You can use the vSphere Client to converge a vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller to a vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller.

After you converge a vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller to a vCenter Server with an embedded Platform Services Controller, you must refresh the certificates for the ESXi hosts in your environment. Failing to do this results in connection errors when other products attempt to connect to vCenter Server. To learn more, see "Renew or Refresh ESXi Certificates" in the vSphere Security documentation.

To perform the converge operation using the UI, log into the vSphere Client.

Prerequisites

  • (Optional) If your vCenter Server does not have external Internet access, download, and mount the currently installed version of vCenter Server Appliance ISO to the /mnt/cdrom folder. See Download and Mount the vCenter Server Appliance Installer for UI Convergence for details.
  • Create backups of the vCenter Server and external Platform Services Controller instances so that you can restore them if the reconfiguration fails. See File-Based Backup and Restore of vCenter Server Appliance for information on backing up the vCenter Server.
  • Disable and remove vCenter HA before starting the process. Converging with vCenter HA configurations is not supported. Remove any vCenter HA configurations before starting the converge process. After converging, enable vCenter HA configurations in the embedded node.

Procedure

  1. From the vSphere Client side bar, click Administration. In the Administration panel, under Deployment click System Configuration.
    The System Configuration page lists each of the vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller nodes with details including FQDN or IP address, node health, type, version, virtual machine, and uptime.
  2. (Optional) To display more information, including replication partner, click the expand button next to the node.
    To log into the vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller, click Login.
  3. (Optional) To display the nodes in a graphical format, click View as Topology.
    Select each node to view its details.
  4. (Optional) To return to viewing the nodes in a table format, click View as Table.
  5. Select a vCenter Server with an external Platform Services Controller and click Converge to Embedded.
    If you are logged into this vCenter Server, you receive a warning that converging this node restarts all vCenter Server services. Access to the vSphere Client on this vCenter Server is lost while the services restart. However, the converge process is not impacted. If possible, log into a vSphere Client from a different vCenter Server connected through Enhanced Linked Mode to monitor the converge process without the vSphere Client session being impacted.
  6. In the Convert to Embedded dialog box, enter the details:
    • Single Sign-On user name.
    • Single Sign-On password.
    • Select from an available embedded node (only for the second and subsequent convergences).
    • Active Directory information, if you select Join AD (extends the dialog box). Enter the following information for joining Active Directory:
      • Active Directory domain name.
      • Active Directory domain user name.
      • Active directory domain password.
      • DNS server.
    • Select Skip AD if you do not want to join an Active Directory.
  7. Acknowledge that you took a backup of the vCenter Server Appliance before starting the converge process.
  8. Click Converge.

Results

You are notified when the convergence succeeds.

What to do next