VMware Live Recovery: Appliances display as "Not accessible" in vCenter

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

You notice that in the Live Site Recovery UI, the vSphere Replication and Live Site Recovery services are displayed as "Not accessible."

This prevents management of replication groups or the execution of recovery plans.

Environment

Live Site Recovery Manager

vSphere Replication

Cause

A mismatched service registration exists on the vCenter Server.

This typically occurs when the vSphere Replication appliance certificate or environment metadata stored in the vCenter extension registry does not align with the appliance's current state.

The appliance certificate is improperly configured using an IP address instead of a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). vCenter 8.x and later strictly require trusted FQDN-based certificates for all plugin extensions to establish secure communication.

Resolution

• Access the VRMS Appliance Management Interface (VAMI): Log in to the vSphere Replication Appliance Management Interface as the admin user.

• Update the Certificate:

  • Navigate to the Certificate tab and click Change.

  • Verify that the DNS value is set to the FQDN and the IP address matches the eth0 interface of the appliance.

• Perform a Cold Boot: Power off the appliance completely, then power it back on.

  Note: A standard guest OS reboot is insufficient; a full power cycle is required to force vCenter to update the appliance environment.

  • Recommend clearing the browser cache or using an Incognito window after the cold boot, as the Site Recovery plugin often caches old certificate thumbprints.

• Reconfigure VAMI Settings: Once the appliance is back online, re-register it with vCenter to apply the new certificate:

  • Navigate to Summary > Reconfigure.

  • Complete the wizard to sync the new certificate with the vCenter Server.