Pass through authentication via PowerCLI timing out after 10 minutes after upgrading to vCenter 8.0 Update 2

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• After upgrading to vCenter 8.0.2, PowerCLI now times out after 10 minutes if pass through authentication is used
• Even if the PowerCLI session is active (running scripts, etc.) the session will still time out after 10 minutes regardless
• Error will be similar to the following:

CategoryInfo: InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-VM], ViServerConnectionException
FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_ConnectivityServiceImpl_TryVerifyIsConnected_NotConnected,VMware.VimAutomation

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.0.2

Cause

The Pass through authentication invokes the loginBySSPI method in vpxd. The workflow for loginBySSPI is different from the one for loginByToken. The problem here is that in the loginBySSPI we don't have a refresh callback, meaning that the session lives as long as does the token. In the case of loginBySSPI we have hardcoded this value to 10 minutes.

Resolution

Engineering is still investigating this issue.

In the meantime there is a workaround available:
Instead of using pass through authentication provide username and password directly with the PowerCLI ConnectVIServer command