ansible/docs/docsite/rst/vmware/vmware_requirements.rst

VMware Prerequisites

Topics

Installing SSL Certificate

All vCenter and ESXi servers require SSL encryption on all connections to enforce secure communication.

If you see the following warning while using Ansible VMware modules [warning], you need to enable SSL encryption for Ansible by installing the server's SSL certificates on your Ansible control node or delegate node.

` Unable to connect to vCenter or ESXi API at xx.xx.xx.xx on TCP/443: [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed (_ssl.c:777)`

then, this means you need to add/install SSL certificate of vCenter or ESXi server in your Ansible control node.

The following instructions allow you to run your Ansible VMware modules with encrypted mode (viz. validate_certs=True).

Please follow the instructions depending upon your server to install SSL certificate.

vCenter

• From any web browser, go to the base URL of the vCenter Server without port number like https://vcenter-domain.example.com
• Click the "Download trusted root CA certificates" link at the bottom of the grey box on the right and download the file.
• Change the extension of the file to .zip. The file is a ZIP file of all root certificates and all CRLs.
• Extract the contents of the zip file. The extracted directory contains a .certs directory that contains two types of files. Files with a number as the extension (.0, .1, and so on) are root certificates.
• Install the certificate files are trusted certificates by the process that is appropriate for your operating system.

ESXi

• Enable SSH Service on ESXi either by using Ansible VMware module vmware_host_service_manager or manually using vSphere Web interface.
• SSH to ESXi server using administrative credentials, and navigate to directory /etc/vmware/ssl
• Secure copy (SCP) rui.crt located in /etc/vmware/ssl directory to Ansible control node.
• Install the certificate file by the process that is appropriate for your operating system.