Error: dr.fault.SessionLimitExceeded when connecting to the SRM server using PowerCLI

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms

• When attempting to connect to the Site Recovery Manager (SRM) server using the PowerCLI API, the connection fails with session limit faults. The following error string is observed in the execution shell:

Connect-SrmServer : Unable to connect to the remote server: dr.fault.SessionLimitExceeded
At line:1 char:1
+ Connect-SrmServer -SrmServerAddress 'srmserver.####.####' -Crede ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   + CategoryInfo         : NotSpecified: (:) [Connect-SrmServer], VimException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : VMware.VimAutomation.Sdk.Types.V1.ErrorHandling.VimException.VimException,VMware.VimAutomation.Srm.Commands.Commands.ConnectSrmServer

• Additionally, scripts executing API requests may return a rate limit exception:

Connect-SrmSdkServer : {"error_code":"4.1","message":"Rate limit exceeded. Requests have been temporarily blocked."}
At C:\####\SRMIPCustomization.ps1:52 char:14
+ ...    $srmsdk= Connect-SrmSdkServer $srm.Name -Credential $bgc -RemoteCr ...
+                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Connect-SrmSdkServer], ApiException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : VMware.Binding.OpenApi.Client.ApiException,VMware.Sdk.Srm.ConnectSrmSdkServer

• The following error is observed within the monitoring engine logs:

2026-06-23 00:03:55,137 ERROR - SRM Error in in CheckVcenterAndSrmConnectivity: 6/23/2026 12:03:55 AM   Connect-SrmServer               Unable to connect to the remote server: Connection cannot be granted since the connection limit of 10 has been reached.  server IP: ####

Environment

• VMware Site Recovery Manager 9.x

• VMware.PowerCLI 13.2.1

• VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs when multiple API sessions are left open without being explicitly closed, causing the system to exceed maximum concurrent connection thresholds.

• The SessionLimitExceeded fault triggers when total concurrent connections to SRM exceed the default limit of 45.

• The ConnectionLimitReached fault triggers when active connections to the External API exceed the default limit of 10.

Resolution

Workaround 

To resolve this issue, increase the concurrent session limits within the SRM configuration file:

• Log in to the SRM host with administrator privileges.

• Back up the vmware-dr.xml configuration file before making modifications.

• Open vmware-dr.xml in a text editor.

• To resolve SessionLimitExceeded faults, locate the <connections> block and increase the sessionLimit value (Default is 45):

<connections>
    <sessionLimit>90</sessionLimit>
</connections>

• To resolve ConnectionLimitReached faults, locate the <plugins> block and increase the connectionLimit within the ExternalApi sub-section (Default is 10):

<plugins>
   <ExternalApi>
      <connectionLimit>50</connectionLimit>
   </ExternalApi>
</plugins>

• Save the file and restart the Site Recovery Manager service to apply the changes.

Note: These settings are not found in the Advanced Settings of SRM UI.

Resolution

Use the Connect-SrmSdkServer cmdlet to establish connections to the Site Recovery Manager server going forward. The legacy Connect-SrmServer cmdlet within the VMware.VimAutomation.Srm module is incompatible with newer VMware.Sdk.Srm module cmdlets.

Note: The External SRM API is deprecated. Transition all automation workflows to the Site Recovery Manager REST API.

Additional Information

Managing SRM and VR with PowerCLI 13.1