Error: Unable to connect to VC: Connecting to VC failed when trying to add a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) integration

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

When attempting to save the VCF adapter in VCF Operations, the task fails with an error indicating connection failure to the vCenter Server.
The following error is displayed in the user interface:

Unable to connect to VC: Connecting to VC at https://<vCenter-FQDN>/sdk failed. Please check connectivity.

• Adapter test validation completes successfully prior to saving.
• vCenter Server can be added without issue as a standalone vCenter adapter.
• Network connectivity from VCF Operations and the Cloud Proxy to vCenter on port 443 is confirmed functional.
• openssl retrieves the vCenter certificate successfully.
  
  

Environment

VCF Operations 9.1.0.x

Cause

The VCF adapter was recently deleted. Cached orphan data is preventing the certificate from being validated.

The following error is observed in the Cloud Proxy collector.log:

com.vmware.adapter.management.components.extensions.VcExtensionsComponent.getExtensionInfoForVc - Unable to connect to VC com.integrien.alive.common.exception.VcException: Connecting to VC at https://<vCenter-FQDN>/sdk Failed:
Caused by: org.bouncycastle.tls.TlsFatalAlert: certificate_unknown(46)
Caused by: java.security.cert.CertificateException: Unable to build a CertPath: no PKIXBuilderParameters available

Resolution

Perform the following steps to remove the latch that is preventing the certificate update:

1. Retrieve the vCenter certificate using OpenSSL:
   • openssl s_client -connect <vCenter-FQDN>:443 -showcerts
2. Copy the retrieved certificate content and save it as a local file with a .pem extension.
3. Log in to the VCF Operations user interface.
4. Navigate to Administration > Control Panel > Trusted Certificates.
5. Click Import and select the saved .pem certificate file.
6. Navigate to Administration > Integrations.
7. Click Add to configure the VCF adapter and complete the save action.
8. Confirm that the adapter is created successfully.
9. Return to Administration > Control Panel > Trusted Certificates.
10. Locate the imported temporary certificate, click the vertical ellipsis (...), and select Delete to delete this temporary added certificate.
11. Navigate back to Administration > Integrations and select the newly created VCF adapter.
12. Click Stop Collecting All, wait for the process to complete, and then click Start Collecting All.
13. Verify that data collection functions properly.