Configuring new virtual machine replications fails with the error "The datastore with managed object ID 'datastore-#' was not found"

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• When trying to add a new virtual machine for replication, it fails with the below error message
  
  “The datastore with managed object ID 'datastore-#' was not found.”

• Irrespective of the target datastore selected, same error message is reported

• This behaviour is observed after the vSphere Replication appliances are upgraded, or in a new setup with incompatible versions of ESXi and vSphere Replication. To find versions which are compatible please refer to the interoperability matrix

Environment

vSphere Replication 9.0 and later

Cause

This issue occurs when the vSphere Replication appliance is unable to identify a compatible ESXi host to access the datastore.

Cause Justification:

From /opt/vmware/hms/logs/hms.log file, we can see that the configure replication tasks are failing as the datastore cannot be accessed from any ESXi host

2025-09-17 04:32:03.533 ERROR com.vmware.hms.TaskRunnable [hms-main-thread-2356] (..jvsl.util.Slf4jUtil) [operationID=87f3bdbd-6ecf-4af3-8e05-6ace0a6d0688-HMS-347791,sessionID=6A08F4A9, task=HTID-1225f1f5-b3f4-487a-9d13-8fa07f18a106] | runTask-failed name: "Configure replication"; class: com.vmware.hms.job.impl.PrimaryVc2VcConfigureReplicationWorkflow; groupMoId: GID-5e889722-6a96-4cf5-8f89-6b6438756e1c; destinationSite: ManagedObjectReference: type = HmsRemoteHmsServer, value = HMSSRV-9a82af64-d88c-499b-ad7e-de08c4b96944, serverGuid = null; primaryGroupInitialVersion: null; secondaryGroupInitialVersion: null; useAdminViews: false; eventPartitionId: null; optimizeReprotect: false; reverseReplication: false; err: Datastore could not be accessed from any host.; time: 926 ms
com.vmware.vim.binding.hms.fault.datastore.DatastoreNotFound: Datastore could not be accessed from any host.
        at com.vmware.hms.replication.GroupSpecValidator.validateHostVisibilityOnDatastores(GroupSpecValidator.java:1432) ~[hms.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.hms.replication.GroupSpecValidator.validateVmDatastores(GroupSpecValidator.java:1356) ~[hms.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.hms.job.impl.PrimaryVc2VcConfigureReplicationWorkflow.validateGroupSpec(PrimaryVc2VcConfigureReplicationWorkflow.java:155) ~[hms.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.hms.job.impl.ConfigureReplicationPrimaryBaseWorkflow.go(ConfigureReplicationPrimaryBaseWorkflow.java:180) ~[hms.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.hms.task.TaskRunnable.run(TaskRunnable.java:86) ~[hms.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.hms.HmsTaskManager.lambda$0(HmsTaskManager.java:253) ~[hms.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.hms.util.executor.LoggerOpIdConfigurator$RunnableWithDiagnosticContext.run(LoggerOpIdConfigurator.java:132) ~[hms.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.hms.util.executor.LoggerOpIdConfigurator$2.run(LoggerOpIdConfigurator.java:99) ~[hms.jar:?]
        at com.vmware.jvsl.sessions.net.impl.TlsPreservingWrapper$2.run(TlsPreservingWrapper.java:47) ~[jvsl-sessions-9.0.2.jar:?]
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source) ~[?:?]
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source) [?:?]
2025-09-17 04:32:04.337 INFO  com.vmware.hms.i18n.class com.vmware.hms.response.filter.I18nActivationResponseFilter [tcweb-5] (..response.filter.I18nActivationResponseFilter) [operationID=102bbadd-addd-4f1c-bade-562e9f1d1fbd-HMS-347794,sessionID=6A08F4A9] | The localized message is: The datastore with managed object ID 'datastore-#' was not found.

For example, if the vSphere Replication appliance is on version 9.0.2 and the ESXi is on version 7.0U1 which is not compatible with 9.0.2 as per interoperability matrix this behaviour is observed

Resolution

To resolve this issue, upgrade the ESXi host to a version that is compatible with the version of vSphere Replication appliance installed.