vSphere Replication UI Error: Unable to Read Configuration in Site Recovery Plugin

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

1. The Site Recovery plugin displays the following error message:
   "vSphere Replication UI error: Unable to read configuration."
   
2. Reconfiguration of the vSphere Replication appliance completes successfully without errors.
3. The Site Recovery UI is inaccessible when accessed through the vSphere Replication, but remains accessible when accessed via the Site Recovery Manager instance.

 

 

Environment

• vSphere Replication version 8.7

Cause

• The vSphere Replication service failed to access the required service account credentials because the file /opt/vmware/dr-client/conf/serviceAccount lacked read, write, and execute permissions for the group.
• The following warning appeared in the /opt/vmware/support/dr-client/dr.log file, indicating a permissions-related access denial:

2025-04-11 13:17:27,444 [srm-reactive-thread-9] WARN  com.vmware.srm.client.infrastructure.authentication.SAStoreManager  97d0f193-acb4-45a8-9eb2-e7f77c2a71d8  - Failed to read SA store /opt/vmware/dr-client/conf/serviceAccount.java.nio.file.AccessDeniedException: /opt/vmware/dr-client/conf/serviceAccount

• File permissions confirmed restricted access to the group, allowing only the file owner to read and write:

root@vr [ /opt/vmware/dr-client/conf ]# ls -ltr | grep serviceAccount
-rw------- 1 tomcat tomcat     88 Mar 12 06:07 serviceAccount

Resolution

Workaround:

• Modify the file permissions to grant read, write, and execute access to the group, allowing the vSphere Replication service to access the required service account file:

root@vr [ /opt/vmware/dr-client/conf ]# chmod 670 /opt/vmware/dr-client/conf/serviceAccount
root@vr [ /opt/vmware/dr-client/conf ]# ls -ltr | grep serviceAccount
-rw-rwx--- 1 tomcat tomcat     88 Mar 12 06:27 serviceAccount

This change ensures that the group (typically tomcat) has sufficient permissions to access the file.

This is a known issue in vSphere Replication 8.7. To permanently resolve the issue, upgrade the vSphere Replication appliance to version 8.8 or later, where the problem is addressed.