VMware SRM – Failed to Sync data on Replica Devices

I came across an interesting situation when performing a Test recovery using VMware SRM, I received the following error:

I performed a quick google to try to find a solution to the error message but there wasn’t anything listed, the only suggested solution I could find was to uninstall VMware SRM, reinstall it using a new database… this was not a solution with a looming Disaster Recovery Test and therefore I thought that I would try to correct the issue myself.

The configuration I have utilises IBM XIVs with Storage Array replication although I believe that the same steps should still work for other arrays.

• Remove all disks from the consistency group experiencing this error
• Deactivate the mirror on the consistency group and then delete the mirror pair
• Delete the consistency group on both the source array and the destination array
• Create a new consistency group on both the source and destination arrays
• Create a new mirror pair for the consistency group that has just been created
• Activate the new mirror pair and make sure that they are synchronised
• Add the required LUNs to the newly created consistency group
• Rescan the SRAs in the SRM client several times to update the connections, this may not update correctly the first time
• Check that all of the LUNs in the consistency group have an arrow against them indicating the replication direction on both the source and destination arrays within SRM
• Go to your recovery plan and perform a test recovery