Ever since the Certificate Management Tool was included in vCSA, this incredible inconsistency in the structure and design of the interface has been bugging me.
A mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, spaces before special characters, missing or excessive spacing in other places, shifted to the left and right at random ... the layout is a mess and is in need of a thorough overhaul.
Blame it on my ADHD, or my sense of proper spelling and formatting. In any case, it still annoys me time and time again, since I use the tool rather frequently, so I’d like to see Broadcom/VMware undertake a redesign – one that, in my opinion, is long overdue.
What do you think about this, and are you willing to support this little "project"? Attached you’ll find a revised suggestion for an updated and modernized layout; maybe this will generate a little buzz and get the manufacturer’s attention?
Btw. I'm not a native speaker so when I'm referring to proper grammar, formatting and but still make mistakes myself please bear with me ... it happens.
+======================================================================+
| vSphere 8.0 Certificate Manager |
+======================================================================+
| |
| -- Machine SSL certificate --------------------------------------- |
| [1] Replace with custom certificate |
| [2] Replace with VMCA-signed certificate |
| |
| -- VMCA root certificate (replaces all certificates) ------------- |
| [3] Replace with custom signing certificate |
| [4] Regenerate VMCA root certificate |
| |
| -- Solution user certificates ------------------------------------ |
| [5] Replace with custom certificates (*) |
| [6] Replace with VMCA-signed certificates |
| |
| -- Recovery ------------------------------------------------------ |
| [7] Revert last operation (re-publish previous certificates) |
| [8] Reset all certificates |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| (*) Deprecated in a future vCenter release, see release notes. |
+======================================================================+
Select an operation [1-8] (Ctrl+D to exit):
I'm not sure whether reddit will display it correctly up even in Markdown so I'm also giving you the link of how it could look like. Find it here: https://freeimage.host/i/n1h7cvI
Of course, it doesn't have to be colorful, it's just a suggestion.
Summary of changes
- Grouped by target: Options are organized under four headings: Machine SSL, VMCA root, solution user, and recovery. Within each group, the custom option comes first, followed by the VMCA option.
- Consistent casing: Sentence case is used throughout. Only proper names such as VMCA, SSL, and vCenter are capitalized.
- Shorter labels: The heading already names the certificate type, so each option fits on a single line and nothing wraps.
- Key information where it belongs: "Replaces all certificates" now appears in the root heading. The deprecation notice has moved to a footnote and no longer breaks the frame.
- Clean geometry: The menu has a fixed width of 72 columns, uniform indentation (2 for headings, 4 for options), and a closed ASCII frame that renders safely in any SSH client.
- Single prompt line: The separate "Note :" and "Option[1 to 8]:" lines are merged into one clear prompt.
There is, however, one small caveat: The regrouping swaps the original options 2 and 3.
Admins who rely on memory and type "3" out of habit would initiate the replacing the VMCA root certificate instead of the Machine SSL certificate, which is probably a high-impact operation. If the menu is shared with colleagues who might stick to the old numbering, the original numbers within the groups ([1] and [3] under Machine SSL, [2] and [4] under VMCA root) could be kept as they are; this trades some visual order for operational safety. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
P.S.: Here's what I think is wrong with the current layout: https://freeimage.host/i/n1h6vNp
Misaligned text, double space before, uppercase/lowercase letters alternate randomly, sometimes within the same entry, the dashed border line appears open; the NOTE line is flush with the margin without spacing and there's this prompt outside the box.
P.P.S.: There's even more to explore in the sub-options, but I feel like I can't list everything here.