"HTTP Status 401 - Unauthorized", accessing vCenter MOB fails from Edge & Chrome browsers

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vCenter Server 7.0
• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

• Accessing vCenter Server MOB via https://<vcenter-server-fqdn>/mob fails with 401 error message. The browser returns with "HTTP Status 401 - Unauthorized."
• This issue is observed on browsers Chrome and Edge.
• Envoy log on vCenter Server (/var/log/vmware/envoy/envoy-access.log) shows 401 error code
  
  YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ info envoy[] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ GET /mob HTTP/2 401 via_upstream - 0 0 1 0 0 <Local Machine IP>:52305 <vCenter Server IP>:443 - /var/run/vmware/vpxd-mob-pipe

Cause

vCenter Server MOB uses Basic Authentication and this issue is caused when Group Policies applied in the environment prevent any Basic Authentications.

Resolution

This issue is observed on Chrome and Edge browsers. Use a different web browser such as Firefox to access the MOB.

If you are trying to access the MOB for Unregistering Plugins, you may follow below PowerCLI method as an alternate method :

• Open PowerShell/PowerCLI
• Connect to vCenter Server
  
  Connect-VIServer <vcenter_Server_fqdn> -user [e-mail]
  
  
• List all the plugins/extensions:
  
  (Get-View ExtensionManager).ExtensionList | format-table -Property Key
  
  
• Unregister the extension using the key:
  
  (Get-View ExtensionManager).UnregisterExtension("plugin_key/extension_name")

• Update the changes:
  
  (Get-View ExtensionManager).UpdateViewData()
  
  
• Disconnect the vCenter Server:
  
  Disconnect-VIServer

 

Additional Information

The Managed Object Browser (MOB) is a graphical interface that allows you to navigate the objects on a server and to invoke methods. Any changes you make through the MOB take effect on the server. For more information, refer to Managed Object Browser.