ESXi Host Certifcate not displayed

[tinuwalther]

Hi all

I can not display the ESXi Host certificate in the vSphere Web Client and I can also not renew the certificate either with PowerCLI or vSphere Web Client. On the ESXi Management Web Client, the Certificate is displayed successfully. First, this issue were only on two ESXi Hosts, then I rebooted the vCenter Appliance and now the issue is on all of my ESXi Hosts.

If I press the Renew button to renew the certificate, then shows me "Refresh the subject certificate on the host" in the task list, but the certificate is not renewed and also not displayed.

Has anyone of you an idea how I can fix this behavior?

We are running vCenter Appliance Version: 7.0.3, Build: 22357613 and VMware ESXi, 7.0.3, 22348816 and we use our own vCenter SubCA (Valid until Nov 7, 2025).

[Shen88]

@tinuwalther,

Please make sure prerequisites outlined in the below link are met before you renew the certificates. Also, note in case the host certificates were not renewed before they expired then disconnecting the host and reconnecting it causes vCenter Server to renew the certificate.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.security.doc/GUID-ECFD1A29-0534-411...

[NateNateNAte]

I'm going to ask the dumb question - but is your licensing still up to date?  I'm assuming yes, but I want to ask that question up front just based on the symptoms and shared screenshot.

[tinuwalther]

Yes, our licensing (vCenter and ESXi) is up to date.

[tinuwalther]

@Shen88 the prerequisites are fulfilled. If I disconnect the hosts and reconnecting they didn't renew the certificate. The issuer remains O=VMware Installer instead of our own issuer of the vCenter SubCA.