Find the SSL Thumbprint and GUID of vCenter Server

Before you start the remote plug-in server, you need to find the thumbprint and the GUID of the vCenter Server where you want to register the plug-in.

You need to find out the certificate thumbprint and the GUID of a vCenter Server instance.

Prerequisites

vCenter Server must be running while you do this procedure.

Procedure

  1. Connect a browser to the vCenter Server.
    The URL for vCenter Server looks similar to this: https://vcenter-1.example.com
    The browser displays a launch screen, with a small padlock icon in the address field.
  2. Click LAUNCH VSPHERE CLIENT (HTML5) and log in to the vSphere Client.
    The browser displays the default Hosts and Clusters view.
  3. If you connected to a vCenter Server instance in an extended linked mode environment, you must select the chosen vCenter Server instance in the navigation pane on the left of the vSphere Client screen.
    The URL in the browser address box contains an embedded managed object reference, similar to the following:

    Folder:group-d1:56d373bd-4163-44f9-a872-9adabb008ca9. This is an extended managed object reference that ends with the GUID of the vCenter Server instance. The GUID is a string of 32 hexadecimal digits, organized in groups of 4, 8, or 12 digits, separated by hyphens.

  4. Copy the 32 hexadecimal digits of the GUID, along with the inset hyphens, and save this into a shell variable or a text file.
    You will use the GUID when you start the plug-in server.
  5. Click the padlock icon in the browser address field to access a certificate information window.
    The browser displays a brief summary of browser properties.
  6. Click Details to display more certificate information.
    The browser displays full details of the vCenter Server certificate.
  7. Scroll through the certificate details to find either the SHA-256 or the SHA-1 fingerprint.
    • The SHA-256 fingerprint is a string of 64 hexadecimal digits, usually in pairs separated by spaces or other non-alphanumeric delimiters.
    • The SHA-1 fingerprint is a string of 40 hexadecimal digits, usually in pairs separated by spaces or other non-alphanumeric delimiters.
  8. Select the fingerprint string and copy it to a text file.
  9. Edit the text file to remove all spaces or other delimiters from the fingerprint string.
    You now have a string of either 64 or 40 contiguous hexadecimal digits. This is the thumbprint of the vCenter Server instance.

What to do next

The thumbprint and GUID of the vCenter Server instance are needed to start the remote plug-in server. You can start the server to determine its certificate thumbprint.