Live Recovery 9.x “Apply Solution” / “Cancel Applying Solution” tasks stalling

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

“Apply Solution” / “Cancel Applying Solution” tasks appearing on vCenter after upgrading SRM to Live Recovery

The tasks are continuously stuck at 5%

In Live Recovery 9.0.5 and newer, the XML (/opt/vmware/hms/conf/hms-configuration.xml) no longer exists.

Environment

VMware Live Recovery

Cause

This issue is caused by the default auto-installation behavior of the upgraded VMware Live Site Recovery (formerly vSphere Replication) appliance, combined with host evacuation constraints.

When the appliance is upgraded, the Host Management Service (HMS) automatically attempts to deploy the vmware-hbr-agent VIB to all ESXi hosts in the connected cluster. This process utilizes vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM), which initiates the "Apply Solution" task in vCenter Server.

To successfully install the VIB, vLCM requires the target ESXi host to enter Maintenance Mode. The task will stall continuously at 5% if vLCM is waiting on the host, but the host cannot enter Maintenance Mode due to one of the following environmental constraints:

• Single-Host Clusters: There are no other hosts available in the cluster for VMs to migrate to.

• vMotion Blockers: Virtual machines are preventing evacuation due to attached local devices (e.g., host CD-ROMs, local datastores).

• Cluster Settings: vSphere DRS is set to Manual or Disabled, or strict vSphere HA admission control policies are preventing VM migration.

Note on Configuration File: In VMware Live Recovery 9.0.5 and later, the unified appliance architecture reorganized the underlying OS directories. The HMS configuration file was not removed, but its path was changed from /opt/vmware/hms/conf/hms-configuration.xml to /opt/vmware/etc/hms/hms-configuration.xml, causing confusion when relying on legacy documentation.

Resolution

How to Disable the hbr-agent Auto-Push VIB Setting on the Live Recovery Appliance

Prerequisites: Log in to the vSphere Replication (VR) appliance via SSH as the root user.

Step 1: Check the current setting Run the following command to check the status of the hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib property:

grep -i hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib /opt/vmware/etc/hms/hms-configuration.xml

Note: Review the output. If the value is set to true, proceed to Step 2. If it is already false, no further action is needed.

Step 2: Disable the auto-install setting If the setting is currently true, run the hms-configtool to set it to false:

/opt/vmware/hms/bin/hms-configtool -cmd reconfig -property hms-auto-install-hbragent-vib=false

 

Step 3: Restart the HMS service To apply the configuration changes, restart the Host Management Service (HMS):

service hms restart