Aria Operations for Logs Data Transfer Fails Immediately with "Transfer failed due to an error"

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

• When attempting a Log Data Transfer from an older Aria Operations for Logs cluster to a newer cluster, the process immediately aborts.

• The UI displays the message: "Transfer failed due to an error. Please try again."

• Attempting to use workarounds or modifying the data transfer timeframe (e.g., changing from 90 days to 1 day) makes no difference and still results in an immediate failure.

• The runtime.log may show false-positive networking errors, such as No route to host errors or LOCAL_QUORUM failures.

Environment

• VMware Aria Operations for Logs (formerly vRealize Log Insight) 8.18

• VMware Aria Operations for Logs 9.0.2

• VMware vCenter Server

Cause

This issue occurs due to improper or insufficient vCenter licensing (such as an expired Evaluation license, or a restricted tier like Essentials) in the environment.

While the logs may suggest a network routing or port (7000/7001) issue, the immediate failure is actually caused by a pre-flight check rejection. The Aria Operations for Logs migration workflow performs an initial handshake to validate the destination environment. If the underlying vCenter is improperly licensed, it restricts necessary read/write APIs, blocks required storage synchronization functions for the Cassandra database, and prevents management component communication. Consequently, the application aborts the migration to prevent data corruption.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must ensure the connected vCenter environments are properly licensed.

1. Log in to the vSphere Client for the associated vCenter(s).

2. Navigate to Administration > Licensing > Licenses.

3. Verify that the vCenter Server is assigned a valid, active license with the appropriate entitlements (ensure it is not expired or in a restricted evaluation state).

4. Apply a valid license if the current one is expired or insufficient.

5. Once the vCenter is properly licensed, return to the Aria Operations for Logs UI and retry the Log Data Transfer process.

Additional Information

If the issue persists after verifying vCenter licensing, please ensure that network prerequisites are met:

• Cassandra Inter-node Ports: Ports 7000 and 7001 must be open between the source and destination subnets.

• MTU Path Discovery: Verify consistent MTU (e.g., 1500) across the entire path.

• Time Synchronization: Ensure both clusters are synced to the same NTP source to prevent migration handshake failures.