The .vmx configuration file is missing from the target datastore for Virtual Machines replicating using vSphere Replication.

Products

• VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Virtual Machines replicating using vSphere Replication and not part of (Site Recovery Manager) Protection Group the .vmx file for the Virtual machine at target datastore appears with type "file".
  
  Login to Target vCenter Server -> Select Target Datastore -> Files -> VM folder -> hbrcfg.GID-#########.vmx.##### (This is vmx file in replica data).
  
  
  
  Note: The .vmx file generally appears with type as "virtual machine".

Environment

VMware Live Recovery 9.x

Cause

• When a Virtual Machine (VM) is added to replication the VMware vSphere replication create several files at the target datastore, .vmx gets created as a file containing the configuration information and hardware settings of replica VM.

• This is expected behavior in vSphere replication and SRM, the vSphere replication creates replica data which contains actual .vmdk files. these are not registered to vcenter inventory until failover. while SRM that creates placeholder VM's contains only small configuration files used to reserve the VM's identity in the inventory.

Resolution

 This is expected behavior of vSphere replication. By design, virtual machines undergoing standard replication do not register .vmx files at the target destination; they solely replicate data and are not registered in the inventory until a failover is initiated. In contrast, virtual machines protected by Site Recovery Manager (SRM) Protection Groups provision placeholder VMs at the target site. These placeholders contain the explicit configuration files required to preserve the virtual machine's identity and mapping prior to a recovery event.