Why did I time out while I was connecting to the VMware vSphere Web Client?

When you try to connect to the VMware vSphere® Web Client, you might get the following timeout error:

The server at <IP_address> is taking too long to respond.

Use the following steps to investigate and fix the problem.

1. Ensure that you completed the steps from the tooltip that gets displayed when you hover over the vCenter console. For your convenience, these steps are also listed as follows:

   1. Create a VPN password.

   2. Log in to the data center VPN by using the IBM Cloud® infrastructure VPN credentials.

   3. Add the IP address and the hostname mapping of the VMware vCenter Server® into the hosts file on your local computer. Use the following format:

      IP_Address              Host_Name
      

2. Take note of the IP address that is displayed because you need it in one of the next steps.

3. Ensure that you have access to the IBM Cloud infrastructure VPN. Complete the following steps on the IBM Cloud infrastructure customer portal:

   1. Click Account > VPN Access.

   2. Click the SSL link in the VPN Access column.

   3. On the VPN Access for username page, set the Subnet Access option to Manual.

   4. On the same page, locate the subnet for the IP address/host name pair. For more information, see Step 2.

      For example, if the IP address for your instance is xx.yyy.zz.15 and the IP address for vCenter is xx.yyy.zz.10, you must grant access for the subnet xx.yyy.zz.0/26.

   5. Select the Grant Access checkbox for that subnet and click Save.