vCenter FTP backups are failing

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Backups configured in the VAMI to an FTP server are failing for both scheduled, and manual attempts.

Environment

• vCenter 8.x

Cause

The vCenter machine SSL certificate has expired.  The backup.log file located under /var/log/vmware/applmgmt/ on the vCenter will contain entries similar to the following example:

 

2025-##-##T##:##:##.## [2025####-######-########] [MainProcess:PID-#######] [BackupManager::main:BackupManager.py:645] ERROR: BackupManager encountered an exception: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: certificate has expired (_ssl.c:1007)

2025-##-##T##:##:##.## [2025####-######-########] [MainProcess:PID-#######] [vpxdevent_lib::dispatch_events:vpxdevent_lib.py:253] ERROR: Failed to get vcenter server endpoint urls. Err [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: certificate has expired (_ssl.c:1007)
2025-##-##T##:##:##.## [2025####-######-########] [MainProcess:PID-#######] [br_events::post_br_event:br_events.py:39] ERROR: Failed to dispatch event com.vmware.applmgmt.backup.job.failed.event Err: Failed to get vcenter server endpoint urls. Err [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: certificate has expired (_ssl.c:1007)
2025-##-##T##:##:##.## [2025####-######-########] [MainProcess:PID-#######] [BackupManager::main:BackupManager.py:672] INFO: Backup job failed.

Resolution

• Renew the vCenter machine SSL certificate with a new self signed certificate using the steps detailed in KB article 318946:
  • Using vSphere Certificate Manager to Replace SSL Certificates\
• Or use the vCert utility from KB article 385107 to renew the expired machine SSL certificate:
  • vCert - Scripted vCenter expired certificate replacement