VCenter 7 Linked mode

[amclaurin4640]

I would love some additional insight into a problem we're having with VCenter 7U3 Enhanced Link Mode. We are standing up a new VCenter and would like to link it with one of our existing VCenters. However, during the second phase of the VCenter installation, "Join an existing SSO domain," the process just spins and then times out with the following problem "Error in retrieving the appliance type of server <vceneter name>." Both VCenter is running version 7.0.3-20395099. Despite my research, I am still looking for a solution to this problem. Any assistance provided is appreciated.

[Bembel]

Dear amclaurin4630,

we are having exactly the same issue - same build - have you ever solved this?

Thanks so much in advance!

Cheers

[kattrap]

Bembel - I don't know what ports the check is using but it looks like I had firewall issues when trying this through a port filtered firewall. Same message. Choosing a vcenter that had "any" ports between the two firewalled networks worked. I'd be interested to hear if you found your own fix. 

[Bembel]

Dear kattrap,

Thanks for your reply!

We tested this with a vCSA in the same subnet, which worked great and looked at the network rules again to find the firewall blocking non-standard SSL traffic. After allowing all traffic between the two remote appliances we were finally able to link the two machines.

[aalvg]

Had the same issue. It was TCP 5480 between the two vCenters that was missing. It's not mentioned anywhere as a requirement for ELM.
Particularly, not here:
https://ports.esp.vmware.com/home/vSphere

These are the ports I opened: TCP/389,443,636,2012,2020,5480,8084

[jsm79]

I would imagine that 5480 is a good one to have open in case you need to use the vCenter Server Management interface, since it uses that port as well.

[amclaurin4640]

We were able to resolve this problem by working with our firewall team.  The firewall team identified that ports were being blocked and prevented us from linking a new VCenter to an existing SSO domain.  Once the block was removed, we were able to link the VCenters.