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Configuring TLS Cipher Suites in ESXi 8.0 Update 1

07.20.2023 by William Lam // 1 Comment

For organizations that mandate specific TLS cipher suites for compliance purposes, you may have used the instructions outlined in this VMware KB 79476 to modify the ESXi Reverse Proxy Configuration File to select the desired supported TLS cipher suites prior to ESXi 8.0 Update 1.

As of ESXi 8.0 Update 1, all configurations including configuration files have been migrated to the new ESXi Configuration Store, which was initially introduced back in vSphere 7.0 Update 1 and you can learn more about it HERE and HERE. Additionally, I recently came to learn from one of our customers, who had inquired about changing the TLS cipher suites for ESXi that as of vSphere 8.0 Update 1, ESXi now runs two reverse proxy: rhttpproxy and Envoy with port 443 now being owned by the Envoy service, which is a popular and lightweight solution for reverse proxy usage.

The implication of this change is that modifying the TLS cipher suites for ESXi as of 8.0 Update 1 now requires the use of the ESXi Configuration Store and with Envoy as the reverse proxy, it is helpful to understand the types of TLS cipher suites that can be supported will be based on Google's BoringSSL TLS implementation, which Envoy itself consumes.

[Read more...]

Categories // Automation, ESXi, Security Tags // Cipher Suite, envoy, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, TLS, TLS 1.2

Clearing TPM alarms after replacing TPM chip or resetting TPM keys for ESXi

06.07.2023 by William Lam // 13 Comments

If you have a supported Trusted Platform Module (TPM) device that has been installed in your ESXi host after the initial installation and you either replace the TPM chip and/or you reset the TPM keys within the system BIOS, you may find several TPM alarms that is raised within your vCenter Server including:

  • Host TPM attestation alarm
  • TPM Encryption Recovery Key Backup Alarm
  • The new host TPM endorsement key doesn't match the one stored in the DB


I recently had to resolve this in my lab after clearing the TPM keys within the system BIOS, this was for some testing I was doing, but I could not figure out how to get vCenter Server to clear the previous endorsement keys associated with the ESXi host.

After a bit of searching, I came across this VMware KB 81446 which outlines a solution to one the scenarios I mentioned above where you would see these TPM alarms, which is replacing the TPM chip, but I came to find out that the workflow is also applicable if you had cleared the TPM keys and new ones were generated prior to re-installing ESXi. The KB was missing a some details, which I have already shared in the feedback and I think there is a more streamline method which I have shared below.

[Read more...]

Categories // ESXi Tags // ESXi, TPM

Converting VirtualBox VDI (Virtual Disk Image) to VMDK for use with ESXi 8.x

05.31.2023 by William Lam // Leave a Comment

If you are converting an Oracle VirtualBox VDI (Virtual Disk Image) to a VMDK for use with VMware ESXi, you might come across the following error:

Unsupported or invalid disk type 2 for 'scsi0:0'. Ensure that the disk has been imported


The invalid disk type 2 is typically a giveaway that the VMDK was mostly likely converted to a format that is only understood by a VMware Type 2 Hypervisor (Fusion/Workstation/Player) rather than ESXi which is a VMware Type 1 bare-metal Hypervisor.

Luckily, there is a straight forward way to convert the existing VMDK into the format that ESXi understands!

Note: While VirtualBox does offer an export appliance option which produces an OVA (Open Virtualization Archive), it fails to properly import into a VMware environment 🙁 and hence the need to work directly with the VDI images.

[Read more...]

Categories // ESXi Tags // ESXi 8.0, VirtualBox, vmdk

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William is Distinguished Platform Engineering Architect in the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division at Broadcom. His primary focus is helping customers and partners build, run and operate a modern Private Cloud using the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.

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