VLSR - Unable to add new virtual machines to vSphere Replication, GUI displays null error.

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

You can't add new virtual machines to vSphere Replication, existing VM replications continue to work fine. When selecting a target datastore, the GUI displays a 'null' error, which prevents you from add the VM replication.

Environment

 vSphere Replication 8.x

Cause

When vSphere Replication lists the target datastores , it queries vCenter's SPS service to get the information. Due to the SPS service health/performance, it could return 'null' error post inquiry, hence causing the configure VM replication workflow to fail before choosing a target datastore. 

This issue could happen with/without recent vCenter upgrade.  

Resolution

1. If the vCenter version is prior to 8.0.2, try to restart the SPS service, though it could show as 'healthy' in the VAMI page.

    Stopping, Starting or Restarting VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.x & above services

2. If the vCenter is recently upgraded to 8.0.2. Please check the KB - "Retrieving data from the server failed" error when performing actions involving storage profiles following upgrade of vCenter Server to 8.0U2

3. SPS service logging can be found at /var/log/vmware/vmware-sps/sps.log in the vCenter appliance. You can also check /var/opt/apache-tomcat/logs/dr.log to see what's happening in the VR appliance.