How to fix a corrupt Azure Site Recovery Agent deployment

Question

Hi There

I have a on-premise two node HCI Stack Cluster arc-enabled in my Azure tenant. After much consternation I initially was able to get the Azure Backup option deployed with the MARS Agent on both nodes.

However I really wanted to deploy Azure Site Recovery as I have 10 VMs that I want to store in a Azure Hyper-V Site.

When I went to prep for Azure Site Recovery option, the Azure Recovery Services Agent uninstall/install process failed with an incompatible patch error. If I try to uninstall or update the agent locally on the server it tries to do some sort of update procedure and immediately fails. If I try from the Azure portal itself a failed installation notice appears above the Prepare Infrastructure button. I can't even get back to my initial running Azure Backup as the Azure Backup user interface on the Server fails on an automatic update check and quits before launching completely.

How can I clean out my current install and start over since I am the begining stage of deployment? I tried following some sort of renaming files fix to bypass the incompatible patch error but the file structure of my HCI Stack deployment doesn't match what the repair instructions were asking for at all.

Also should I be forcing the use of Rollup 76 agents or should I just use what the Azure Portal gives me?

Answer 1

Hi,

step by step

manually uninstall the Azure Recovery Services Agent

On each node of your HCI Stack Cluster, navigate to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features. Locate the Agent > Find the "Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent" in the list.

Rightclick on it and select Uninstall. If the uninstallation process encounters errors, note any specific messages for further troubleshooting (!).

After uninstallation, ensure that the following directories are deleted (if they exist, just check!)

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Azure Recovery Services Agent\

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Azure Site Recovery\

regedit.exe

navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ and delete the Azure Recovery Services and Azure Site Recovery keys if they exist.

Modifying the registry can have unintended consequences. Ensure you back up the registry before making changes!!!!!!!!!

Reinstall the Latest Azure Recovery Services Agent download the latest lersion

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/backup/install-mars-agent

Run the installer with administrative privileges. Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the installation. Verify and Reconfigure Azure Backup and Site Recovery.

Open the Microsoft Azure Backup console on each node. Verify that your backup schedules and policies are intact. If not, reconfigure them as needed.

In the Azure portal, navigate to your Recovery Services vault.

Ensure that the replication settings for your VMs are correctly configured.

If issues persist, consider reconfiguring the replication for the affected VMs.

I would strongly recommend get agents and updates directly from official Microsoft sources to ensure compatibility. Avoid Forcing Specific Rollups it's advisable to use the versions provided through the Azure portal or official download links, as they are tested for compatibility with your setup. Hope that will help.

Please click Accept Answer and upvote if the above was helpful.

rgds,

Alex