Zerto VM Storage Policy not available

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

After configuring Zerto with vSphere, the Zerto VM Storage Policy is not available for selection after logging into the vCenter UI.

In the sps.log file, you may see an error similar to the following: 

/var/log/vmware/vmware-sps/sps.log
####-##-##T##:##:##.###Z [pool-4-thread-17] INFO  opId=18ffc0d9-c99c-4733-8196-30c9af4f6623 com.vmware.vim.storage.common.security.CommonActivationValidator - [getRolesFromRoleCacheObject] Validating session for user <domain>\svc_zerto for method PbmFetchCapabilityMetadata having correlator 1318021
####-##-##T##:##:##.###Z [pool-4-thread-17] ERROR opId=18ffc0d9-c99c-4733-8196-30c9af4f6623 com.vmware.vim.storage.common.security.CommonActivationValidator - Failed to validate session com.vmware.vim.binding.vim.fault.NoPermission: null

The vpxd.log on the source destination vCenter confirms the authentication failure:

/var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log
####-##-##T##:##:##.###z error vpxd[06386] [Originator@6876 sub=User opID=35d13a25] Failed to authenticate user < XXX.XXX.XX\XXX_ZERTO_XXXX>

Environment

vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

This is issue is due to the misconfiguration of the Zerto user permissions with vSphere.  

Resolution

Resolution Steps

1. ZVM Reconfiguration: Perform a reconfiguration of the Zerto Virtual Manager (ZVM) on both the source and destination sites to ensure communication and service states are synchronized.
2. Permission Validation: Review and adjust the Zerto service account permissions to align with the official Zerto requirements. Ensure all necessary roles and privileges are assigned as outlined in the following documentation:
   1. Zerto and VMware Permissions
   2. vSphere Privileges Used by Zerto