Reconfiguring VLR appliance fails with error : "Failed to reload vpostgres.service: The connection was closed by the remote end during handshake"

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms :

• While reconfiguring VLR appliance it fails with an error 
  
  ERROR
Operation Failed A general system error occurred: N7Vmacore15SystemExceptionE Failed to reload vpostgres.service: The connection was closed by the remote end during handshake. (1)

  (Or)

ERROR
Operation Failed
A general system error occurred: N7Vmacore9ExceptionE com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.unauthorized   
   
• srm-server service fails to start
  
  

Environment

VMware Live Site Recovery 9.0.3

VMware Live Site Recovery 9.0.4

Cause

The issue is caused by authentication failures associated with the SRM Service Account. The SRM service is unable to initialize because the existing service account credentials stored in the VMware Directory Service (vmdir) are invalid or out of sync, leading to an UNAUTHORIZED error during service startup and password management operations.

Cause Validation :

Backtrace triggered in vmware-dr.log while starting srm-server service. 

Log path :  less /opt/vmware/support/logs/srm/vmware-dr.log

• 2025-12-23T09:17:51.848+01:00 panic vmware-dr[07533] [SRM@6876 sub=Default] Application error: N7Vmacore9ExceptionE Failed to connect
 to remote services on ["#######.com"]
--> [context]zKq7AVECAAQAAL7KeAERdm13YXJlLWRyAABNBU9saWJ2bWFjb3JlLnNvAACiCSUA15kiAYl6AnZtd2FyZS1kcgABUQUMAXHeDAKe9QlsaWJkci1hdXRob3Jp
emF0aW9uLnNvAAEixQsBM5sMAQ6sCwF+WwMBO98MAxarDGxpYmRyLXZtYWNvcmUuc28AAbAHAwRKcgJsaWJjLnNvLjYABAVzAgFtEwM=[/context]
--> [backtrace begin] product: vmware-dr, version: 9.0.3.0, build: build-24693438, tag: vmware-dr, cpu: x86_64, os: linux, buildType:
 release
--> backtrace[00] libvmacore.so[0x004F054D]
--> backtrace[01] libvmacore.so[0x002509A2]: Vmacore::System::Stacktrace::CaptureWork(unsigned int)
--> backtrace[02] libvmacore.so[0x002299D7]: Vmacore::System::SystemFactory::CreateQuickBacktrace(Vmacore::Ref<Vmacore::System::Backt
race>&)
--> backtrace[03] vmware-dr[0x00027A89]
--> backtrace[04] vmware-dr[0x000C0551]
--> backtrace[05] vmware-dr[0x000CDE71]
--> backtrace[06] libdr-authorization.so[0x0009F59E]: Dr::Authorize::EntityWithPermissionsLifetimeMixin::_Activate(bool)
--> backtrace[07] vmware-dr[0x000BC522]
--> backtrace[08] vmware-dr[0x000C9B33]
--> backtrace[09] vmware-dr[0x000BAC0E]

   

• vmware-dr.log reports Service account password to have expired.

2025-12-23T09:20:55.062+01:00 verbose vmware-dr[13563] [SRM@6876 sub=LocalSite.LocalStsServer.ConnHandler] Password for SA 'SRM-########-####-####-####-############@vsphere.local' expired. Starting password change. 

2025-12-23T09:20:55.062+01:00 warning vmware-dr[12277] [SRM@6876 sub=LocalSite.LocalStsServer connID=sts-q3] Failed to connect
--> N7Vmacore9ExceptionE {
-->     "ERROR": {
-->         "com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.unauthorized": {
-->             "data": {
-->                 "OPTIONAL": null
-->             },
-->             "error_type": {
-->                 "OPTIONAL": "UNAUTHORIZED"
-->             },
-->             "messages": [
-->                 {
-->                     "STRUCTURE": {
-->                         "com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message": {
-->                             "args": [
-->                                 "Invalid Credential, VMware directory error[9234]"
-->                             ],
-->                             "default_message": "User is not authorized for (Invalid Credential, VMware directory error[9234])",
-->                             "id": "com.vmware.vcenter.svcaccountmgmt.unauthorized",
-->                             "localized": {
-->                                 "OPTIONAL": null
-->                             },

 

• svcaccountmgmt.log on vCenter has Invalid credential error for the SRM account

Log path : /var/log/vmware/sso/svcaccountmgmt.log :

2025-12-23T12:48:55.363Z ERROR svcaccountmgmt[79:tomcat-http--42] [CorId=###### OpId=] [com.vmware.vcenter.svcaccountmgmt.impl.PasswordMgmt] changeUserPassword: Got Directory Exception
2025-12-23T12:48:55.364Z ERROR svcaccountmgmt[79:tomcat-http--42] [CorId=#### OpId=] [com.vmware.vcenter.svcaccountmgmt.impl.DirectoryError] Invalid Credential, VMware directory error[9234]
2025-12-23T12:49:55.456Z INFO svcaccountmgmt[56:tomcat-http--19] [CorId= OpId=] [com.vmware.vcenter.svcaccountmgmt.impl.PasswordMgmt] Changing Account Password for account: SRM-########@vsphere.local
2025-12-23T12:49:55.517Z ERROR svcaccountmgmt[56:tomcat-http--19] [CorId= OpId=] [com.vmware.vcenter.svcaccountmgmt.impl.PasswordMgmt] changeUserPassword: Got Directory Exception
2025-12-23T12:49:55.517Z ERROR svcaccountmgmt[56:tomcat-http--19] [CorId= OpId=] [com.vmware.vcenter.svcaccountmgmt.impl.DirectoryError] Invalid Credential, VMware directory error[9234]
2025-12-23T12:50:55.612Z INFO svcaccountmgmt[67:tomcat-http--30] [CorId=###### OpId=] [com.vmware.vcenter.svcaccountmgmt.impl.PasswordMgmt] Changing Account Password for account: SRM-#########@vsphere.local
2025-12-23T12:50:55.663Z ERROR svcaccountmgmt[67:tomcat-http--30] [CorId=0b52b9db-bfb1-4821-8978-b68fb60f365d OpId=] [com.vmware.vcenter.svcaccountmgmt.impl.PasswordMgmt] changeUserPassword: Got Directory Exception

Resolution

To resolve the credential conflict, the corrupted service account must be cleared so it can be recreated during reconfiguration:

1. Take a snapshot of the vCenter Server for safety.

2. Log in to the vSphere Client.

3. Navigate to Administration > Users and Groups > Groups.

4. Select the Administrators group.

5. Locate and delete the problematic SRM service account (e.g., srm-xxxxx).

6. Perform the Reconfigure operation on the VMware Live Recovery appliance