NVP-vProxy: vSphere plug-in generates Unable to connect to the requested NetWorker Server

Summary: The vSphere Web Client virtual machine (VM) Backup and Recovery plug-in fails to connect with "Unable to connect to the requested NetWorker Server. Please verify your credentials."

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Symptoms

The NetWorker VMware Protection integration is configured with the vProxy Appliance. The emcauthctomcat may be removed when the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installation is upgraded on the NetWorker server. The vSphere Web Client plug-in fails to connect to the NetWorker server with the following error:
 

Error Unable to connect to the requested NetWorker Server error message 
Figure 1: Unable to connect to the requested NetWorker server.

The localhost_access_log.YYYY-MM-DD.txt shows the received request:
Linux: /nsr/authc/logs/localhost_access_log.YYYY-MM-DD.txt
Windows: C:\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr\authc-server\tomcat\logs\localhost_access_log.YYYY-MM-DD.txt 
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - - [DD/MM/YYYY:HH:MM:SS -0500] "GET /nwrestapi/v2/ HTTP/1.1" 500 690
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - - [DD/MM/YYYY:HH:MM:SS -0500] "GET /nwrestapi/v2/internal/users/administrator HTTP/1.1" 500 718
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx - - [DD/MM/YYYY:HH:MM:SS -0500] "POST /ebr-server/auth/login HTTP/1.1" 204 -

The ebr-server.log shows the authentication request:
Linux: /nsr/authc/logs/ebr-server.log
Windows: C:\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\authc-server\tomcat\logs\ebr-server.log 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO Logging into appliance with type: networker
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO Attempting connection in NwConnectService
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO Testing provided credentials for nw calls
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO Call NW: [https://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:9090/nwrestapi/v2/]
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO Testing provided credentials for nw calls
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS INFO Call NW: [https://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:9090/nwrestapi/v2/internal/users/administrator]
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR NetWorker login failed with given credentials - not admin
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR Failed to authentciate nw credentials for Administrator
org.apache.http.auth.AuthenticationException: Authentication Invalid
    at com.emc.nw.business.NwConnectBusiness.assertValidNetWorkerLogin(NwConnectBusiness.java:86)
...
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR Failed To Get VDR Info
org.apache.http.auth.AuthenticationException: Authentication with nw was unsuccessfull.
    at com.emc.nw.business.NwConnectBusiness.sessionConnect(NwConnectBusiness.java:44)
....
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS FATAL normally fatal, but seeing what happens when coming from vCenter for goldfish.

The restapi.log shows an exception:
Linux: /nsr/logs/restapi/restapi.log
Windows: C:\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr\logs\restapi.log 
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS DEBUG [http-nio-9090-exec-1] c.e.n.w.a.AuthcClient - Auth request: tenant 'null', domain 'null', userId 'administrator'.
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS WARN  [http-nio-9090-exec-1] o.a.c.p.PhaseInterceptorChain - Interceptor for {https://localhost:9090/auth-server/api/v1/sec/authenticate}WebClient has thrown exception, unwinding now
org.apache.cxf.interceptor.Fault: Could not send Message.
    at org.apache.cxf.interceptor.MessageSenderInterceptor$MessageSenderEndingInterceptor.handleMessage(MessageSenderInterceptor.java:64) ~[cxf-core-3.1.0.jar:3.1.0]
....
Caused by: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: SSLHandshakeException invoking https://localhost:9090/auth-server/api/v1/sec/authenticate: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
....
Caused by: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
    at sun.security.ssl.Alerts.getSSLException(Unknown Source) ~[na:1.8.0_121]
....
YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS ERROR [http-nio-9090-exec-1] c.e.n.w.WebApiExceptionMapper - Status 'Internal Server Error', msg: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: SSLHandshakeException invoking https://localhost:9090/auth-server/api/v1/sec/authenticate: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
javax.ws.rs.ProcessingException: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: SSLHandshakeException invoking https://localhost:9090/auth-server/api/v1/sec/authenticate: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed: sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException: unable to find valid certification path to requested target
    at org.apache.cxf.jaxrs.client.AbstractClient.checkClientException(AbstractClient.java:557) ~[cxf-rt-rs-client-3.1.0.jar:3.1.0]
....

Cause

The JRE installation no longer has the NetWorker Tomcat Authentication (emcauthctomcat) certificate used by the vSphere Web Client VM Backup and Recovery plug-in. 

Resolution

The emcauthctomcat certificate must be imported into the Java JRE keystore configuration. Here is an overview to check if the certificate exists and to import the certificate.

  1. Open a Windows command prompt or Linux terminal session on the NetWorker server.
  2. Change to the Java JRE installation directory. The directory changes depending on the installed Java JRE version.  
Example installation paths for JRE 1.8.0_151
  • Windows: C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_151\bin>
  • Linux: /usr/java/jre1.8.0_151/bin
Example of NetWorker Runtime Environment (NRE) install:
  • Windows: C:\Program Files\NRE\java\jre#.#.#_###\bin
  • Linux: /opt/nre/java/latest/bin
  1. Use the keytool command-line utility to validate if the certificate does not exist in the Java JRE cacerts keystore:
    • Windows:
keytool -list -storepass changeit -keystore ..\lib\security\cacerts | findstr emc
  • Linux:
keytool -storepass changeit -list  keystore ../lib/security/cacerts | grep emc
  1. Use the keytool command-line utility to import the emcauthctomcat certificate:
    • Windows:
keytool -importcert -storepass changeit -trustcacerts -alias emcauthctomcat -file "C:\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr\authc-server\tomcat\conf\emcauthctomcat.cer"  -keystore ..\lib\security\cacerts
  • Linux:
keytool -importcert -storepass changeit -trustcacerts -alias emcauthctomcat -file /nsr/authc/conf/emcauthctomcat.cer -keystore ../lib/security/cacerts 
  1. Use the keytool command-line utility to validate if the certificate now exists in the Java JRE cacerts keystore:
    • Windows:
keytool -list -storepass changeit -keystore ..\lib\security\cacerts | findstr emc
  • Linux:
keytool -storepass changeit -list  keystore ../lib/security/cacerts  | grep emc

Additional Information

Example output on a Windows NetWorker server with JRE version 1.8.0_151.

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_151\bin>keytool -list -storepass changeit -keystore ..\lib\security\cacerts |findstr emc

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_151\bin>
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_151\bin>keytool -importcert -storepass changeit -trustcacerts -alias emcauthctomcat -file "C:\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr\authc-server\tomcat\conf\emcauthctomcat.cer"  -keystore ..\lib\security\cacerts
Owner: CN=mynetworkerserver.mydomain.emc.com
Issuer: CN=mynetworkerserver.mydomain.emc.com
Serial number: f492a88f
Valid from: Thu May 11 13:45:42 PDT 2017 until: Mon May 05 13:45:42 PDT 2042
Certificate fingerprints:
         MD5:  BA:A6:DC:CE:4F:96:9E:57:3D:2A:57:07:D9:CC:A8:1F
         SHA1: 4D:F6:B4:54:44:24:B9:B7:E7:7A:DB:C2:6E:AE:4F:CD:F9:57:F3:45
         SHA256: FA:A8:88:CD:A1:A4:45:3D:AF:50:D9:E1:6E:F0:E7:60:61:61:24:11:ED:34:91:CE:DE:92:DA:C8:ED:4C:CD:13
Signature algorithm name: SHA512withRSA
Subject Public Key Algorithm: 3072-bit RSA key
Version: 3

Extensions:

#1: ObjectId: 2.5.29.17 Criticality=false
SubjectAlternativeName [
  DNSName: localhost
  IPAddress: 127.0.0.1
  DNSName: mynetworkerserver.mydomain.emc.com
]

Trust this certificate? [no]:  yes
Certificate was added to keystore

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_151\bin>
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_151\bin>keytool -list -storepass changeit -keystore ..\lib\security\cacerts |findstr emc
emcauthctomcat, Nov 15, 2017, trustedCertEntry,
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.8.0_151\bin>
Article Properties
Article Number: 000048913
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 15 Oct 2025
Version:  4
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