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Update vCenter and ESXi credentials

Contributors netapp-yvonneo
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To maintain full functionality of NetApp Hybrid Cloud Control for your NetApp HCI installation, when you change your credentials in vCenter and ESXi hosts, you also need to update those credentials in the asset service on the management node.

About this task

NetApp Hybrid Cloud Control communicates with vCenter and the individual compute nodes running VMware vSphere ESXi to retrieve information for the dashboard and to facilitate rolling upgrades of firmware, software and drivers. NetApp Hybrid Cloud Control and its related services on the management node use credentials (username/password) to authenticate against VMware vCenter and ESXi.

If communication between these components fails, NetApp Hybrid Cloud Control and vCenter display error messages when authentication problems occur. NetApp Hybrid Cloud Control will display a red error banner if it cannot communicate with the associated VMware vCenter instance in the NetApp HCI installation. VMware vCenter will display ESXi account lockout messages for individual ESXi hosts as a result of NetApp Hybrid Cloud Control using outdated credentials.

The management node in NetApp HCI refers to these components using the following names:

  • "Controller assets" are vCenter instances associated with your NetApp HCI installation.

  • "Compute node assets" are the ESXi hosts in your NetApp HCI installation.

During the initial installation of NetApp HCI using the NetApp Deployment Engine, the management node stored the credentials for the administrative user you specified for vCenter and the “root” account password on ESXi servers.

Update vCenter password by using the management node REST API

Follow the steps to update the controller assets. See View or edit existing controller assets.

Update the ESXi password by using the management node REST API

Steps

  1. To gain an overview of the Management node REST API user interface, see the Management node REST API user interface overview.

  2. Access the REST API UI for management services on the management node:

    https://<ManagementNodeIP>/mnode

    Replace <management node IP> with the IPv4 address of your management node on the management network used for NetApp HCI.

  3. Select Authorize or any lock icon and complete the following:

    1. Enter the NetApp SolidFire cluster administrative user name and password.

    2. Enter the client ID as mnode-client.

    3. Select Authorize to begin a session.

    4. Close the window.

  4. From the REST API UI, select GET ​/assets/compute_nodes.

    This retrieves the records of compute node assets that are stored in the management node.

    Here is the direct link to this API in the UI:

    https://<ManagementNodeIP>/mnode/#/assets/routes.v1.assets_api.get_compute_nodes

  5. Select Try it out.

  6. Select Execute.

  7. From the response body, identify the compute node asset records that need updated credentials. You can use the “ip” and “host_name” properties to find the correct ESXi host records.

    "config": { },
"credentialid": <credential_id>,
"hardware_tag": <tag>,
"host_name": <host_name>,
"id": <id>,
"ip": <ip>,
"parent": <parent>,
"type": ESXi Host
    Note The next step uses the “parent” and “id” fields in the compute asset record to reference the record to be updated.

  8. Configure the specific compute node asset:

    1. Select PUT /assets/{asset_id}/compute-nodes/{compute_id}.

      Here is the direct link to the API in the UI:

      https://<ManagementNodeIP>/mnode/#/assets/routes.v1.assets_api.put_assets_compute_id

    2. Select Try it out.

    3. Enter the “asset_id” with the “parent” information.

    4. Enter the “compute_id” with the “id” information.

    5. Modify the request body in the user interface to update only the password and user name parameters in the compute asset record:

      {
"password": "<password>",
"username": "<username>"
}

    6. Select Execute.

    7. Validate that the response is HTTP 200, which indicates that the new credentials have been stored in the referenced compute asset record

  9. Repeat the previous two steps for additional compute node assets that need to be updated with a new password.

  10. Navigate to https://<mNode_ip>/inventory/1/.

    1. Select Authorize or any lock icon and complete the following:

      1. Enter the NetApp SolidFire cluster administrative user name and password.

      2. Enter the client ID as mnode-client.

      3. Select Authorize to begin a session.

      4. Close the window.

    2. From the REST API UI, select GET /installations.

    3. Select Try it out.

    4. Select True from the refresh description drop-down list.

    5. Select Execute.

    6. Validate that the response is HTTP 200.

  11. Wait for about 15 minutes for the account lockout message in vCenter to disappear.

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