HCX Login error access denied using the default SSO administrator

In this blog post, I will provide a tip for quick troubleshooting when after deploying the HCX Manager, or HCX Connector, you have an HCX Login error access denied using the default SSO administrator.

As we know, HCX uses vCenter SSO users/groups to login, and after a deployment, you try to login and get: Access is denied.

User administrator, SSO domain, and password are correct, so why are we getting this error? We can check that the administrator user uses an SSO Domain that is not the VMware default vsphere.local. It is a customize SSO domain, so this is the problem.

When you deploy the HCX Manager and Connector, the default HCX Role Placing is set to vsphere.local/Administrators, but since this is not a default SSO Domain, your credentials will not work unless you change the default settings.s

So this is not a huge technical solution that needs much troubleshooting to understand, but if you are unaware of that, you could spend some time on it to find the problem. I have seen some questions in VMware communities regarding this, and this is a simple and quick solution.

Login to your HCX Manager VAMI with https://IP-FQDN:9443 and go to the Configuration tab, then HCX Role Mapping option, and change the settings to your SSO Domain.

In my case, I need to change to SSO Domain vCenter-vSAN-01.local and the group administrators.

Note: I set it to Administrator groups, but in your case, if you are not using the default, it can be a different group. Just use the group that you did set your vCenter to work with HCX.

After this, restart the Appliance services(or reboot), and you can now login without any issue.

As I said, this is a simple tip for a problem if you didn’t understand the requirements to implement HCX.

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About the Author: Luciano Patrao

I have over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. I have been working with Virtualization for more than 15 years (mainly VMware). I recently obtained certifications, including VCP DCV 2022, VCAP DCV Design 2023, and VCP Cloud 2023. Additionally, I have VCP6.5-DCV, VMware vSAN Specialist, vExpert vSAN, vExpert NSX, vExpert Cloud Provider for the last two years, and vExpert for the last 7 years and a old MCP. My specialties are Virtualization, Storage, and Virtual Backup. I am a Solutions Architect in the area VMware, Cloud and Backup / Storage. I am employed by ITQ, a VMware partner as a Senior Consultant. I am also a blogger and owner of the blog ProVirtualzone.com and recently book author.