Quick Tip – Changing default port for HTTP Reverse Proxy on both vCenter Server & ESXi

If you decide to use a custom port for the HTTP Reverse Proxy (rhttpproxy) on vCenter Server which uses port 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS) by default, you should also apply the same change on all ESXi hosts being managed by that vCenter Server for proper functionality. The configuration files for the rhttpproxy has since changed from the early days of vSphere 5.x and in vSphere 6.x, there are now different.

UPDATE (04/27/18) - With release of vSphere 6.7, VMware now officially supports customizing the Reverse HTTP(s) Ports on the VCSA. Below is a screenshot using the VCSA Installer UI and this can also be customized in the JSON configuration file using the VCSA CLI Installer for automation purposes.

Below are the instructions for modifying the default ports for rhttproxy service for both Windows vCenter Server, vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) and ESXi host.

Note: If you change the default ports of your vCenter Server, you will need to ensure that all VMware/3rd Party products that communicate with vCenter Server are also modified.

vCenter Server for Windows

On Windows, you will need to modify C:\ProgramData\VMware\vCenterServer\cfg\vmware-rhttpproxy\config.xml and look for the following lines to change either the HTTP and/or HTTPs ports:

<httpPort>80</httpPort>
<httpsPort>443</httpsPort>

Once you have saved the changes, you will need to restart the VMware HTTP Reverse Proxy service using Windows Services Manager.

vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA)

On the VCSA, you will need to modify /etc/vmware-rhttpproxy/config.xml and look for the following lines to change either the HTTP and/or HTTPs ports:

<httpPort>80</httpPort>
<httpsPort>443</httpsPort>

Once you have saved the changes, you will need to restart the rhttpproxy service by running the following command:

/etc/init.d/rhttpproxy restart

ESXi

On ESXi, you will need to modify /etc/vmware/rhttpproxy/config.xml and look for the following lines to change either the HTTP and/or HTTPs ports:

<httpPort>80</httpPort>
<httpsPort>443</httpsPort>

Once you have saved the changes, you will need to restart the rhttpproxy service by running the following command:

/etc/init.d/rhttpproxy restart