Unable to add or retrieve an Active Directory domain account details on a standalone ESXi host using PowerCLI

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Executing PowerCLI command "Get-VIAccount -Domain <domain_name>" on a standalone ESXi server results in the following error:

A general system error occurred: Error accessing directory: Can't set LDAP options.

Similarly, running "New-VIPermission -Entity <esx_fqdn> -Principal "<domain>\<user>" -Role "ReadOnly" -Propagate:$true" on a standalone ESXi server produces the following errors:

A general system error occurred: Error accessing directory: Can't set LDAP options.
Could not find VIAccount with name 'domain\user'.
Value cannot be found for the mandatory parameter Principal

The above commands are successful in VMware vSphere ESXi v7.0.1 and earlier versions.

Adding and retrieving AD domain users via the UI is successful.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi v8.0.2

VMware vSphere ESXi v8.0.3

Cause

Updates to the OpenLDAP library had removed certain configuration options, disabling specific OpenLDAP functionalities which cause the commandlets to fail.

Resolution

This is a known issue with VMware vSphere ESXi Server 8.0.2 and 8.0.3, which is being resolved in an upcoming release.

As a workaround, you can configure the AD user for the ESXi host using the GUI.