Error: "Unable to connect to vCenter ..." when configuring replications due to a Lookup Service misconfiguration on the Replicator Appliance

Products

• VMware Cloud Director
• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

• Configuring a new replication in VMware Cloud Director Availability  fails with the error:
  
  Unable to connect to vCenter '########-####-####-####-########ac3e'.
  
  
• In /opt/vmware/h4/cloud/log/cloud.log on the vApp Replication Manager, you see entries similar to:
  
  ERROR - [UI-########-####-####-####-########a9c3-xJ] [task-poller-5] com.vmware.h4.jobengine.JobExecution     : Task ########-####-####-####-########d7a0 (WorkflowInfo{type='start', resourceType='vappReplication', resourceId='C4VAPP-########-####-####-####-########b62c', isPrivate=false, resourceName='null'}) has failed

com.vmware.h4.replicator.api.exceptions.FailedToAcquireVcConnection: Unable to connect to vCenter '########-####-####-####-########ac3e'.
  
  
• In /opt/vmware/h4/replicator/log/replicator.log on the Replicator Appliance, you may see entries similar to:
  
  WARN - [UI-########-####-####-####-########28cd-rG-Ks-Mb] [https-jsse-nio-8043-exec-5] c.v.h.r.diagnostics.DiagnosticsService   : Can't check vc connectivity, service not configured
...
DEBUG - [UI-########-####-####-####-########59c3-xJ-DY-PZ-29] [https-jsse-nio-8043-exec-6] com.vmware.h4.replicator.vc.VcConnector  : Unable to connect to VC ########-####-####-####-########ac3e

java.lang.NullPointerException: null
        at com.vmware.h4.replicator.vc.VcConnector.acquire(VcConnector.java:196)
        ...

Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment. 

Environment

VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.x

Cause

This issue occurs when lookup service is misconfigured or not set on the VMware Cloud Director Availability Replicator Appliance.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, re-register the Replicator Appliance with the same Lookup Service as the other VMware Cloud Director Availability components:

1. In a browser, navigate to VMware Cloud Director Availability Replicator Appliance FQDN/IP.
2. Log in to the Replicator Service Management Portal with root user credentials.
3. In the left pane, click Settings.
4. Go to Service endpoints > Lookup Service Address and click Edit.
5. In the pop-up window, enter the correct Lookup Service address and click Apply.

Additional Information

• For more information regarding the configuration of the Lookup Service, please refer to the following:
  • Configure the services to accept the vCenter Server Lookup service certificate and optionally allow SSO
  • Configure after changing the vCenter SSO credentials
    
    
• A similar issue can occur when there is a vCenter Server instance UUID mismatch between VMware Cloud Director and the vCenter Server. For more information, see Error: "Unable to connect to vCenter ..." when configuring replications due to a vCenter Server UUID mismatch in VMware Cloud Director.
• A similar issue can occur when the SSO user credentials used by Cloud Director Availability has expired. For more information, see Error: "Unable to connect to vCenter ..." when configuring replications due to invalid SSO credentials being used by the Replicator Appliance.