VLSR - vSphere Replication appliance shows the error : A generic error occurred in the vSphere Replication Management Server. Exception details: 'javax.net.ssl.SSLException: SSL handshake from

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

VRMS appliance cannot establish SSL handshake due to NTP time sync or certificate issues 

A generic error occurred in the vSphere Replication Management Server. Exception details: 'javax.net.ssl.SSLException: SSL handshake from 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0:40328 to /192.168.4.34:443 failed in 0 ms'.

Cannot establisha TCP connection to server at '192.168.x.xx:443'. Details: 'javax.net.ssl.SSLException: SSL handshake from 0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0:37348 to /192.#.#.#:443 failed in 0 ms'.

Environment

vCenter Server 7.0.x
vCenter Server 8.0.x
vSphere Replication 8.x
vSphere Replication 9.x

Cause

VRMS appliance is unable to establish SSL handshake due to NTP time sync or certificate issues.

• Time settings misconfigured  on VRMS appliance
• CommonName of VRMS certificate is set to an IP address instead of all lower case FQDN

Resolution

Check Time settings on vCenter and ensure that VRMS appliance is configured with identical settings:

• Ensure TIME ZONES match
• Ensure NTP is ENABLED on VRMS appliance
• Ensure NTP servers are the same as what vCenter is using
• Check hostname on VRMS appliance and ensure it's using an all lower case FQDN.  (no IP and no short hostnames)
• Ensure DNS search path is filled out to use your DNS FQDN or IP address
• Change the VRMS appliance Certificate to ensure that the CommonName (CN) = <all lowercase FQDN>  ie; myhost.domain.local and NOT MYHOST.domain.local or  an IP address)
• Reconfigure the VRMS appliance and it should connect to vCenter without issue