Replication status change alarm - topologysvc false positive alerts

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• vCenters in Enhanced Linked Mode show the following notifications in the UI:
  
  vCenter server replication status change alarm
Alarm alarm.VmdirReplicationStatusAlarm on Folder Datacenters
  
  
• VmDir status of all vCenters in ELM are set to NORMAL
  
  
• 'journalctl -b |less' output shows topologysvc error before the replication alarm switches from green (healthy) to red (unhealthy) state.
  
  [vim.event.EventEx] [error] [VSPHERE.LOCAL\topologysvc-#] [vCenter Server Replication Status : RED . Reason-1: Partner Replication state is broken for the node(s): vcenter1.example.com
 [vim.event.AlarmStatusChangedEvent] [info] [Alarm 'vCenter Server Replication Status Change Alarm' on Datacenters changed from Green to Red]


• vCenter - /var/log/vmware/topologysvc/topology-svcs.log displays
  
  2025-09-24T14:15:29.745+02:00 [pool-5-thread-1 [] INFO  com.vmware.vcenter.topology.impl.ReplicationStatusCheck  opId=] Raising new alarm with message [Reason-1: Partner Replication state is broken for the node(s): vcenter.example.com
] and replication status [RED] !!! 
  
  
• vCenter - /var/log/vmware/vmdird/vmdird.log
  
  ERROR: InternalDeleteEntry: VdirExecutePostDeleteCommitPlugins - code(9703)

Environment

• vCenter 7.x
• vCenter 8.x

Cause

In this scenario, the 'vCenter Server Replication Status Change Alarm' is triggered when the service topologysvc detects the last consumable USN change number in VMDIR as a delete entry of a replication partner and in turn generates a false positive for the replication alarm.

Resolution

If the VMDIR state is NORMAL across all vCenters, this alarm can be safely ignored. This behavior is fixed in vCenter 8.0 U3h and 9.0.2.

Additional Information

Validating VMDIR Status Mode

1. Referencing KB vCenter Server Replication Status Change Alarm in the vCenter Server UI, ensure the VMDIR state of all vCenters in ELM are in NORMAL mode. 
2. If any of the vCenter's VMDIR state is set to anything, but NORMAL, proceed with the above KB to resolve.