Error: "PBM error occurred during PreCreateCheckCallback: Connection refused" while creating protection group

Products

VMware Live Recovery

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

Creating a protection group fails during placeholder creation step:
You see this error:

PBM error occurred during PreCreateCheckCallback: Connection refused

In the Dr.log file, you see entries similar to:

2018-04-03T09:41:43.453-04:00 verbose vmware-dr[02344] [Originator@6876 sub=ProductionVmManagerImpl opID=5fe36d70] [UpdatePlaceholderVmInfo] Updating PlaceholderVmInfo for protected VM 'protected-vm-24455':
--> (dr.replication.ProtectedVm.PlaceholderVmInfo) {
--> vm = <unset>,
--> folder = <unset>,
--> computeResource = <unset>,
--> resourcePool = <unset>,
--> host = <unset>,
--> datacenter = <unset>,
--> placeholderCreationFault = (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
--> faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
--> faultMessage = <unset>,
--> reason = " PBM error occurred during PreCreateCheckCallback: Connection refused"
--> msg = "A general system error occurred: PBM error occurred during PreCreateCheckCallback: Connection refused"
--> },
--> repairNeeded = true

--> }service-control --status vmware-vpx-workflow

In the vpxd.log file on DR vCenter, you see entries similar to:

2018-04-03T09:41:44.034-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=251adf5f:cd52-39] [VpxLRO] -- BEGIN task-2862 -- group-v41 -- vim.Folder.createVm -- 52ba72f1-a57c-4a3c-a60f-d30583a1d10f(52d8bf33-59ad-138f-fd78-2d98
f69e3ee9)
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] [VpxLRO] -- BEGIN lro-245274 -- -- VmprovWorkflow --
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Execute local action vpx.vmprov.InvokePrechecks (5%)
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Invoking callback type 0 on CryptoManager
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Invoking callback type 0 on DVS
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Invoking callback type 0 on EventEmitter
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Invoking callback type 0 on FT
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Invoking callback type 0 on InvtId
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Invoking callback type 0 on Iofilter
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Invoking callback type 0 on PbmCallBack
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=pbm opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] PBMCallback: PreProvisionProcess: Calling pbm PreProvisionProcess
2018-04-03T09:41:44.036-04:00 warning vpxd[7F39FDC38700] [Originator@6876 sub=Default] Failed to connect socket; <io_obj p:0x00007f3a501ee580, h:83, <TCP '0.0.0.0:0'>, <TCP '127.0.0.1:8190'>>, e: system:111(Connection refused)
2018-04-03T09:41:44.037-04:00 error vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=pbm opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] PBMCallback: HandleInternalFaultMessage: PBM error occurred during PreCreateCheckCallback: Connection refused
2018-04-03T09:41:44.037-04:00 error vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Get exception while executing action vpx.vmprov.InvokePrechecks: N5Vmomi5Fault11SystemError9ExceptionE(vmodl.fault.SystemError)
--> [context]zKq7AVECAAAAAEklWwAgdnB4ZAAAeF4rbGlidm1hY29yZS5zbwAAEBcbAMppGAEu0VR2cHhkAAFD01QB3B6rAXauqgGhxcwBX8/MATHfzwEJmNABMtHNAbjzzQEF+c0BS59zAcCUcwFPuHMBon9zAT16yQFGe8kBeKZ4gkNdBgFsaWJ2aW0tdHlwZXMuc28AAfymdAFLn3MBwJRzAU+4cwGAC3QAR6wjAC6vIwA3tysDVHQAbGlicHRocmVhZC5zby4wAAQdjA5saWJjLnNvLjYA[/context]
2018-04-03T09:41:44.040-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=VmProv opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] Workflow context:
--> (vpx.vmprov.CreateContext) {
--> cbData = (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) [
--> (vmodl.KeyAnyValue) {
--> key = "pbmPreCheckSkipped",
--> value = false
--> }

2018-04-03T09:41:44.043-04:00 error vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] [VpxLRO] Unexpected Exception: N5Vmomi5Fault11SystemError9ExceptionE(vmodl.fault.SystemError)
--> [context]zKq7AVECAAAAAEklWwAgdnB4ZAAAeF4rbGlidm1hY29yZS5zbwAAEBcbAMppGAEu0VR2cHhkAAFD01QB3B6rAXauqgGhxcwBX8/MATHfzwEJmNABMtHNAbjzzQEF+c0BS59zAcCUcwFPuHMBon9zAT16yQFGe8kBeKZ4gkNdBgFsaWJ2aW0tdHlwZXMuc28AAfymdAFLn3MBwJRzAU+4cwGAC3QAR6wjAC6vIwA3tysDVHQAbGlicHRocmVhZC5zby4wAAQdjA5saWJjLnNvLjYA[/context]
2018-04-03T09:41:44.046-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=vpxLro opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] [VpxLRO] -- FINISH lro-245274
2018-04-03T09:41:44.046-04:00 info vpxd[7F39FF366700] [Originator@6876 sub=Default opID=251adf5f:cd52-39-01] [VpxLRO] -- ERROR lro-245274 -- -- VmprovWorkflow: vmodl.fault.SystemError:
--> Result:
--> (vmodl.fault.SystemError) {
--> faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
--> faultMessage = <unset>,
--> reason = " PBM error occurred during PreCreateCheckCallback: Connection refused"
--> msg = ""
--> }
--> Args:

Note: The preceding log excerpts are only examples. Date, time, and environmental variables may vary depending on your environment.

Environment

VMware Site Recovery Manager 6.x

Cause

This issue occurs because the VMware vSphere Profile-Driven Storage service was not running on vCenter DR site.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, start the VMware vSphere Profile-Driven Storage service on vCenter DR site.

Additional Information

For more information on stopping and starting vCenter service, see Stopping, starting, or restarting VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.x services.