Why do I get "Protection couldn't be enabled" for some VMs and not others in Recovery Services vault

Question

I'm trying to develop Terraform I can use to set up Azure Site Recovery. At the moment I'm testing with two Linux VMs. The primary differences are the one where setup works is a Standard_E8s_v4 VM that is running with an OS of Publisher="RedHat", Offer="RHEL", SKU=8_8 and the one where the setup fails is a Standard_D2s_v3 VM that is running with an OS of Publisher="MicrosoftSQLServer", Offer="sql2022-rhel8", SKU="standard".

When I go to the Recovery Services valut and look at Replicated items the status is "Protected" for the VM running the first VM mentioned above and status is "Protection couldn't be enabled" for the second VM mentioned above. If I click on "Protection couldn't be enabled" I see "Installing Mobility Service and preparing target" failed and then if I click on "Error Details" I get

Error Details

Enable replication

• • Error ID
  539
• Error Message The requested action couldn't be performed by the Replication Provider.
• Possible causes The Provider action failed. Check other errors for more information.
• Recommendation Resolve the issue and retry the operation.
• First Seen At 2/14/2025, 2:50:47 PM
• • Error ID
  151023
• Error Message Unable to start Site recovery mobility service.
• Possible causes The operation failed due to an internal error.
• Recommendation Retry the operation. If the problem persists, contact support.
• First Seen At 2/14/2025, 2:50:47 PM

I can find troubleshooting doc on many errors but not the 151023 I see above. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to debug this?

Answer 1

Hello Glenn Horton,

I've reproduced the issue with the same VM config as follows,
Even for me also at the beginning the ASR mobility service was not running.

I tried restarting the service and checked the Microsoft.SqlVirtualMachine resource provider status & re-registered it.

Follow the below steps.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/virtual-machines/windows/sql-agent-extension-manually-register-single-vm?view=azuresql&tabs=azure-portal#register-subscription-with-rp

Despite having these things ready, the rollup 62 which supports the OS & kernel (RHEL 8.6 4.18.0-372.113.1.el8_6.x86_64) has some known issues related to Installation of mobility service, as it was becoming unresponsive due to an internal operation incorrectly handling null parameter.

Refer to the below doc. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/update-rollup-62-for-azure-site-recovery-e7aff36f-b6ad-4705-901c-f662c00c402b

So, try restarting the service again and enable the replication then check the extension status over VM blade as below and keep tracking the replication status. FYI, I have followed the same and succeeded with the replication.

Please do not forget to "Accept the answer” and “upvote it” wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.it would be greatly appreciated and helpful to others.

Thanks.

Answer 2

Hello Glenn Horton,

understand that you have encountered with an Error stating, "Unable to start Site recovery mobility service". there are couple of reasons for this. However, by analysing your issue i can suggest you check the OS compatibility first.

Please refer to the Supported operating system and its kernel versions to deploy the Azure Site Recovery.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/azure-to-azure-support-matrix#linux.

Because the compatibility of the OS is crucial for the replication process. If the OS is not supported, it may lead to issues during the replication setup, such as the inability to install the Mobility service or other required components.

If the OS is supported then follow the below steps.

1. Identify if firewall/NSG rules blocking.? if Proxy is there for the machine disable it.
2. ensure allow access to required ASR service URLs. useful link:  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/site-recovery/azure-to-azure-architecture#outbound-connectivity-urls
3. Login as user 'root->and check the ASR mobility service running status using the following command: # /usr/local/ASR/Vx/bin/status
4. Start the service if it is in stopped state. command: /usr/local/ASR/Vx/bin/start refer to the below snippet.
5. Wait for the service to start and monitor for 5-10 min if the service continues to run.
6. Try restart the operation from the replication page as shown below.

Note: Do not let the service goes down. if it's stopped there are chances to fail the enable replication.

Hope this helps!

Please reply if there are any challenges.

Please do not forget to "Accept the answer” and “upvote it” wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.it would be greatly appreciated and helpful to others.

Thanks