VPG creation or import fails from a VAIO protected site to a non-VAIO recovery site reached through a Zerto Cloud Connector

VPG creation or import fails from a VAIO protected site to a non-VAIO recovery site reached through a Zerto Cloud Connector

Machine-distilled from a resolved support ticket on 2026-09-28. Source ref: 76ecc1b6034f. Verify before relying on it.

Applies to: Zerto 10.8 (including Update 1) with a VAIO-based protected site on vSphere, replicating to a non-VAIO recovery site that is reached through a Zerto Cloud Connector (ZCC), for example a multi-tenant service provider platform built on vSphere with Cloud Director.

Symptom: After switching a protected vSphere site to VAIO-based replication, creating or importing a VPG to a cloud service provider recovery site fails, or the recovery site cannot be selected. The error reads similar to: 'Import VPG failed due to Invalid request. The Recovery site:<id> cannot be selected. VAIO-based sites can only pair with other VAIO-based or VMware-based sites.' The sites still show as paired and healthy.

Cause: Protection from a VAIO site to a non-VAIO site through a ZCC is not supported, because the VAIO VRAs cannot communicate through the ZCC. The published unsupported features list says VAIO to non-VAIO protection is supported only between vSphere sites and not public cloud sites, but it does not explicitly exclude ZCC-connected service provider sites. The underlying vSphere or Cloud Director layer at the recovery site is not the cause. A multi-tenant ZVM that serves non-VAIO tenants cannot simply accept a single VAIO tenant.

Resolution: 1. Confirm whether the recovery site is reached through a ZCC. If it is, VAIO to non-VAIO protection will not work, even if pairing appears healthy.

2. To restore protection, revert the protected site from VAIO to non-VAIO (VRA-based) replication, then recreate or import the VPGs.

3. Alternatively, use a recovery target that is VAIO-based or directly paired with vSphere (no ZCC).

4. Before recreating VPGs after a replication mode change, plan for the resync load. Use pre-seed disks where available so VPGs do not perform a full initial sync over the WAN.

5. Check the current release notes for later support of this configuration before planning a VAIO migration for sites that replicate to a service provider.

Sources:

• https://help.zerto.com/bundle/Linux.ZVM.HTML.10.8/page/VAIO_unsupported.htm