VMWare cluster installation on RHACM fails showing that it cannot connect to vSphere via URL https://myservername/sdk

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes

Issue

2025-02-27T13:51:36.843417332Z time="2025-02-27T13:51:36.843Z" level=error msg="Reconciler error" controller=clusterdeployment-controller error="Platform credentials failed authentication check: Post \"https://Vcenter/sdk\": context deadline exceeded" name=cluster-lab namespace=cluster-lab object=cluster-lab/cluster-lab reconcileID=cd7b23ca-c595-4570-a125-82d8b578ee16

Resolution

The credential that is defined when creating an OCP cluster in ACM is the same credential that is used when using the openshift-installer CLI to perform an OCP installation on vSphere.

ACM uses the Hive API (wrapper API above the openshift-installer), Hive gets the installation configuration and runs the openshift installer in a pod.

Use the VMware vCenter server fully-qualified host name instead of the IP address in the credential. You can also update the VMware vCenter CA certificate to contain the IP SAN.

https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_advanced_cluster_management_for_kubernetes/2.12/html/clusters/cluster_mce_overview#troubleshooting-cluster-creation-on-vmware-vsphere-mce

Having problems accessing the VCenter API is a typical problem when installing an OpenShift cluster [1].

[1] https://access.redhat.com/solutions/5396191

Root Cause

The VCenter API cannot be accessed from the RHACM installer. RHACM uses the Hive API for installation configuration and the VCenter API is not accessible from the pod created by Hive.

Diagnostic Steps

Perform the curl checks from the hive-controllers pod in the hive namespace to the Vcenter SDK.

$ curl -kv https://VCenter/sdk

This solution is part of Red Hat’s fast-track publication program, providing a huge library of solutions that Red Hat engineers have created while supporting our customers. To give you the knowledge you need the instant it becomes available, these articles may be presented in a raw and unedited form.

Comments