SRM 5.1 does not detect existing standalone vSphere Replication 5.1 appliance

[mike01801]

The SRM 5.1 install guide says that SRM can work the stand alone version of vSphere Replication:

" If you installed the standalone version of vSphere Replication 5.1 and then installSRM 5.1, all existing pairings and replications are immediately accessible through the SRM user interface"

http://pubs.vmware.com/srm-51/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.srm.install_config.doc%2FGUID-E8859207-0...

However, SRM 5.1 does not detect it at all.  When I go to the vSphere Replication page in SRM it looks as if no VR appliance has been deployed, as if it still wants me to deploy them from SRM.

How do you get SRM 5.1 to detect the existing VR appliance and all of it's replications?  Thanks.

[stuartclements]

Hi Mike,

When you installed SRM, did you select the option to install vSphere Replication in the SRM installer? Even if standalone VR is already installed, you still need to select this option when installing SRM. See step 4 in Install the SRM Server.

If you installed SRM without selecting this option, you do not need to redo the SRM installation. Just run the SRM installer again in Repair mode, and select the Install vSphere Replication option. See Repair the Installation of an SRM Server.

Hope this helps, but if this does not resolve the problem, please let me know.

Thanks!

Stuart

SRM docs

[mike01801]

Hi, thank you for your response,

I did select that option during the install of SRM 5.1.

When I go to the vSphere Replication page of SRM, it just looks as if not VR appliance has been installed.  It still has a status of "disconnected" and provides me the options to add a VRMS and VR server.

The vSphere documentation is very lacking when it comes to how to use the Standalone VR appliance with SRM 5.1.  Other than saying "If you installed the standalone version of vSphere Replication 5.1 and then install SRM 5.1, all existing pairings and replications are immediately accessible through the SRM user interface", there is no other mention of how to use it with SRM.  The documentation just assumes you will use the SRM VR appliances (which require a VRMS and a VR), as opposed to the Standalone which just requires a VR appliance.

Thanks.

[stuartclements · Accepted solution]

Hi Mike,

SRM 5.1 does not require a separate VRMS and VRS. If you deploy VR 5.1 from SRM 5.1, and do not use an existing standalone VR appliance, you still deploy a single appliance (that contains both a VRMS and a VRS) that is ready for use without any further configuration. SRM does allow you to deploy one or more additional VRS for load balancing purposes, but this is entirely optional.

So, normally, it should not matter whether you installed VR 5.1 as a standalone appliance or whether you installed it from SRM 5.1. To all intents and purposes, it is exactly the same appliance. Have you tried looking for VR in the vSphere Web Client rather than in the SRM interface? If vSphere Replication does not show up in the Web Client, then it could be that the VR appliance has not registered itself with vCenter Server or that the VR service is not running, which could be due to a network issue.

If VR shows up in the vSphere Web Client then VR is running correctly and the problem is indeed with the connection with SRM.

Thanks,

stuart

[mike01801]

Hi,

Ok, this is what i dislike about the SRM and VR integration.  Today when i logged into my vCenters i was presented with a certificate to accept.  After accepting it, everything worked.  I'm not sure why it took so long for SRM to detect the standalone appliances, or why it never showed up yesterday after logging into and restarting vCenter/SRM multiple times.  But all is good now.  Thanks again.