Logging in to VMware vCenter Server 6.0 with a domain user fails with the error: A server error occurred

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When you attempt to log in to VMware vCenter Server 6.0 with a domain user, you experience these symptoms:

• The VMware vSphere Web Client displays the error:
   

  A server error occurred.

  [400] An error occurred while processing the authentication response from the vCenter Single Sign-On server. Details: Status: urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:status:Responder, sub status: null.
  
  Check the vSphere Web Client server logs for details.

• The %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\VMWare\vCenterServer\logs\sso\vmware-sts-idmd.log file contains errors similar to:
  
  [YYYY-MM-DDT<time> vsphere.local c006bcab-####-####-####-########251 INFO ] [VmEventAppender] EventLog: source=[VMware Identity Server], tenant=[vsphere.local], eventid=[USER_NAME_PWD_AUTH_FAILED], level=[ERROR], category=[VMEVENT_CATEGORY_IDM], text=[Failed to authenticate principal [vcenter@domain]. Access denied], detailText=[com.vmware.identity.idm.IDMLoginException: Access denied
  </time>

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the domain in which the user you are attempting to log in does not exist as a VMware vCenter Single Sign-On identity source.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, add the domain as an identity source to vCenter Single Sign-On.

 

For more information, see the Add a vCenter Single Sign-On Identity Source section in the vSphere 6.0 Security Guide.

Additional Information

"An error occurred while sending an authentication request to the vCenter Single Sign-On server", VMware vSphere Web Client fails on vCenter Server 6.0 connected to PSC HA ​​​​​​​