VMware Cloud Foundation supports vCenter Server's Custom Certificate Authority mode during bring-up using the VMware Cloud Foundation API. Use this mode if you want to use only external certificates that are signed by a third-party or enterprise CA. In this mode, you are responsible for managing the certificates. You cannot refresh and renew external certificates from the SDDC Manager or vSphere Client.

To use external ESXi certificates, you must create a custom JSON file for bring-up. You cannot use the deployment parameter workbook.

Deploying the management domain with external ESXi certificates enables Custom Certificate Authority mode, so all future hosts that you add to a workload domain (management or VI) must also use external ESXi certificates.

Prerequisites

See Configure ESXi Hosts with Signed Certificates.

Procedure

  1. Create a JSON file populated with the bring-up information for your environment.
    You can see a sample JSON specification in the VMware Cloud Foundation API Reference Guide.
  2. Update the securitySpec section, choosing Custom for the esxiCertsMode and entering your signing CA chain for certChain.
    For example: 
    "securitySpec" : { 
"esxiCertsMode" : "Custom", 
"rootCaCerts" : [ { 
"alias" : "Rainpole-CA", 
"certChain" : [ "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----" ] } ] }
  3. Follow the steps outlined in the VMware Cloud Foundation API Reference Guide to deploy the management domain.