If you have a vCenter that was dead, removed, or only not in use anymore but was in linked mode, you will receive warnings every time you open the master vCenter, so in this blog post, we will explain how to remove a dead vCenter Linked Mode.

Has we can see in the next image, in one part, we have the warning regarding an old vCenter that is set to linked mode with this vCenter, but in the next, in the Linked vCenter Server Systems tab, we don’t any vCenter added, and the list is empty.

Warnings

In this case, it was an old vCenter that was never removed, and the master was upgraded some times until version 6.7, but always had this dead link attached to it.

Login to your vCenter console to check what links or registers are enabled to this vCenter.

How to remove dead vCenter Linked Mode.

First, we check if this vCenter has an external PSC using: /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vmafd-cli get-ls-location –server-name localhost

Next, is to list all the nodes that are register in this vCenter using: /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/dir-cli nodes list

sso-user@vcenter [ ~ ]$ /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/dir-cli nodes list
Enter password for administrator@vsphere.local:
Node: vcenter.york.local
Type: PSC
Site: default-site
Partner #1: ldap://192.168.2.32

Node: 192.168.2.32
Type: PSC
Site: Default-First-Site
Partner #1: ldap://vcenter.york.local
 
root@vcenter [ ~ ]#

As we can notice, the vCenter (vcenter.york.local) that we have a warning is still listed in the nodes. So we need to remove that node from the vCenter and break the linked mode between this vCenter and the dead one.

Next, we need to run the command to unregister this vCenter, using: cmsso-util unregister –node-pnid 192.168.2.32 –username administrator@vsphere.local

Note: Before running this command, beware that this will restart your vCenter services, and vCenter will be unavailable during the process.

root@vcenter [ /var/lib/sso-user ]# cmsso-util unregister --node-pnid 192.168.2.32  --username administrator@vsphere.local
Password:
Solution users, computer account and service endpoints will be unregistered
2021-12-05T16:25:23.263Z  Running command: ['/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/dir-cli', 'service', 'list', '--login', 'administrator@vsphere.local']
2021-12-05T16:25:23.310Z  Done running command
Stopping all the services ...
All services stopped.
Starting all the services ...
Started all the services.
Success
 
root@vcenter [ ~ ]#

Check again the vCenter node list and the vCenter is removed.

sso-user@vcenter [ ~ ]$ /usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/dir-cli nodes list
Enter password for administrator@vsphere.local:
Node: vcenter.york.local
Type: PSC
Site: default-site
 
root@vcenter [ ~ ]#

For the safe side, I rebooted the vCenter, and now the warning is gone, and all is green.

I found this information helpful when rectifying my own issue with a dead vCenter link. Credit to Luciano Patrao.