Unable to configure VM for replication. Times out with Error: "A generic error occurred in the vSphere Replication Management Server. Exception details: 'java.lang.NullPointerException'."

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When configuring VM for replication the task remains in the "Configuring" state for long, with the following warning - "Cannot retrieve replication disk space requirements: A runtime error occurred in the vSphere Replication Management Server. Exception details: 'https://vr_ip:8123/ invocation failed with "com.vmware.vim.vmomi.core.exception.MarshallException: Missing value for managed object reference"'." :

  

• This times out after a while to display the following error - "A generic error occurred in the vSphere Replication Management Server. Exception details: 'java.lang.NullPointerException'." :

  

Environment

VMware vSphere Replication 8.7

VMware ESXi 6.5

Cause

• VM is unable to be configured for replication since VR 8.7 is incompatible with ESXi 6.5.

• Here is a snippet from the Broadcom Interoperability Matrix for vSphere Replication and ESXi:

Link - Product Interoperability Matrix - VR/ESXi

Resolution

To resolve this issue:

1. Upgrade ESXi to a supported version as per currently deployed vSphere Replication version.

2. Configure VM for replication.

If the issue still persists, open a case with Broadcom support to investigate further.