Export Machine SSL Embedded Private Key From vCenter

This quick post demonstrates how to export the Machine SSL embedded Private key from your vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA). If you replaced the default Machine SSL certificate on your vCenter where the CSR was generated from the vCenter Server, the private key would be embedded in the vCenter Appliance certificate store. If you need to…

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Remove certificates with weak signature algorithms in vCenter Server

During the vCenter Server 8.0 upgrade, I was faced with the following Pre-upgrade check error and wasn’t able to continue the upgrade. As of vCenter Server 8.0, certificates with SHA-1 signature algorithms are no longer supported and must be removed or replaced with a certificate that uses SHA-2 signature algorithm. In this post, I’ll show…

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Efficiently Scale HCI with vSAN HCI Mesh

Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) has solved many challenges with complex cloud infrastructure deployments for IT businesses over the years. Combining virtualised storage, compute, network, and management into a unified system, offers simplified management, streamlined operations, scalability, security, and out-of-the-box infrastructure automation, delivering rapid scalability to meet business-critical demands. However, it can be challenging to right-size the…

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Customise ESXi Image Profiles using vCenter Image Builder UI

Customising ESXi image profiles is helpful when you need to add custom drivers to your ESXi installation image. I will demonstrate in this post, how to customise ESXi image profiles using the built-in Image Builder service on vCenter 7. I usually use Powershell to build customised ESXi images; however, non-windows users might find this handy…

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Replace Default vCenter Certificate with a Free Let’s Encrypt SSL

On September 30, 2021, the DST Root CA X3 used to sign Let’s Encrypt’s R3 Intermediate CA Expired; therefore, some of the previous guides I’ve written and many that you will find online are no longer valid. This guide steps you through the process to install a Free Let’s Encrypt SSL Certificate for vCenter that…

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Launch vCenter VCSA UI/CLI Installer on MacOS

MacOS from Catalina onwards, a security change prevents non notarized apps from running. To get around this, you need to exclude the VCSA Installer from the MacOS Security Gatekeeper by removing the metadata quarantine attribute “com.apple.quarantine” for the VCSA ISO. Before mounting the ISO, open Terminal and run the following command Now you may mount…

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