vSphere 5.1 authentication via external OpenLDAP

Question

I try to add OpenLdap authentication option to vSphere. I would like to give some users possibility to log in to vSphere using ldap accounts. So far I didn't found nothing. All tutorial in internet are for microsoft AD. So Im doing this:

First login to vSphere-client using admin@SYSTEM-DOMAIN, select Sign-On and Discovery -> Configuration -> Add Identity Source

After that I provide all basic info:

name: ldap test

primary server URL: ldap://ldap:389

base DN for users: dc=ldap,dc=my_domain_here,dc=com

When I click "test connection" Im getting this:

"probing for connectivity faild"

There is no problem with LDAP because I added LDAP auth to many other services, I just can't do that auth for vCenter.

Maybe I dont understand the purpose of this feature in vSphere and maybe it's not possible to use user account from openLDAP to auth. Any ideas?

Answer 1

You'll find the official ducumentation at Add a vCenter Single Sign On Identity Source.

Did you add a service account user that can access your OpenLdap directory?

Answer 2

Actually what worked for me is: "uid=root,cn=users,dc=your_domain,dc=com"

I'm using vCenter 5.5 Build 1624811 + Directory Server (openLDAP server) from Synology