Cannot replicate selective VM's. Error: "The vSphere Replication configuration for disk with key 2,000 of the virtual machine has an issue: Replication not supported for disk type or backend.'."

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Cannot configure VMware vSphere Replication for a virtual machine in the vSphere Client.
• Replication tasks hang or fail intermittently without progress.
• Replicating a VM within the same vCenter may fail with the same error message.
• Configuring VMware vSphere Replication for a virtual machine fails with this pop-up in the vSphere Client:

Configuring Virtual Machine for Replication...failed.
The vSphere Replication configuration for disk with key 2,000 of the virtual machine has an issue: Replication not supported for disk type or backend

In the hms.log file, located at /opt/vmware/hms/logs on the vSphere Replication appliance, you see entries similar to:

2024-07-12 17:48:53.068 INFO  hms.i18n.class com.vmware.hms.response.filter.I18nActivationResponseFilter [tcweb-6] (..response.filter.I18nActivationResponseFilter) [operationID=2f984816-####-####-####-90c#####9d9f-HMS-6665,sessionID=955####0] | The localized message is: Cannot reconfigure replication group 'VMTEST26' (managed object ID: 'GID-61####89-####-####-####-660####70072'). Details: 'The vSphere Replication configuration for disk with key 2,000 of the virtual machine has an issue: Replication not supported for disk type or backend.'.

Environment

VMware vSphere Replication 8.x
VMware vSphere Replication 9.x

Cause

The I/O Filter (named vmwarelwd), that is leveraged by VMware Live Cyber Recovery (Formerly vCDR) and other data protection solutions like Dell EMC PowerProtect Backup to take Transparent Snapshots is in use.

Please check the affected VM custom attributes to validate if the VM is backed by a backup or any other solution.

For example below is for Dell EMC PowerProtect Backup.

Resolution

1. Check the affected VM's custom attributes in the vSphere Client to confirm if it is protected by a backup solution using the vmwarelwd filter.
   
   
2. Disable the vmwarelwd filter within the backup solution (e.g., Dell EMC PowerProtect) or switch to a VADP-type backup.
   
   
3. Use the lwd-cleanup-util.py script to remove the filter from the VM.
   
   
4. Add a VM to vSphere replication to check the status.
   
   
5. If the issue persists during intra-vCenter replication (replicating a VM within the same vCenter), navigate to ESXi Host > Configure > Networking > VMkernel adapters.
   
   
6. Select the active management adapter (e.g., vmk2) and click Edit.
   
   
7. Enable vSphere Replication and vSphere Replication NFC services.
   
   
8. Verify replication traffic using esxtop.
   
   
9. Re-attempt the replication configuration.

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:

• Removal of the vmwarelwd filter from a VM that is being protected will result in a full-sync, protection to be re-enabled on the VM at a later point.
• The execution of the attached script should be performed only against VMs that are no longer to be protected by VMware Live cyber recovery or other solutions that leverage the vmwarelwd filter.
• The attached utility will not reconfigure a VM to remove any filter other than that of the vmwarelwd ioFilter.'

Reference KB article: Putting ESXi into maintenance mode, vMotioning, or reconfiguring a VM fails, or snapshots are slow, due to the vmwarelwd ioFilter being attached 

If the issue persists, please Contact Broadcom support