Error: Host compatibility errors during VMware Live Recovery replication configuration

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms: When configuring VM replication to use enhanced replication, you may encounter one of the following errors in the configuration wizard:

• "Some of the selected virtual machines are not in a valid state for replication"
• "The virtual machine host does not support enhanced replication"
• "No common milestone / Host does not support enhanced replication"

Additional errors may appear during connectivity or health check tests:

• Site Recovery Health Check: "Fault occurred while performing health check. Details: '404 Not Found from GET https:///hbragent/api/v1.0/appPing?broker_ip=&broker_port=32032&group=PING-GID-####'."
• Unauthorized Access: "Fault occurred while performing health check. Details: '401 Unauthorized from GET https://####/hbragent/api/v1.0/appPing?...'."
• vLCM Delta Blocker: The vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) UI reports that "The vLCM image has deltas that need to be applied."
• Firewall: The ESXi firewall does not list hbr-agent under outgoing connections.

Environment

Add the following to the supported environments:

• VMware Live Recovery (VLR) 9.x
• vSphere Replication 8.x / 9.x
• ESXi 8.x

Cause

This issue occurs when the host on which the VM resides does not have the Host-Based Replication (HBR) agent VIB installed. Without this VIB, the host cannot support enhanced replication. Automatic installation of the VIB may be blocked by network connectivity restrictions, pending vLCM image deltas, or vSAN KMS health check warnings.

Resolution

Verify VIB Installation

Log in to the ESXi host via SSH and run:

Resolution:

Verify VIB Installation

Log in to the ESXi host via SSH and run:

 

esxcli software vib list | grep hbr

• Working host: Output shows both vmware-hbr-agent and vmware-hbrsrv.
• Non-working host: Output is missing vmware-hbr-agent.

Method 1: Enable Auto-Installation

Check the vSphere Replication appliance configuration to ensure auto-install is enabled:

1. SSH to the vSphere Replication appliance as root.
2. Open the configuration file:
   
   
   

   vi /opt/vmware/hms/conf/hms-configuration.xml

3. Set the hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib parameter value to true.
4. Save the file (Esc + :wq!).
5. Restart the HMS service:
    

   systemctl restart hms

Method 2: Manual Installation

If auto-install fails, manually deploy the VIB to the affected host:

1. Identify the correct VIB path on the appliance:
   • VLR 9.0.5 and later: /opt/vmware/share/hbr/vib/
   • vSphere Replication 8.x / 9.x: /opt/vmware/hbr/vib/
2. Use SCP to copy the vmware-hbr-agent.vib file to the /tmp directory of the affected ESXi host.
3. SSH into the ESXi host and execute the installation:
    

   esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/vmware-hbr-agent.vib

   Note: A host reboot is not required.

SSL & FQDN Requirement

For VMware Live Recovery 9.x environments, ensure all appliance registrations use lowercase FQDNs. This is mandatory to prevent SSL trust verification failures during the replication pairing process.

Environment:

• VMware Live Recovery (VLR) 9.x
• vSphere Replication 8.x / 9.x
• ESXi 8.x

Additional Information

• SSL & FQDN Requirement: For VMware Live Recovery 9.x environments, ensure all appliance registrations utilize lowercase FQDNs. This is mandatory to prevent SSL trust verification failures during the replication pairing process.
• vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM): If the ESXi cluster is managed by a vLCM image, the manually installed HBR agent VIB must be added as a component to the cluster image. Failure to do so will result in vLCM removing the VIB during the next compliance check.