Unable to add a standalone ESXi host to vCenter
Article ID: 396821
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
- When trying to add an ESXi host to vCenter the operation fails with the error " A general system error occurred: Unable to push signed certificate to host #######.com"
- Unable to add the host in vCenter <hostname>.
Error: A general system error occurred: Unable to push signed certificate to host <fqdn> - In vCenter Server,
/var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log:
2025-09-25T18:11:02.197Z info vpxd[07769] [Originator@6876 sub=vmomi.soapStub[183] opID=#opID-UUID#] SOAP request returned HTTP failure; <<io_obj p:0x00007f9a642ad288, h:64, <UNIX ''>, <UNIX '/var/run/envoy-hgw/hgw-pipe'>>, hgw/<host-moid>/sdk>, method: installServerCertificate; code: 500(Internal Server Error); fault: (vim.fault.HostConfigFault) {
--> faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
--> faultMessage = (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) [
--> (vmodl.LocalizableMessage) {
--> key = "vim.hostd.vimsvc.certificateManager.checkTime",
--> arg = <unset>,
--> message = "Time validation failed. Check host Time and/or Certificate expiration data (notBefore, notAfter)."
--> }
--> ]
--> msg = "Received SOAP response fault from [<<io_obj p:0x00007f9a642ad288, h:64, <UNIX ''>, <UNIX '/var/run/envoy-hgw/hgw-pipe'>>, /hgw/<host-moid>/sdk>: installServerCertificate
--> Cannot change the host configuration."
--> }
Environment
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x
VMware vCenter Server 7.x
VMware vCenter Server 8.x
Cause
This can be caused by a time mismatch between the standalone host and the vCenter. The time drift between ESXi host and vCenter Server blocks the connection needed added the ESXi host to the vCenter Server's inventory.
Resolution
Verify the time on both host and vCenter by running the "date" command below on both
Date command output example:
If the 2 values do not match, then manually set the time on the ESXi host to match the vCenter Server with the steps bellow:
- Log into the ESXi Host Client. The default URL is https://host_IP_or_FQDN/ui
- Click the Manage tab > System > Time & date
- Click Edit NTP > select Manually configure the date and time on this host radio button.
- Input the correct Time and Date that matches the vCenter Server time and date.
- Click OK
Once the time and date values in ESXi host and vCenter Server match, the host can be added to the vCenter Server inventory.
Additional Information
Verifying time synchronization across an ESX/ESXi host environment
The same issue, but when reconnecting an ESXI host -- Reconnect ESXi host failed with "A general system error occurred: Unable to push signed certificate to host"
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