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Changing the default HTTP(s) Reverse Proxy Ports on ESXi 8.0 Update 1

07.31.2023 by William Lam // 6 Comments

Pre-ESXi 8.0 Update 1, if you needed to modify the default ESXi HTTP(s) Reverse Proxy Ports, you would simply edit the HTTP reverse proxy configuration file, which I have previously blogged about HERE (pre-ESXi 8.0) and HERE (ESXi 8.0).

For ESXi 8.0 Update 1, the process is slightly diffrent as all ESXi configurations including configuration files have been completely migrated to the new ESXi Configuration Store, which was initially introduced back in vSphere 7.0 Update 1, which you can learn more about it HERE and HERE.

While most users stick with the system defaults with port 80 (HTTP) and port 443 (HTTPS), I know there are some organizations that require these ports to be changed to meet certain internal compliance requirements. Below are the updated instructions for modifying the ESXi HTTP(s) Reverse Proxy Ports when using ESXi 8.0 Update 1 or later.

Disclaimer: VMware does not officially support modifying the default HTTP/HTTPS ports on an ESXi host.

[Read more...]

Categories // Automation, ESXi, vSphere 8.0 Tags // envoy, ESXi 8.0 Update 1, rhttpproxy

How to change the default ports on the vCenter Server Appliance in vSphere 6.0?

01.20.2016 by William Lam // 13 Comments

When deploying the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA), there are a set default network ports that are already pre-defined by VMware. It is generally recommended to stick with these defaults unless you have a really good reason to modify them. I am a big fan of strong defaults which can help reduce the number of steps it takes to deploy the VCSA, however I do understand that there are some organizations who may have specific security requirements which requires them to change some of the default ports. It is also important to note that changing the default network ports post-installation is not supported.

Disclaimer: This is not officially supported by VMware, please use at your own risk.

If you deploy the VCSA using the new Guided UI installer, you will not be able to modify the default network ports. However, if you deploy using the new Scripted CLI installer, you do have the option of overriding some of the default ports. Below is a table of the ports that can be modified which includes the variable name, default port number and their port usage which is described in the vSphere 6.0 documentation here. The variable port names are required in the JSON configuration file if you decide to modify from the default.

Variable Name Port Port Usage
rhttpproxy.ext.port1 80 HTTP Reverse Proxy Port
rhttpproxy.ext.port2 443 HTTPs Reverse Proxy Port
syslog.ext.port 514 Syslog Service Port
vpxd.ext.port1 902 ESXi Heartbeat port
syslog.ext.tls.port 1514 Syslog Service TLS port
netdumper.ext.serviceport 6500 ESXi Dump Collector port
autodeploy.ext.serviceport 6501 Auto Deploy Service port
autodeploy.ext.managementport 6502 Auto Deploy Management port
sts.ext.port1 7444 Secure Token Service port
vsphere-client.ext.port1 9443  vSphere Web Client port

Under the "Networking" section of the JSON configuration file, there is a "Ports" field which accepts a JSON encoded string of the ports you wish to modify. It actually took me a bit of time to figure out the exact syntax as this was not clearly documented anywhere. Lets say we wish to change the default HTTPS Reverse Proxy from 443 to 13443 and PSC's STS port from 7444 to 7441, you will need to specify it as shown in the example below. The key is properly escape the inner-double quotations since ports accepts a single string input.

"network": {
    "hostname": "192.168.1.140",
    "dns.servers": [
        "192.168.1.1"
    ],
    "gateway": "192.168.1.1",
    "ip": "192.168.1.140",
    "ip.family": "ipv4",
    "mode": "static",
    "prefix": "24",
    "ports": "{\"rhttpproxy.ext.port2\":\"13443\",\"sts.ext.port1\":\"7441\"}"
},

If everything was successful, when you connect to the VCSA, you should see that we no longer use the default port of 443 to connect to the vCenter Server as you can see from the screenshot below.

changing-default-vcenter-server-appliance-ports
If you ever wonder what ports were selected for either a vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller, you can easily find that by following the instructions in this article.

For customers using the Windows version of vCenter Server, you do have the option of modifying the default ports using the Guided UI since there is no guarantee these ports are not in use as VMware does not control the underlying OS. You can also use the Windows Scripted CLI to modify the default ports which you can find more information here.

vcenter-server-appliance-default-ports-1

Categories // Automation, VCSA, vSphere 6.0, vSphere Web Client Tags // platform service controller, psc, rhttpproxy, vcenter server appliance, VCSA, vcva, vSphere 6.0

Quick Tip - Changing default port for HTTP Reverse Proxy on both vCenter Server & ESXi

10.27.2015 by William Lam // 11 Comments

If you decide to use a custom port for the HTTP Reverse Proxy (rhttpproxy) on vCenter Server which uses port 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) by default, you should also apply the same change on all ESXi hosts being managed by that vCenter Server for proper functionality. The configuration files for the rhttpproxy has since changed from the early days of vSphere 5.x and in vSphere 6.x, there are now different.

UPDATE (04/27/18) - With release of vSphere 6.7, VMware now officially supports customizing the Reverse HTTP(s) Ports on the VCSA. Below is a screenshot using the VCSA Installer UI and this can also be customized in the JSON configuration file using the VCSA CLI Installer for automation purposes.

Below are the instructions for modifying the default ports for rhttproxy service for both Windows vCenter Server, vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) and ESXi host.

Note: If you change the default ports of your vCenter Server, you will need to ensure that all VMware/3rd Party products that communicate with vCenter Server are also modified.

vCenter Server for Windows

On Windows, you will need to modify C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmware-rhttpproxy\config.xml and look for the following lines to change either the HTTP and/or HTTPs ports:

<httpPort>80</httpPort>
<httpsPort>443</httpsPort>

Once you have saved the changes, you will need to restart the VMware HTTP Reverse Proxy service using Windows Services Manager.

vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA)

On the VCSA, you will need to modify /etc/vmware-rhttpproxy/config.xml and look for the following lines to change either the HTTP and/or HTTPs ports:

<httpPort>80</httpPort>
<httpsPort>443</httpsPort>

Once you have saved the changes, you will need to restart the rhttpproxy service by running the following command:

/etc/init.d/rhttpproxy restart

ESXi

Disclaimer: VMware does not officially support modifying the default HTTP/HTTPS ports on an ESXi host.

Pre-ESXi 8.0 - Use the following instructions:

On ESXi, you will need to modify /etc/vmware/rhttpproxy/config.xml and look for the following lines to change either the HTTP and/or HTTPs ports:

<httpPort>80</httpPort>
<httpsPort>443</httpsPort>

Once you have saved the changes, you will need to restart the rhttpproxy service by running the following command:

/etc/init.d/rhttpproxy restart

  • For ESXi 8.0 - Please see Changing the default HTTP(s) Reverse Proxy Ports on ESXi 8.0 for updated instructions
  • For ESXi 8.0 Update 1 and later - Please see Changing the default HTTP(s) Reverse Proxy Ports on ESXi 8.0 Update 1 for updated instructions

Categories // ESXi, VCSA, vSphere, vSphere 6.0 Tags // ESXi, reverse proxy, rhttpproxy, vCenter Server, vcenter server appliance, VCSA, vcva

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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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