HCX - Bulk migration error "The vm can not be migrated as replication is enabled on it."

Products

• VMware HCX
• VMware Cloud on AWS
• VMware Cloud on Dell EMC

Issue/Introduction

To Identify and remediate a bulk migration issue when the VM is showing VR is active when there is no actual replication started.

Symptoms:
When the bulk migration is initiated it immediately fails with the error "The vm can not be migrated as replication is enabled on it."
 

When VM is selected for Bulk migration/RAV and validation fails with "Selected migration is not recommended as Replication Config is present with VM"

 

Environment

HCX 4.x

Cause

On RAV/Bulk migration, It will run a checklist for different processes and services running in the VM. One of the steps is to enable replication for the VM. If it detects that the replication is already enabled, it will fail with that error to avoid any impact in case other applications in the VM are working with replication at that moment.

Resolution

If the force cleanup of the HCX migration job does not help please follow the below procedure.

Remediate this issue by disabling the pre-existing replication configuration of a VM or cancel/stop the replication process of the VM.

• Connect to the ESXi host on-prem where the VM is residing and follow the below steps to disable the replication on the VM.
  • Identify the vmid of the VM in question with the following command:
    • vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms | grep -i <VM name>
      • 
  • Check the replication configuration for the vmid with the following command:
    • vim-cmd hbrsvc/vmreplica.getConfig <vmid>
  • Disable replication with the following command:
    • vim-cmd hbrsvc/vmreplica.disable <vmid>
•  Post disabling the replication start the bulk migration from HCX manager UI and the base sync will start to progress.

-- 

If the above process does not resolve the issue, please open an SR with Broadcom support and reference this Article ID: 314159

Additional Information

Disabling VMware vSphere Replication on a virtual machine (2106946)
HCX - Validation error "Selected migration is not recommended as the Replication config is present" before RAV Migration starts (92291)

Impact/Risks:
The new bulk migration jobs for the same VM or VMs cannot be initiated from the HCX manager.