How to use a Microsoft Windows domain account with virt-who?

Environment

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5/6/7
Red Hat Satellite 5.x/6.x
Red Hat Subscription Manager
Subscription Asset Manager
virt-who
VMware vCenter with Active Directory domain user authentication

Issue

• How to configure virt-who to use a Microsoft Windows domain account?

• Using Windows domain account virt-who fails with an authentication error.

     2015-05-26 14:15:32,008 [INFO]  @virtwho.py:442 - Using virt-who configuration: vcenter1
  2015-05-26 14:15:32,008 [DEBUG]  @virtwho.py:170 - Starting infinite loop with 3600 seconds interval
  2015-05-26 14:15:43,708 [ERROR]  @esx.py:154 - Unable to login to ESX
  Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/share/virt-who/virt/esx/esx.py", line 152, in scan
      self.client.service.Login(_this=self.sc.sessionManager, userName=self.username, password=self.password)
    File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/suds/client.py", line 542, in __call__
      return client.invoke(args, kwargs)
    File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/suds/client.py", line 602, in invoke
      result = self.send(soapenv)
    File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/suds/client.py", line 657, in send
      result = self.failed(binding, e)
    File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/suds/client.py", line 712, in failed
      r, p = binding.get_fault(reply)
    File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/suds/bindings/binding.py", line 265, in get_fault
      raise WebFault(p, faultroot)
  WebFault: Server raised fault: 'Cannot complete login due to an incorrect user name or password.'
  2015-05-26 14:15:43,709 [ERROR]  @virtwho.py:118 - Error in communication with virtualization backend, trying to recover:
  

Resolution

• If using /etc/sysconfig/virt-who configuration file then edit username with a double backslash:
  For example:

  VIRTWHO_HYPERV_USERNAME="MYDOMAIN\\user"
  

• If using /etc/virt-who.d/config file then edit username with a single backslash:

  username=MYDOMAIN\user
  

• Refer KCS to know how to configure virt-who to register hypervisor.

• Refer KCS for steps to configure multiple vCenters in single RHEL instance.

For more KB articles/solutions related to Virt-who and Virtual Datacenter (VDC) Subscriptions Issues, please refer to the Consolidated Troubleshooting Article for Virt-who and Virtual Datacenter (VDC) Subscriptions Issues

Root Cause

• Microsoft Windows domain account requires a double backslash in the default /etc/sysconfig/virt-who configuration file and single backslash in /etc/virt-who.d/config file if configuring multiple VMware vCenter's on a single RHEL instance:

- VIRTWHO_HYPERV_USERNAME="MYDOMAIN\administrator"  will be interpreted as : MYDOMAINuser
- VIRTWHO_HYPERV_USERNAME="MYDOMAIN\\administrator"  will be interpreted as : MYDOMAIN\user

This solution is part of Red Hat’s fast-track publication program, providing a huge library of solutions that Red Hat engineers have created while supporting our customers. To give you the knowledge you need the instant it becomes available, these articles may be presented in a raw and unedited form.