With vSphere 4.x reaching End of General Support, I would imagine that quite a few folks are going to want to ditch their older vCenter Server, which might even be running a 32-bit OS, in favor of a new, shiny Windows box running 2008 R2 or better. This OS, by the way, only comes in a tasty 64-bit flavor. But hold on there, bucko; don’t forget your SSL certificate before you move that box!
Check out VMware KB article 1014314, entitled vCenter Server installation fails with the error: Setup located a vCenter Server database but not the companion SSL certificates (I love this title). I’ve run into this issue when doing a vSphere 4.1 to 5.5 upgrade. I was also migrating the vCenter Server installation off an older, physical server and onto a new virtual machine.
As the KB says, you’ll need to make sure to snag those SSL certs off the old server before you try to plow forward with a vCenter installation. Otherwise, you’ll see this little beauty when attempting to install the vCenter Server:
Setup located a vCenter Server database but not the companion SSL certificates.
The SSL certificates should be located in the folder: C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL\
Restore the SSL folder from the previous installation to the proper location before continuing or hosts will be disconnected and the vCenter Server upgrade will fail.
There’s an easy fix to this. Go grab the SSL certs off the old server and copy them to the new server. 🙂
Keep in mind that the ProgramData path doesn’t exist on Server 2003; instead, you’ll want to browse the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Virtual Center\SSL\ path. If you’re on Server 2008, the path in the quotes above is just fine.
On the new vCenter Server, drop the certificates – which are usually named rui.crt, rui.key, and rui.pfx – into the C:\Programdata\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL path.
Now you can try the install again and it should succeed.
