Unable to access vCenter using the multi-homed secondary IP address via SSH, PowerCLI and VC UI

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• Unable to access vCenter using the multi-homed secondary IP address via UI as it returns "Connection was reset" error message. However, access to VC UI using the primary IP address works without any issues.
• Unable to connect to PowerCLI using secondary IP address as it returns the error :

"Connect-VIServer An error occurred while making the HTTP request to https://<vcenter server>/sdk. This could be due to the fact that the server certificate is not configured properly with HTTP.SYS in the HTTPS case. This could also be caused by a mismatch of the security binding between the client and the server."

• Unable to take SSH session to the vCenter via secondary IP address as we receive the error "network error: software caused connection abort"
• We can take SSH session to the VC via primary IP address and connect to the secondary IP address by running the command "ssh root@secondary_IP" from that SSH session itself.

Environment

VMware vCenter 8.x

Cause

This error often occurs when the local Windows network stack or an intermediate device (like a firewall or router) terminates an established connection prematurely, potentially due to routing, firewall rules, or network misconfigurations blocking or dropping the traffic.

Resolution

Engage your internal networking/security team to check for any firewall blocks in the network.