"There was an error connecting to VMware vSphere Update Manager." - vSphere 5.1 Web Client

Following a switch over from self-signed certificates for vCenter 5.1 to those signed by a internal CA, access to Update Manager via the vSphere Web Client (which seems fairly limited anyway in terms of Update Manager) no longer worked. It was failing with “There was an error connecting to VMware vSphere Update Manager.”

The Webclient log file vsphere_client_virgo.log contains the following error

ERROR [ERROR] http-bio-9443-exec-5 c.vmware.vum.client.adapters.updatemanager.aspects.LoggingAspect Exception caught in class ‘com.vmware.vum.client.adapters.updatemanager.UpdateManagerService’, line 160 com.vmware.vim.vmomi.client.exception.SslException: com.vmware.vim.vmomi.core.exception.CertificateValidationException: Server certificate chain not verified"

There were no corresponding issues accessing Update Manager via the full vSphere client.

I filed an SR with VMware support who confirmed a known issue with the Web Client and that “…The next major release will contain the fix”. In the meantime the advise (should you wish) is to “disable the plugin,  you can do this via the Web Client by logging in as admin@System-Domain and going to Administration–>Solutions–>Plug-In Management then right-clicking on the VMware vSphere Update Manager plug-in and selecting Disable.”

I’ll update the post when I’ve confirmed the issue is resolved in the so far unconfirmed version / update release……

 

Update 11/07/2013:

VMware have now posted a KB article for this issue.