Error: "Failed to demote source device 'XXXXX'. SRA command 'prepareFailover' failed for device 'XXXXX'. An error occurred while preparing for failover on stand alone devices. Please check EmcSrdfSra log file for more information on the error."

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Symptom:

After upgrading the SRM, the failover task failed with the following error message. Array-based replication is used.

"Failed to demote source device 'XXXXX'. SRA command 'prepareFailover' failed for device 'XXXXX'. An error occurred while preparing for failover on stand alone devices. Please check EmcSrdfSra log file for more information on the error." is seen when doing the failover.

The UI displays the following error message for the failover task.

The vmware-dr logs show the following excerpts when the failover failed.

--> [20250514065206  3323   689 [email protected]] The following list of devices are being sync'd
--> [20250514065206  3323   694 [email protected]] XXXXX
--> [20250514065206  3323   694 [email protected]] XXXXX
--> [20250514065206  3323   700 [email protected]] Performing SymDevListSync()
--> [20250514065206  3323   709 [email protected]] [ERROR]: Failed SymDevListSync() on Symm [xxxxxxxxxx].
--> [ERROR]: [SYMAPI_C_AUTHZ_NOT_AUTHORIZED : The caller is not authorized to perform the requested operation]
--> [20250514065206  3323   344 setMarker                       ] _______Backtrace begin_______
--> [20250514065206  3323   249 [email protected]        ] Exit

2025-05-14T06:52:06.397Z verbose vmware-dr[02424] [SRM@6876 sub=AbrRecoveryEngine opID=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-failover:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx-deactivate:xxxx] PrepareFailoverDone: Got prepare failover results for devices and device groups in group MoRef=[dr.replication.VmProtectionGroup:xxxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx:vm-protection-group-xxxxxx] in array pair '[dr.storage.ReplicatedArrayPair:xxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx:array-pair-xxxxxx]': (dr.storageProvider.GroupStorageOpResult) {
-->    device = <unset>,
-->    failedDevice = (dr.storageProvider.FailedDevice) [
-->       (dr.storageProvider.FailedDevice) {
-->          device = "XXXXX",
-->          deviceName = "XXXXX",
-->          fault = (dr.storage.fault.CommandDeviceFailed) {
-->             faultCause = (dr.storage.fault.LocalizableAdapterFault) {
-->                faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
-->                faultMessage = <unset>,
-->                code = "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx",
-->                arg = <unset>
-->                msg = ""
-->             },
-->             faultMessage = <unset>,
-->             commandName = "prepareFailover",
-->             device = "XXXXX"
-->             msg = ""
-->          }

 

Environment

VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.x

Cause

The error message is noticed with array-based replication and SRAs (especially those interacting with Dell EMC storage via SMI-S) and points to a permissions issue. The error message [SYMAPI_C_AUTHZ_NOT_AUTHORIZED : The caller is not authorized to perform the requested operation] indicates that the user or process attempting to perform an action on the storage array (through the SMI-S provider and the SRA) does not have the necessary privileges or permissions to complete that operation.

Resolution

The user needs to work with the storage administrator to assign proper permission to the user or process attempting to perform an action on the storage array.