Simplifying vCenter Certificate Management with vCert tool

What is vCert?

vCert is a command-line tool developed by Broadcom to help administrators manage SSL certificates within vCenter Server. Whether you’re replacing expired certificates, verifying trust anchors, or just trying to clean up a mess caused by manual cert handling—this tool saves hours of troubleshooting and scripting.

🛠️ Key Features

✅ Certificate Health Checks

Identify expired or expiring certificates
Detect missing SAN entries or unsupported algorithms
Highlight mismatched thumbprints in vCenter extensions

🔍 View Certificate Details

Get complete insight into:

Machine SSL and Solution User certs
STS signing certificates
Trusted CA certs in VECS and VMware Directory

🔄 Replace and Manage Certificates

Generate CSRs
Import signed certs and keys
Replace Machine SSL or Solution User certs
Reset certs using VMCA as your internal CA

🔐 Trust Anchor Validation

Detect and fix SSL trust anchor mismatches in Lookup Service registrations
Push updated root or intermediate certs to the trust store

🧪 Configuration Validation

Check VECS store integrity
Confirm STS token signing configuration
Spot SSL interception (e.g., proxy interference)

📦 ESXi Certificate Actions

Check trust status between ESXi and vCenter
Push or replace ESXi host certificates

🔁 Restart Services

Restart all or selected vCenter services to apply cert changes

📊 Generate Reports

Output a certificate inventory report to review or archive your environment’s state

📥 How to Use vCert

Download the tool:
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/385107
Upload the zip to your vCenter Server
SSH into the appliance and run:

unzip vCert.zip
cd vCert
./vCert.py

Follow the interactive prompts

Important Notes

Always snapshot vCenter before replacing certificates.
For Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM), snapshot all vCenters/PSCs simultaneously.
If using vCenter High Availability (VCHA), destroy the cluster before making cert changes.
Restart services manually if vCert doesn’t do it automatically.

🎯 Why Use vCert?

If you’re tired of deciphering vSphere certificate errors or digging through VECS with custom scripts, vCert is a breath of fresh air. It brings clarity, structure, and safety to one of the more painful parts of vSphere administration.

👉 Get started here: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/385107

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