Operation canceled due to an unexpected error when using Advanced Datastore Settings in VMware Cloud Director Availability

Products

• VMware Cloud Director
• VMware Cloud Director Availability - Disaster Recovery 4.x
• VMware Cloud Director Availability - Migration 4.x

Issue/Introduction

• When creating a new replication, the following error occurs when attempting to use Advanced Datastore Settings to exclude disks:
  
  Operation canceled due to an unexpected error
  
  
• In the /opt/vmware/h4/cloud/log/cloud.log file, errors similar to the following are found:
  
  

  2025-09-23 20:40:01.320 ERROR - [UI-########-####-####-####-############-####-##-##] [job-41] com.vmware.h4.jobengine.JobExecution     : Task ########-####-####-####-############ (WorkflowInfo{type='start', resourceType='vmReplication', resourceId='C4-########-####-####-####-############', isPrivate=false, resourceName='null'}) has failed

  java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.util.List.stream()" because "vmStorageProfileSettings.vmDiskSettings" is null
...

• The use of Replication Tracking Virtual Machines (RTVMs) is disabled in /opt/vmware/h4/cloud/config/application.properties at the VMware Cloud Director backed provider site, by having the following attribute set to false:
  
  vcd.rt.vms=false

Environment

VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.7.3

Cause

The use of the Advanced Datastore Settings requires the use RTVMs. If this option is disabled, Advanced Datastore Settings will fail to work correctly and will result in the errors encountered.

Resolution

Re-enable the use of RTVMs on the destination VMware Cloud Director backed provider site:

1. Open a command line session on the Replication Manager appliance and log in as root.
2. Edit the following file with a text editor (e.g., vi):
   
   /opt/vmware/h4/cloud/config/application.properties
   
   Please note: before making any changes to system files, it is recommended to take appropriate precautions (e.g., backups) in case there is an unforeseen issue.
   
   
3. Alter the property vcd.rt.vms from false to true:
   
   vcd.rt.vms=true
   
   
4. Save the changes to the file.
5. Restart the cloud service:
   
   systemctl restart cloud.service

Additional Information

RTVMs are the default placement solution for current versions of VMware Cloud Director Availability. For more information regarding this placement solution, please refer to the following document:

Replication tracking placement solution