign-On is installed. After installation, every instance of vCenter Single
Sign-On has the identity source your_domain_name, for example vsphere.local. This identity source is
internal to vCenter Single Sign-On.
vCenter Server versions earlier than version 5.1 supported Active Directory and local operating system
users as user repositories. As a result, local operating system users were always able to authenticate to
the vCenter Server system. vCenter Server version 5.1 and version 5.5 uses vCenter Single Sign-On for
authentication. See the vSphere 5.1 documentation for a list of supported identity sources with vCenter
Single Sign-On 5.1. vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 supports the following types of user repositories as
identity sources, but supports only one default identity source.
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Active Directory versions 2003 and later. Shown as Active Directory (Integrated Windows
Authentication) in the vSphere Client. vCenter Single Sign-On allows you to specify a single Active
Directory domain as an identity source. The domain can have child domains or be a forest root
domain. VMware KB article 2064250 discusses Microsoft Active Directory Trusts supported with
vCenter Single Sign-On.
Platform Services Controller Administration
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