Reprotect operation fails with error message: "Cannot protect virtual machine 'VM_NAME' because its config file "[Datastore_Name] VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmx' is located on a non-replicated or non-protected datastore."

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms: 

• Reprotect operation fails with the following error messages.

"The operation was only partially completed for the protection group 'Protection_Group_Name' since a protected VM belonging to it was not successful in completing the operation." 

"Cannot protect virtual machine 'VM_NAME' because its config file "[Datastore_Name] VM_NAME/VM_NAME.vmx' is located on a non-replicated or non-protected datastore."

• The protection group which fails with reprotect shows no datastore group under Datastores option as per below screenshot,

  

•  The SRM UI display's a warning on the array pair under Site Recovery Manager plugin -> Array Based Replication -> Array pairs.

  "Datastore 'datastore_ Group' is not replicated".

Environment

VMware Live Site Recovery 9.0.x

NetApp Storage Replication Adapter for ONTAP 9.11

Cause

• This issue occurs because the backing datastore's replication configuration was removed from the Protection Group. This removal happened because the Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) failed to retrieve a completion status from the underlying storage array.
  
  
• From the logs of opt/vmware/srm/Logs/vmware-dr.log, shows recovered datastore is not replicated 

2026-04-19T16:47:50.399+05:30 warning vmware-dr[16959] [SRM@6876 sub=StorageProvider opID=#######] Recovered datastore 'datastore-5152' in group 'vm-protection-group-#####' is not replicated
2026-04-19T16:47:50.399+05:30 warning vmware-dr[16959] [SRM@6876 sub=StorageProvider opID=#######] Recovered datastore 'datastore-5153' in group 'vm-protection-group-#####' is not replicated
2026-04-19T16:47:50.399+05:30 info vmware-dr[16959] [SRM@6876 sub=StorageProvider opID=######] Generated new settings for group 'vm-protection-group-#####': (dr.storageProvider.GroupSettings)
{
-->    array = 'dr.storage.ReplicatedArrayPair:#######-####-####-####-############:array-pair-####',
-->    datastore = (vim.Datastore) [
-->       'vim.Datastore:#######-####-####-####-############:datastore-5152',
-->       'vim.Datastore:#######-####-####-####-############:datastore-5153'
-->    ]
--> }

Resolution

1. Rescan Storage replication adapters (SRA) using, SRM UI -> Under 'Site Pair', select -> Array Based Replication -> select 'Storage Replication Adapters' -> Run rescan for both sites.

2. Initiate Discover Devices for Array Pair configured, SRM UI -> Under Site Pair -> Array Based Replication -> Select Array Pairs -> select the array and run "Discover Devices"

3. Check the Protection Group to verify if the datastores reappear, as shown in the screenshot below.

   

4. Go to the Recovery Plan and run the reprotect again.

Note: After successfully completing the 'Rescan' and 'Discover Devices' operations, verify that the warning on the Array Pairs "Datastore 'datastore_ Group' is not replicated" has cleared, and confirm that the replicated datastore has reappeared in the protection group.

         If the warning persists, or if the datastore is still missing from the protection group, please engage the SRA/Storage vendor for further assistance.