A few years back I had submitted a PowerCLI Feature Request (PCLI-44) via the public PowerCLI Ideas platform requesting for a PowerCLI module that would support vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) Administrative functionality such as managing SSO Users, Groups, Password, Lockout Policy and Identity Sources.
This was one of the most popular Idea voted by the PowerCLI community, which also stressed the need for such functionality which I came across on a regular basis on some of the Automation I was writing. In the past, I have written numerous blog articles in working around this limitation as the vCenter SSO Admin APIs were not and leveraging Guest Operations API, one could still automate various SSO operations using the various SSO CLIs that is included within the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA).
Today, I received a notification from the PowerCLI Ideas platform that this feature as "Shipped" and it looks like the PowerCLI team has just released an Open Source Module called VMware.vSphere.SsoAdmin that includes the following 12 cmdlets:
- Add-ActiveDirectoryIdentitySource
- Add-GroupToSsoGroup
- Add-LDAPIdentitySource
- Add-UserToSsoGroup
- Connect-SsoAdminServer
- Disconnect-SsoAdminServer
- Get-IdentitySource
- Get-SsoAuthenticationPolicy
- Get-SsoGroup
- Get-SsoLockoutPolicy
- Get-SsoPasswordPolicy
- Get-SsoPersonUser
- Get-SsoTokenLifetime
- New-SsoGroup
- New-SsoPersonUser
- Remove-GroupFromSsoGroup
- Remove-IdentitySource
- Remove-SsoGroup
- Remove-SsoPersonUser
- Remove-UserFromSsoGroup
- Set-LDAPIdentitySource
- Set-SsoAuthenticationPolicy
- Set-SsoGroup
- Set-SsoLockoutPolicy
- Set-SsoPasswordPolicy
- Set-SsoPersonUser
- Set-SsoSelfPersonUserPassword
- Set-SsoTokenLifetime
To get started with the new PowerCLI SSO Module, take a look at the instructions below.
Pre-Req:
- PowerShell 5.1 (or newer) + PowerCLI 12.0 Installed
Step 1 - Clone using git command-line or download the PowerCLI Example Repo to your local system
Step 2 - Change into the modules/VMware.vSphere.SsoAdmin directory and then import SSO module using:
Import-Module ./VMware.vSphere.SsoAdmin.psd1
Step 3 - Use the Connect-SsoAdminServer to connect to your vCenter Server. If you have a self-signed certificate, you will need to pass in the -SkipCertificateCheck parameter
Connect-SsoAdminServer -Server vcsa.primp-industries.com -User *protected email* -Password VMware1! -SkipCertificateCheck
Once connected, you can start using any of the SSO cmdlets, here is an example retrieving the SSO Password and Lockout Policies:
Get-SsoPasswordPolicy
Get-SsoLockoutPolicy
Here is an example of creating a new SSO User and then removing an existing user:
New-SsoPersonUser -User lamw -Password 'MyStrongPa$$w0rd' -EmailAddress '*protected email*' -FirstName 'William' -LastName 'Lam'
Get-SsoPersonUser -Name lamw -Domain vsphere.local
Remove-SsoPersonUser -User (Get-SsoPersonUser -Name lamw -Domain vsphere.local)
To disconnect from SSO endpoint, you will need to run the following command:
Disconnect-SsoAdminServer -Server $Global:DefaultSsoAdminServers[0]
I was hoping Disconnect-SsoAdminServer worked like other PowerCLI disconnect functions which accepts * (asterisk) but looks like it expects a specific endpoint. I have already filed a feature enhancement as this is how I normally disconnect 🙂
For detailed documentation on each cmdlet, simply use the Get-Help function and specify the name of the cmdlet to get more information. If you have been waiting for this functionality in PowerCLI, be sure to give this a try and hopefully with positive feedback, we may see this module as part of the official PowerCLI release in the future!
Is there any way to update the Password for the Service Account in the LDAPS Identity Source via commandline / PowerCLI?
Working well for me! Thanks a lot
Is there a way to add an SSO Identity Source which uses LDAPS and therefore requires a certificate? I don't see any way to add a certificate.
Thanks for all of the work on this.
If you don’t see it as an option, probably not. You can always file feature request on GitHub
Actually, looking at it closer, it seems like this is adding it to AD instead of what I want which is adding AD as an LDAP source. Is that correct?
I'll put in a feature request. Thanks for the info.
This is something I've been wanting for a very long time... so thank you!
Can you tell me if there's a way to manage group in a similar fashion? For example, I'd like to add an SSO user to the Administrators group. Right now I'm having to do it via an SSH session into vCenter as so:
/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/dir-cli group modify --name Administrators --add *protected email*
is there a way to get all the super admin,operation and administrator using powercli and check the password last set?
Working on vSphere 7 version too. But I can only use *protected email* account. If I use other user account Get-SsoPasswordPolicy works but Get-SsoLockoutPolicy does not.
But I can only use administrator at vsphere local account
May be you could help
via powercli I am connected to my VCenter. In this context I need to connect to LDAP. but only in this context. because only this machine has access to AD, not my own PC. Is it possible ??
Hello !
Get-SsoGroup seems not to work with domain vsphere.local,
tried this with vcenter 6.7 and vcenter 7.0. Getting an exception:
Get-SsoGroup -Name administrators -Domain vsphere.local
Get-SsoGroup : Idm client exception: null
In Zeile:1 Zeichen:1
+ Get-SsoGroup -Name administrators -Domain vsphere.local
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,Get-SsoGroup
Get-SsoGroup -Domain vsphere.local gives the same result,
while Get-SsoGroup -Domain localos works fine.
Any hints ?
Regards, Ralph
I used this module to create LDAPS sources on a vCenter that is linked to 7 other via ELM. It created the LDAPS entry on the targeted vCenter (01) but it somehow breaks SSO DB replication to the others in its replication partner list in the process, some sort of corruption. Using the GUI does not appear to break anything.
vCenter 7.0.3.01700
None of these Commandlets allow me to list Users and their membership in groups or which group map to which role. We need to report users and their rights somehow and fail to get this in any way automated. Any suggestion ?
If these are vCenter Server roles, you need to use Get-VIPermission cmdlets (shipped as part of PowerCLI)
Is this really the only powercli way to remove an sso user? 🙁
The fact that Get-VIAccount exists but the Remove/Delete/Set counterparts don't really grinds my gears.
You can use dir-cli (https://williamlam.com/2015/05/vcenter-server-6-0-tidbits-part-9-creating-managing-sso-users-using-dir-cli.html) but most users want remote invocation and PCLI module makes that easier 🙂
It looks like that something happens.. In the past i can create new SSO Users..
No cmdlet is working anymore.. Tested on vCenter 7 and 8.
for example:
New-SsoPersonUser -User lamw -Password 'MyStrongPa$$w0rd'
New-SsoPersonUser : One or more errors occurred.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-SsoPersonUser -User lamw -Password 'MyStrongPa$$w0rd'
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,New-SsoPersonUser
Get-SsoPersonUser -Name "automation"
Get-SsoPersonUser : One or more errors occurred.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-SsoPersonUser -Name "xauto"
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], WriteErrorException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.WriteErrorException,Get-SsoPersonUser
I am connected on vCenter with Connect-SsoAdminServer
any suggestions why now these not working?
I have no other options to add automatically a new SSO User for example..