vCert displaying STS ConnectionStrings MISCONFIG

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

STS displays a misconfigured connection string error:

Checking STS Server Configuration
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Checking VECS store configuration                              OK
Checking STS ConnectionStrings                          MISCONFIG

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0 U3

Cause

Incorrect / outdated STS connection strings can cause the erroneous certificate status indication.

Resolution

1. Take proper snapshots of ALL vCenter server nodes in ELM
   • VMware vCenter in Enhanced Linked Mode pre-changes snapshot (online or offline) best practice
2. To validate, the tool vCert can be used Main Menu → Option 5 → Option 2 updates and validates the STS connection strings: vCert - Scripted vCenter expired certificate replacement
3. To address this error, in vCert 6.1.0 or above when asked to "Update STS ConnectionStrings value to ldap://localhost:389? [N]" enter "Y" to update the value
   • NOTE: Services should be restarted on all vCenter nodes, this can be done by using vCert Main Menu → Option 8 → Option 1 → Y or by running the following command
     • service-control --stop --all && service-control --start --all

Additional Information

For more information see: vCenter services vapi-endpoint and vpxd-svcs fail to start with "Unexpected status code: 404"