Unable to reconfigure existing Legacy replication VM's to Enhanced replication.
search cancel

Unable to reconfigure existing Legacy replication VM's to Enhanced replication.

book

Article ID: 392456

calendar_today

Updated On:

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms :

  • The Site Recovery Page >> Enhanced Replication Mappings Run Test >> Connection fails with Error, however, the ESXi connection status indicates as Good. 



  • Port 31031 & 32032 are open in the firewall of the ESXi host.

  • Legacy replication is working fine.

  • Reconfiguring legacy replication VM with enhanced replication fails with the following error:

    A generic error occurred in the vSphere Replication Management Server. Exception details: 'Failed to automatically select HBR server for group 'GID-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx with scale-out mode "true"."

Steps to validate the issue :

  • vSphere Replication appliance: /opt/vmware/hms/logs/hms.logs indicate there is a lower version of hbragent version deployed on the ESXi host when compared to the version on the vSphere replication appliance. 

    Example :

    2025-03-21 12:39:25.215 TRACE com.vmware.hms.replication.primaryGroup.status [hms-incoming-eventhandler-thread-283946] (..db.entities.PrimaryGroupEntity) [operationID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx-HMS-1111111--event:SecondaryGroupEntity:GID-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx:40777, operationID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx-HMS-1111111--event:SecondaryGroupEntity:GID-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx:40777] | Current status version of group GID-xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx : [error; 40780] is not lower then the new status [OK; 40777] (will be ignored).

  • HBR agent version on vSphere Replication appliance: 

    Login into vSphere Replication appliance via putty & go: /opt/vmware/hbr/vib and the check for HBR agent version.

    Example : 

    VMware-HBR-Agent-8.0.3-0.0.24143343-depot.zip 
  • Connected to the Source and Destination ESXi host and checked the HBR Agent version.

    esxcli software vib list | grep hbr
    vmware-hbr-agent               8.0.3-0.0.23167363                    VMware  VMwareCertified   2024-05-24    host
    vmware-hbrsrv                  8.0.3-0.0.24022510                    VMware  VMwareCertified   2025-03-15    host
  • Based on the above example, the HBR agent on the ESXi and the HBR agent version on the vSphere replication appliance are of different version

 

 

Environment

vSphere Replication 9.x
vSphere Replication 8.x

Cause

The hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib parameter in hms-configuration.xml on vSphere replication appliance was manually set to false, hence, the enhanced replication was not able to push the hbragent vibs to ESXi hosts, and eventually, the new or reconfiguration of the enhanced replication operation for VM failed. 

vSphere Replication appliance: /opt/vmware/hms/conf/hms/hms-configuration.xml indicates the hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib parameter was manually set to false state.  

<! -- Whether to install hbragent vib automatically when reconnecting to the hosts -->
<hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib> false </hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib>

Resolution

Login to vSphere replication appliance via putty :

Edit the vSphere Replication appliance: /opt/vmware/hms/conf/hms/hms-configuration.xml file and set the hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib parameter from false to true.

Edit 'hms-configuration.xml using vi and update the following entry from false to true.

FYI : 

<! -- Whether to install hbragent vib automatically when reconnecting to the hosts -->
<hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib>true</hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib>

Once this parameter is set to true, the new HBR agents will be pushed to the ESXi hosts when the VM is configured with enhanced vSphere replication. 

Steps to validate whether the new vib is pushed to ESXi host :

Connect to the ESXi host and validate the following in the /var/run/log/sxupdate.log file.

Example : 

2025-03-26T13:08:47Z Db(15) esxupdate[8339165]: VIBs {'VMware_bootbank_vmware-hbr-agent_8.0.3-0.0.23167363'} are replaced by VIB VMware_bootbank_vmware-hbr-agent_8.0.3-0.0.24143343, removing them from ImageProfile (Updated) HPE-Custom-Syn-AddOn_803.0.0.11.8.5-4

 

Additional Information

Please ensure the following prerequisites are taken care of before configuring Enhanced Replication :

  • Enhanced replications require minimum versions vSphere Replication 9.0.x, vCenter Server 8.0u2, and ESXi host 8.0u2 on the target site when the target is an on-premises SDDC.
  • vSphere Replication 9.0 requires network encryption for enhanced replications.
  • Enhanced replications require TCP network connectivity on ports 31031 and 32032 from the ESXi hosts on which the replicated VMs are running to the ESXi hosts of the cluster containing the target datastore. Make sure your firewall settings are adjusted accordingly.

    Refer to VMware vSphere Replication 9.0 tech docs for more details. 
Powered by Wolken Software