Reverse replication in vCloud director availability 4.x fails with Unable to connect to a vCenter server error.

Products

• VMware Cloud Director

Issue/Introduction

• Configuring a reverse replication fails with with error: "Unable to connect to a vCenter server"

         Unable to connect to vCenter server '11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555'.

• Upon checking the health status of each VCDA appliances, we see vSphere connectivity error, incorrect username or password
• vSphere connectivity error pop up on the replicator UUID that's associated with the manager.
• In /opt/vmware/h4/cloud/log/cloud.log on the VCDA Replication Manager, you see entries similar to:

 2024-05-24 03:26:09.584 ERROR - [UI-] [https-jsse-nio-8443-exec-8] c.v.h.c.c.error.ExceptionAdvisorBase : A GET request from root to /vm-replications?sourceSite=#&site=#&limit=1&includeTemplates=true failed.
com.vmware.exception.CertificateMismatchException: Certificate seen on the network differs from the certificate we expected
at com.vmware.exception.converter.ClientExceptionConverter.convertException(ClientExceptionConverter.java:67)

• In /opt/vmware/h4/replicator/log/replicator.log on the VCDA Replication Manager, you see entries similar to:

2024-05-24 04:15:31.144 ERROR - [UI-] [https-jsse-nio-8043-exec-1] c.v.h.c.c.error.ExceptionAdvisorBase : A POST request from __system failed.
com.vmware.vlsi.client.exception.VlsiClientException: VC not found: '11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555'.
at com.vmware.vlsi.client.sso.Ls2Gateway.findVc(Ls2Gateway.java:58)
at com.vmware.h4.replicator.vc.VcConnector.vcServiceEndpoint(VcConnector.java:351)
at com.vmware.h4.replicator.vc.VcConnector.vcSettings(VcConnector.java:396)

 

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

Environment

VMware vCloud Availability 4.7.1

Cause

This issue occurs when the lookup service address of the vCenter server is not configured on the replicator instance. Additionally, if there is a certificate change on the vCenter server and the change is not updated on the vCloud director availability appliance, reverse replications will result in error e.g: "Unexpected error occurred".

Resolution

To resolve the vSphere connectivity issue on the local replicator, re-configure the vCenter server lookup address on the replicator appliance.

1. Log in to the Replicator Management Portal with root user credentials.
2. In the left pane, click Configuration.
3. Go to Service endpoints > Lookup Service Address and click Edit.
4. In the pop-up window, enter the Lookup Service address and click Apply.
5. Re-pair the local replicator with the manager to re-authenticate with new changes.

To resolve 'Certificate seen on the network differs from the certificate we expected', re-establish the trust between the two sites.

1. Log in to the Replication Management Portal with root user credentials.
2. In the left pane, click on the Tunnel Service Endpoint address and update.
3. Additionally, click on the Lookup Service Endpoint address and apply the change.

To complete the Re-Trust establishment between the two sites, re-pair the two sites.

1. In the left pane, click Sites.
2. Select a cloud site and click Repair.
3. In the Update Pairing window, click Update.
4. To complete the trust reestablishment, accept the remote Cloud Service SSL certificate.

Additional Information

For more information, please see the VMware vCloud Director Availability document for replacing certificates: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-Director-Availability/4.7/VMware-Cloud-Director-Availability-Admin-Guide/GUID-C2043AB5-5D78-4843-BDFF-A0E471CD53E4.html