vSphere Replication pairing fails with timeout error on port 8043

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Below error appears while pairing vSphere replication servers,

  

         Error - Unable to connect to HBR Management Server at https://##.##.##.##:8043. Reason:java, net.SocketTimeoutException: 30,000 milliseconds timeout on connection http-outgoing-693 [ACTIVE] 30,000 milliseconds timeout on connection http-outgoing-693 [ACTIVE]

Additional symptoms may include:

• When accessing the Site Recovery page, the following message appears:

  VR Management Server at <target-vRep> is unreachable.

• From the target site, the following error is reported:

  vSphere Replication Management Server could not establish connection to remote vSphere Replication Management Server at '<target-vRep>:8043'.

Environment

vSphere Replication server 8.x

vSphere Replication server 9.x

Cause

From the VRMS of the Primary Site to the VRMS on the DR site - Port 8043 should be open Across Sites.

• Connection between Source to destination vSphere Replication fails on port 8043,

         

         Command to run : curl -v telnet://##.##.##.##:8043

         Error : Failed to connect to ##.##.##.##:8043 after 130471 ms: Couldn't connect to server

• /opt/vmware/hms/logs/hms.log

        2024-12-26T03:56:38.870Z cpu73:19792478) WARNING: Hbr: 574: Connection failed to xx.xx.xx.xx (groupID=GID-e2314874-bf10-41a6-990a-23065863e210) : Timeout 2024-12-26T03:56:38.870Z cpu73:19792478) WARNING: Hbr: 5093: Failed to establish connection to [xx.xx.xx.xx]:8043 (groupID=GID-e2314874-bf10-41a6-990a-23065863e210) :          Timeout

If the port is blocked, the following error may be observed:

2025-12-25 17:35:45.814 INFO  com.vmware.hms.i18n.class com.vmware.hms.response.filter.I18nActivationResponseFilter [tcweb-115] (..response.filter.I18nActivationResponseFilter) [operationID=612a76c8-6572-4b05-b564-3576e7e4e80d-HMS-34218827,sessionID=E353B3B8] | The localized message is: A generic error occurred in the vSphere Replication Management Server. Exception details: 'Connect to target-vRep:8043 [target-vRep/###.##.##.###] failed: Connect timed out'.

• Port 8043 fails to connect on VR server destination.

Resolution

Please engage Network/Firewall team to allow port 8043 across vSphere Replication, for reference Port numbers that must be open for vSphere Replication 8.x

If the above errors persists post allowing all necessary ports please contact Broadcom Support for further assistance.