How to manage vSphere replication solution in vLCM cluster image manually

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware Cloud Foundation
• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

• The automatic installation of vSphere replication agent (vmware-hbr-agent) is disabled
  • On the vSphere Replication appliance configuration file /opt/vmware/hms/conf/hms-configuration.xml, the "hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib" parameter is set to false
    • <hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib>false</hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib>
    • Note: If this is set to false then all new hosts will require the HBR vib to be manually installed in order to participate in replication. Do not set this to false unless guided to do so by Global Support.
• You are unable to add vmware-hbr-agent in the cluster image configuration

 

Environment

• VMware vCenter Server 8.x
• VMware vCenter Server 9.x
• VMware Cloud Foundation 9.x
• vSphere Replication 8.x
• vSphere Replication 9.x

Resolution

• Configure cluster Remediation Settings with Parallel remediation. This will prevent the VMware-HBR-Agent update while replicated VMs are running on ESXi host.
  • https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/8-0/managing-host-and-cluster-lifecycle-8-0/configuring-vlcm-remediation-settings-1/configure-the-vlcm-remediation-settings.html
    
    Please note - This action will will effectively wait of the host to go in maintenance mode for the hbr-agent to be upgraded. If immediate upgrade is required, the step can be skipped, but there is a risk that ongoing replication sessions might be interrupted.  

• Download /opt/vmware/hbr/vib/VMware-HBR-Agent-xxxxxxxx-depot.zip  from vSphere Replication appliance via WinSCP
  • Please Note - The location of the zip file has changed to /opt/vmware/share/hbr/vib/VMware-HBR-Agent-xxxxxx-depot.zip from vSphere Replication 9.0.3

example:

• Import VMware-HBR-Agent-xxxxxxxx-depot.zip in Lifecycle Manager
  • https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/8-0/managing-host-and-cluster-lifecycle-8-0/working-with-vsphere-lifecycle-manager-depots/updating-the-vlcm-depot.html

• From the vCenter menu → Developer Center → API Explorer, Select Endpoint <vcenter_fqdn> and from the dropdown menu for Select API choose "esx", filter or select "settings/clusters/software/solutions/PUT"
• Enter the required parameters:
  • cluster: domain-c<number>
    • Note: You only need to copy domain-c<number> part of the URL. For example: When you navigate to cluster in vSphere client, your URL will be similar to this: https://<fqdn-of-vCenter-server>/ui/app/cluster;nav=h/urn:vmomi:ClusterComputeResource:domain-c31:ce4a7b9f-768c-2222-3333-fe50bd6341c8/summary. You only need to copy domain-c31 to use in the steps below
  • solution: VMware-HBR-Agent
  • request_body: (see example attached file request_body.json)
    • Note:  You only need to copy xxxxxxxx which  is the vib version. As an example, for VMware-HBR-Agent-8.0.3-0.0.24143343-depot.zip, "xxxxxxxx"= "8.0.3-0.0.24143343". (see attached file request_body.json)

• Click "EXECUTE"
• Remediate cluster to install VMware-HBR-Agent
  • https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/8-0/managing-host-and-cluster-lifecycle-8-0/using-images-to-install-and-update-esxi-hosts-and-clusters/remediating-a-cluster-or-a-standalone-host-against-a-single-image.html

 

• Alternative: DCLI Approach

If you prefer using the command line over the vSphere Client API Explorer, you can apply the VMware-HBR-Agent solution directly from the vCenter Server Appliance shell using dcli.

Prerequisites:
Ensure you have the target cluster ID (e.g., domain-c9) and the exact version string of the vib (e.g., 8.0.3-0.0.24143343).

1. Apply the solution

Run the following command from your VCSA shell. Replace <USERNAME>, <YOUR_PASSWORD>, and <CLUSTER_DOMAIN> with your specific environment details:

dcli +server localhost +skip-server-verification +username <USERNAME> +password '<YOUR_PASSWORD>' com vmware esx settings clusters software solutions set-task --cluster <CLUSTER_DOMAIN> --solution VMware-HBR-Agent --components '[{"component":"VMware-HBR-Agent"}]' --version 8.0.3-0.0.24143343

Successful Output:
The command will return a task ID confirming the process has started:
5224ce2d-113c-e8b6-339f-a9548ce710ab:com.vmware.esx.settings.clusters.software.solutions

2. Verify the solution configuration

Run the following command to confirm the solution is correctly associated with the cluster:

dcli +server localhost +skip-server-verification +username <USERNAME> +password '<YOUR_PASSWORD>' com vmware esx settings clusters software solutions list --cluster <CLUSTER_DOMAIN>

Expected Output:
You should see a JSON-formatted list detailing the configured components and versions:

VMware-HBR-Agent:
   components:
      - component: VMware-HBR-Agent
   details:
      components:
         - component: VMware-HBR-Agent
           display_version: 8.0.3-0.0.24143343
           vendor: VMware
           display_name: Host Based Replication Agent for ESX
      display_version: 8.0.3-0.0.24143343
      display_name: VMware-HBR-Agent
   version: 8.0.3-0.0.24143343

Once the verification command returns the output above, the solution is registered. You can now navigate to vSphere Cluster Updates in your vSphere Client to proceed with remediation.