vSphere 6 – Web Client – error occurred while processing request

I came across this issue if you have external Platform Service Controller/s (PSC), and then deploy a vCenter instance paired to the PSC, and you update the SSL certificates on the PSC and vCenter instances.

After rebooting the vCenter and logging in via the Web Client I was presented with a message “Error occurred while processing request. Check vSphere WebClient logs for details”. Doing some log searching and Googling I hit this VMware KB article which resolves the issue.

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&externalId=2121701

Follow the instructions in the KB to resolve. As we are implementing a new multi -PSC/multi-vCenter deployment I needed to do this process on the PSCs and the vCenters.

The problem as per the KB is:

Some solutions, such as VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager, VMware vSphere Replication, or VMware vCenter Support Assistant are always installed on a different machine than the associated vCenter Server system or Platform Services Controller that manages the certificates for the solution.

If you replace the Machine SSL certificate of a vCenter Server system or a Platform Services Controller in an environment with an External Platform Services Controller, a connection error results when the solution attempts to connect to the vCenter Server. The reason is that the vCenter Server and the Platform Services Controller use the new certificate, but the corresponding service registrations with the VMware Lookup Service are not updated. When solutions connect to vCenter Server or Platform Services Controller, they look at the service registration, which includes the service URL and the sslTrust string. By default, the sslTrust string is the Base 64 encoded old certificate even if you have replaced the certificate successfully.