VLSR - Configuring new replication gives error message: Some of the selected virtual machines are not in a valid state for replication

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

When configuring a new replication of a virtual machine you receive the error: "Some of the selected virtual machines are not in a valid state for replication".

 

Environment

vSphere Replication 8.8 / 9.0.2

Cause

There may be different versions of the "VMware-HBR-Agent" vib file installed on the source and destination ESXi hosts. 
Check the installed vib on each host at both source and destination hosts:

esxcli software vib list | grep hbr  to obtain the installed hbr versions

Compare the version numbers on each host and remediate the hbr-agent as needed on the ESXi hosts running older / outdated versions.

 

Resolution

Download the current HBR agent component from the replication appliance:  

Go to https://vr_appliance FQDN/IP address:8043/vlcm/vmware-hbr-agent.zip

Or you can login to the VRMS appliance using putty:

root@VRMS [ /opt/vmware/hbr/vib ]# ls -l
total 59136
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 20194451 Sep 28  2023 VMware-ESXi-8.0.2-22517424-hbragent.zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 20090149 Sep 28  2023 VMware-HBR-Agent-8.0.2-0.0.22517424-depot.zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 20190426 Sep 28  2023 vmware-hbr-agent-8.0.2-0.0.22517424.i386.vib

Use the WINSCP utility copy download the vib file or depot file locally to your laptop and then use it to upload the file the the desired ESXi host(s).

Manually install the vib file on the ESXi host:

For example:

esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/vmware-hbr-agent-8.0.2-0.0.22517424.i386.vib

or

esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/VMware-HBR-Agent-8.0.2-0.0.22517424-depot.zip

Once the updated hbr-agent is installed, open a vami page to the replication appliance and under Services, restart the hbrsrv service to ensure it connects without errors.

Retry your operation and the error should be gone.