Slow logins to vCenter Server Appliance 6.x with an Active Directory joined PSC

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Provide a potential workaround in situations where severe environment latency is present between the vCenter Server and domain controllers.

Symptoms:
lw-measure tool shows latency to Active Directory nodes is high.

Note: lw-measure tool and instructions listed in Using the lw_measure tool to detect latency between vCenter Server and Active Directory domain controllers

If either of the last two numbers are around 300000000 usec (300 seconds), it indicates severe latency in the communication between the vCenter and domain controller.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 8.0.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 7.0.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.7.x
VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5.x

Cause

SSO uses likewise to contact Active directory environments. The default timeout is set to 5 minutes. In environments where high latency exists between vCenter and Active Directory, reducing the timeout will allow likewise to try other available DCs where less latency exists.

Resolution

To resolve this issue a new value must be added to the registry to control the connection timeout:

1. Connect to the vCenter Server Appliance with an SSH session and root credentials.
2. Run this command to switch to the bash shell

shell

3. Run this command to add the registry entry:

/opt/likewise/bin/lwregshell add_value '[HKEY_THIS_MACHINE\Services\lwio\Parameters\Drivers\rdr]' ConnectTimeout REG_DWORD 5

4. Run this command to change the EchoInterval to 30 (Minimum supported value):

/opt/likewise/bin/lwregshell set_value '[HKEY_THIS_MACHINE\Services\lwio\Parameters\Drivers\rdr]' EchoInterval 30

5. Restart the vCenter Server Appliance services by running:

service-control --stop --all
service-control --start --all

To revert the workaround:

1. Connect to the vCenter Server Appliance with an SSH session and root credentials.
2. Run this command to switch to the bash shell

shell

3. Run this command to remove the registry entry:

/opt/likewise/bin/lwregshell delete_value '[HKEY_THIS_MACHINE\Services\lwio\Parameters\Drivers\rdr]' ConnectTimeout

4. Run this command to change the EchoInterval to 300 (default value):

/opt/likewise/bin/lwregshell set_value '[HKEY_THIS_MACHINE\Services\lwio\Parameters\Drivers\rdr]' EchoInterval 300 

5. Restart the vCenter Server Appliance services by running:

service-control --stop --all
service-control --start --all