As of vSphere Replication 8.5.0.3, the HBR Agent VIB file is no longer installed on hosts that are a part of vLCM managed clusters. vSphere Replication continues to install the HBR Agent VIB on all standalone hosts and hosts, which are a part of non-vLCM managed clusters.

To utilize the vSphere Replication LWD traffic encryption for any replication, as well as to be able to replicate VMs with VM encryption enabled, which run in vLCM clusters, you must manually install, upgrade and uninstall the HBR Agent Component.

VMware vSphere Replication 8.x

Manually Install the HBR Agent Component

1. Download the HBR Agent Component from the vSphere Replication Appliance from https://vr_appliance:8043/vlcm/vmware-hbr-agent.zip
2. Import the downloaded HBR Agent Component into VC Lifecycle Manager UI.
3. For all vLCM clusters:
   1. Manually add the HBR Agent Component to the related cluster images.
   2. Trigger remediations to install it.

Note: If a new host is added to a vLCM managed cluster that already has the HBR Agent Component installed in its images, you need to manually trigger remediation in the VC Lifecycle Manager UI again.
 

Manually Upgrade the HBR Agent Component

After you upgrade to vSphere Replication 8.5.x, you must upgrade the HBR Agent Component in all vLCM clusters that have a previous version of it already manually installed.

1. Download the new version of the HBR Agent Component from the VR appliance from https://vr_appliance:8043/vlcm/vmware-hbr-agent.zip
2. Import the newly downloaded HBR Agent Component into VC Lifecycle Manager UI.
3. For all vLCM clusters that have an older version of the HBR Agent Component:
   1. Add the new HBR Agent Component to the related cluster images manually (note that this will automatically replace the old one).
   2. Trigger remediations to upgrade it.

 

Manually Uninstall the HBR Agent Component

If you no longer need vSphere Replication, LWD traffic encryption or replicating VMs with VM encryption in a vLCM cluster, you can uninstall the HBR Agent Component:

1. Remove the HBR Agent Component in the VC Lifecycle Manager UI.
2. Trigger remediation in order to uninstall it from all the hosts in the vLCM managed cluster.

Note: For any host that leaves its vLCM managed cluster and is no longer present in any other vLCM managed cluster, you must make an SSH connection to the host and manually uninstall the HBR Agent Component by using the following command:

$ esxcli software vib remove --vibname=vmware-hbr-agent

 

Workaround:
For vSphere Replication 8.6

As vSphere Replication 8.6 is compatible with vCenter 7.x  to bridge the gap before upgrading to vCenter to 8.0 the workaround is to use the VIB from vSphere Replication 8.5.  Please see attachment to this kb or follow the already mentioned steps on how to download the new version of the HBR Agent Component from the VR appliance from https://vr_appliance:8043/vlcm/vmware-hbr-agent.zip running on version vSphere Replication 8.5.x. 

For vSphere Replication 8.7

- step 1 - Download the HBR Agent Component from the vSphere Replication Appliance from https://vr_appliance:8043/vlcm/vmware-hbr-agent.zip
- step 2 - Import the downloaded HBR Agent Component into VC Lifecycle Manager UI.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere-lifecycle-manager.doc/GUID-F13C2514-AA7D-472F-BDAA-61017248BFD2.html

For vSphere Replication 8.8
This issue is resolved for vSphere Replication 8.8 

Side Note:  Port 9084 is required to install VIBs open from source VR to target ESXi.

To check whether the VIB is installed post remediation, ssh to the related host and run the following command:

$ esxcli software vib list | grep hbr
vmware-hbr-agent               7.0.3-1.0.18622853                   VMware  VMwareCertified   2021-09-29

Note: The output described above may vary on your system.