Architect's Edge: SRM now included with VCF and VVF. Two data centers are connected across a mountainous valley by glowing recovery streams, with a sunrise over the recovery site.
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SRM Now Included with VCF and VVF: How to Get Your License and Protect Your VMs

ByChristopher Kusek (PKGuild)

Following Broadcom’s November 2026 portfolio announcement, active VMware Cloud Foundation and VMware vSphere Foundation subscribers have a new reason to revisit their disaster recovery plans. Here’s what changed, how to get Site Recovery Manager working today, and what to plan for next.

What if one of the most useful capabilities for protecting your business applications became part of the infrastructure subscription you already have—but nobody had shown you how to turn it on?

That’s the opportunity behind Broadcom’s November 2026 Site Recovery Manager (SRM) licensing change. Organizations that never purchased SRM separately may now have access through their active VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) or VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) subscriptions. And those already running SRM have a licensing and upgrade transition to plan for. This is not merely a change in product names: it is an invitation to move from hoping that backups and high availability will be enough to building a recovery process you can actually test.

Important distinction — SRM entitlement now; integrated licensing in the next release: Broadcom KB 461219 explicitly dates the packaging change to November 2, 2026: SRM is no longer sold standalone, and existing customers with active VCF or VVF subscriptions are entitled to SRM for workloads covered by those subscriptions. Because the integrated entitlement in Protection and Recovery 9.1.3 is not available yet, eligible customers can obtain a temporary key through the Support Portal. The KB currently anticipates 9.1.3 during February–April 2027 (an estimate, not a committed GA date) and identifies May 2, 2027 as the interim key’s expiration date. It directs customers to move to Protection and Recovery 9.1.3 and vCenter 9.1 or later before that expiration to avoid losing disaster recovery functionality. These are Broadcom’s documented entitlement and transition terms, not an independent release prediction.

First: Never purchased SRM? Start here.

For many VMware customers, Site Recovery Manager was a familiar name attached to a separate procurement conversation. Its purpose remains straightforward: orchestrate the recovery of protected virtual machines at an alternate site, in an order that supports the applications and business services those VMs deliver. Instead of relying exclusively on a manually maintained spreadsheet, SRM brings site pairing, inventory mappings, protection groups, recovery plans, and repeatable recovery testing into one workflow.

Under the November 2026 announced packaging change, that purchasing boundary is changing. KB 461219 now says SRM is no longer sold as a standalone offering and is included for existing customers with active VCF or VVF subscriptions. This applies whether you never owned SRM, want to renew an existing SRM deployment, or need to expand protection. The inclusion is subject to the customer’s active subscription and governing product terms; it does not mean every VMware installation or expired license suddenly carries SRM rights.

What you have today What the November change means Next action
Active VCF subscription; no SRM Eligible for SRM through VCF. Choose the temporary-key path now or wait for integrated 9.1.3 licensing.
Active VVF subscription; no SRM Eligible for SRM through VVF. Same initial entitlement and access decision; confirm your specific recovery architecture and feature rights.
Active VCF/VVF subscription; already has SRM New subscription entitlement creates a renewal/expansion transition path. Inventory current SRM keys and software before replacing anything.
Perpetual VCF license, with or without active SnS The new benefit does not apply to the perpetual license alone. Review subscription eligibility with your account team before proceeding.

Don’t confuse eligibility with readiness. SRM cannot invent a second recovery site, sufficient recovery compute/storage, network connectivity, or replicated recovery data. And it is not simply a backup product. What has changed is access to the orchestration capability; what you build around it still determines how quickly and reliably you recover.

Two ways to begin: Use SRM now, or wait for the integrated entitlement

Broadcom documents two options for eligible active VCF/VVF subscribers:

  1. Need recovery orchestration now? Obtain a term-limited legacy SRM license key and the appropriate supported software from the Broadcom Support Portal. This is the route for organizations that do not want to postpone DR design and testing until the next release.
  2. Planning a later deployment? Plan for the integrated entitlement in Protection and Recovery 9.1.3 alongside vCenter 9.1 or later. KB 461219 currently anticipates the VCF/VVF 9.1.3 release in February–April 2027. This is published planning guidance, not a guaranteed GA date; validate the actual release before committing to a production change.

Time-sensitive: the temporary SRM key expires May 2, 2027. This is the expiration date expressly stated in Broadcom KB 461219, not an estimate derived from the release cadence. Customers using it must complete the required Protection and Recovery 9.1.3 and vCenter 9.1+ transition before expiration to preserve DR functionality. Verify the current KB and your issued key, and schedule the change early enough to test recovery plans afterward.

One easily missed distinction: the VCF 9.x license-file workflow and this interim legacy SRM key are not the same thing. Until integrated entitlement is available, follow the specific SRM key instructions below instead of expecting the key to appear automatically in the VCF licensing interface. For historical background on VCF 9 licensing, see our VCF 9.0 Licensing, Simplified and VCF 9 license-file explainer. Those articles predate the November 2026 SRM change; use the newer Broadcom KB for current SRM entitlements.

Capacity and key compatibility: Broadcom KB 461219 confirms that the interim SRM key supports up to 10,000 protected VMs, is a version 8.1 key usable with supported SRM versions, and cannot be split, combined, upgraded or downgraded. Existing SRM/VLSR customers seeking renewal or expansion are explicitly among the eligible active VCF/VVF subscription scenarios. Where an existing SRM key is assigned, Broadcom directs customers to replace it with the interim key in vCenter rather than attempt to merge keys. Check the current KB 461219, compatibility matrix and actual license assignments before any production change.

How to download your SRM software and license key today

The key is under My Downloads—not the Licensing Portal. That alone is worth repeating, because looking for a new key under the usual license-management area can send administrators down the wrong path.

  1. Sign in to the Broadcom Support Portal using an account that can access your organization’s active VCF/VVF downloads.
  2. Open My Downloads in the left navigation.
  3. Choose VMware Cloud Foundation or VMware vSphere Foundation, then the corresponding version 9 product family.
  4. Select release 9.1 or later in the download listing.
  5. Search the page for Protection and Recovery.
  6. Under Protection and Recovery (incl. Replication, Disaster Recovery), choose View Group for the software downloads.
  7. Under Protection and Recovery (Key), choose View Group and download the PDF containing the term-limited SRM license key.

These are the documented Support Portal navigation labels from Broadcom KB 461219. The KB also contains actual portal screenshots; consult those if your download page differs from another administrator’s view. Finding the item under version 9.1 in My Downloads does not mean your running environment can skip the product’s compatibility and upgrade prerequisites.

What if you can’t see it? Check that your Support Portal account is associated with the correct active subscription and download entitlements. If access or the applicable product is missing, don’t substitute an unrelated evaluation or legacy key. Broadcom directs eligible customers to open a case at Support under VMware vCenter Server → Protection and Recovery.

Install, assign, and verify the key—not merely download it

Before installation, confirm your vCenter, ESX, replication technology, and recovery appliance versions against the Broadcom Compatibility Matrix. The software version required for an interim-key deployment is not automatically identical to the later 9.1.3 integrated-entitlement requirement. Use the supported software and documented deployment sequence for your environment.

For conventional SRM/vLSR license assignment, Broadcom KB 397942 documents the following workflow:

  1. Sign in to the relevant vSphere Client after deploying and registering the supported SRM/Protection and Recovery appliance.
  2. Navigate to Menu → Administration → Licensing → Licenses.
  3. Under Assets → Solutions, select the applicable SRM solution on the corresponding vCenter Server.
  4. Select Assign License. Use the New License option, enter the interim key from the downloaded PDF, and confirm the assignment.
  5. Repeat the assignment wherever required for the protected and recovery vCenter instances, and inspect the resulting license status rather than assuming the presence of a key means it was applied correctly.

Stop and verify. Ensure the relevant SRM solutions are not left in evaluation mode, verify that the appliance recognizes the license, and confirm protection capacity and applicable subscriptions before adding workloads. If the interface or labels differ by release, use the product-specific instructions matched to your installed version. A key that appears in your inventory is not proof that the recovery plan will run successfully.

Receiving “Invalid license key”? Check the software version first.

There is a known license-format recognition issue in certain older SRM/Live Recovery builds. Broadcom KB 438925 documents minimum corrected versions, including SRM 9.0.2.4 for affected 9.0.1–9.0.2.3 releases, 9.0.5.1 for affected 9.0.3–9.0.5 releases, and Protection and Recovery 9.1.0.0100 for the affected 9.1.0.0 release. These are version-family-specific corrections, not a universal recommendation to install one particular release without a compatibility check.

Special warning: The temporary key in KB 461219 cannot be split, combined, upgraded, or downgraded. Although KB 438925 contains generic advice about refreshing some other affected keys by splitting and merging, do not apply that procedure to this special interim key. Follow the specific entitlement KB and engage support if a corrected, supported appliance still rejects it.

Use the official DR design guides and architecture diagrams

The entitlement opens the door, but the design still matters. Before installing appliances or building recovery plans, compare your intended topology with Broadcom’s Validated Solution: Site Protection and Disaster Recovery for VMware Cloud Foundation. It is a VCF design reference, not a substitute for checking your specific VVF architecture or software-version compatibility. For installation in a current VCF 9.1 environment, start with Deploy Protection and Recovery from the vCenter User Interface and the appropriate version-specific release notes.

For planning the actual recovery workflow, Broadcom’s documentation covers inventory mappings (KB 398859), protection groups and recovery plans (KB 398861), and isolating replication traffic. The first two are accessible KB-based implementation guides; the last is a version-specific TechDocs guide for 9.0.3 and should be used as architectural context rather than as a substitute for matching 9.1 instructions.

Want to see the topology before building it? Broadcom’s Disaster Recovery for VMware Cloud Foundation includes original architectural figures showing a single production site, a paired two-site recovery design, and a VCF management-domain arrangement with recovery components. These are excellent visuals to study alongside the deployment guide. The figures remain on Broadcom’s original page; we link to them rather than republishing their image files.

Your first SRM recovery plan: A practical starting checklist

With the license installed, the best first project is not “protect everything.” It is proving you can recover one important business service, end to end, in a controlled way. That is how an entitlement becomes an operational capability.

Step What to establish or verify
1. Define the business requirement Choose an application and document its recovery time objective (RTO), recovery point objective (RPO), dependencies, and accountable application owner.
2. Identify the recovery location Confirm the secondary site’s hosts, vCenter, networking, storage, capacity, access, and failure-domain separation.
3. Configure replication Select a supported replication method—such as supported vSphere Replication or an array-based approach—and validate protected data reaches the recovery location.
4. Pair and map sites Pair the recovery components; map networks, resource pools/folders, and other inventory dependencies appropriately for the target environment.
5. Build protection groups Organize the application VMs and their required recovery behavior into the supported protection groups.
6. Build a recovery plan Specify recovery sequencing, startup dependencies, IP/network handling, and documented post-start validation actions.
7. Test without impacting production Use an appropriately isolated recovery test network, validate the application with its owner, inspect logs, run test cleanup, and record the measured outcome.
8. Make it repeatable Set a recurring test cadence, maintain change-control ownership, and revisit the plan when applications or infrastructure change.

Broadcom’s Disaster Recovery for VMware Cloud Foundation explains the two-site architecture, appliance placement, replication, inventory mappings, protection groups, and recovery plans. KB 426549 supplies a pre-execution recovery checklist; KB 398859 covers network mappings and test-network isolation. A failover test should not inadvertently connect recovered VMs to production networks.

And remember: HA is not the same as DR. vSphere HA can restart workloads following failures within its supported scope; it is not a substitute for an application recovery plan at another site. Similarly, having replicated data without tested recovery sequencing can still leave a business struggling to restore an application service.

Already own SRM? This is your transition checklist.

Existing SRM customers are not an afterthought, but they do have a different immediate question. If your current deployment and contractual entitlement are healthy, do not replace a working license merely because the packaging changed. First understand the license you have and what happens at renewal, expansion, or upgrade.

  • Inventory what is deployed. Record the SRM/Live Recovery/Protection and Recovery appliance versions, corresponding vCenter versions, replication technology, SRM solution license assignments, and contract/renewal dates.
  • Distinguish an existing SRM entitlement from the new VCF/VVF-based entitlement. KB 461219 expressly includes active subscription customers who want to renew or expand SRM, but your current license and contract still need review.
  • If adopting the interim key, treat it as a replacement—not something to merge. KB 461219 says customers cannot mix the existing and term-limited keys in the same SRM pair by splitting or combining. The documented remedy is to replace the existing key with the interim key where applicable, with careful validation on the affected vCenter solutions.
  • Re-check licenses after major upgrades. KB 376866 describes SRM 8.x-to-9.0 upgrades that can return the SRM solution to evaluation status and require reapplying the license.
  • Plan the 9.1.3 transition before the interim key expires. Upgrade eligibility, release availability, vCenter 9.1+ requirements, rollback planning, and a post-upgrade recovery test are all part of the change—not simply applying a newer license.

If renewal terms, entitlement scope, or a mixed legacy deployment are unclear, use your account team and the official licensing terms rather than extrapolating from a generic KB or historical SKU description.

What happens when Protection and Recovery 9.1.3 arrives?

The November announcement describes native disaster recovery in the next VCF/VVF release; KB 461219 gives the more operational version: once 9.1.3 is available, the integrated entitlement is consumed through Protection and Recovery 9.1.3 with vCenter 9.1+. That is the future-state path for eligible subscriptions, and using an interim key now should not become a reason to postpone planning for it.

For the SRM transition, KB 461219 currently gives a February–April 2027 anticipated availability window for VCF/VVF 9.1.3 and a firm May 2, 2027 temporary-key expiration. The broader November 4 portfolio announcement separately describes a Q1 FY27 target for the next release, so the two public planning windows are not identical. Treat the release window as provisional and the key expiration as a customer-impacting deadline unless Broadcom updates it. KB 410435 provides general VCF release-cadence background but does not supersede the SRM-specific licensing KB. Verify the actual GA announcement, compatibility matrix, and migration instructions, and leave time for a controlled post-upgrade recovery test.

From disaster recovery to resilience: What does SRM not solve by itself?

Imagine two different bad days. On the first, a power or equipment failure takes down your primary data center, but your data at the recovery site is known good. On the second, ransomware has quietly altered your systems and those changes have already reached the replica. Both require recovery. They do not require the same recovery process.

Traditional disaster recovery focuses on moving application services to usable infrastructure elsewhere, with tested sequencing and predictable recovery objectives. Cyber recovery adds difficult questions: Which restore point is clean? Can we inspect it without reconnecting an infected system to production? Is the clean-room environment isolated? How do security and application teams agree it is safe to return to service?

Broadcom’s How Is Cyber Recovery Different from Disaster Recovery? explores those operational differences. The November portfolio announcement separately describes VMware Live Recovery with cyber-recovery clean-room capabilities as an Advanced Service. Don’t interpret the new SRM entitlement as automatically including every isolated cyber-recovery feature or service. Those additional requirements, architecture choices, and subscriptions deserve their own evaluation.

That said, the SRM entitlement can be a meaningful starting point. It makes a previously separate conversation easier to initiate: Which applications truly need recovery orchestration? Have we tested our runbooks? What happens after the initial failover? And when was the last time we proved the plan still worked?

Architect’s Edge: Your ten-minute action list

  • Confirm whether your VCF or VVF subscription is active and whether your organization has ever deployed SRM.
  • If SRM is new to you, sign in to Support Portal → My Downloads and locate Protection and Recovery (Key) under the VCF/VVF 9.1+ listing.
  • Read KB 461219 alongside the compatibility matrix before selecting your software version.
  • Choose one application, define recovery objectives, and organize a proof-of-recovery test using appropriate isolation.
  • If using the interim key, put May 2, 2027 (per KB 461219) on your lifecycle calendar and plan the Protection and Recovery 9.1.3/vCenter 9.1+ migration and validation well ahead of it.

Some of the most valuable technology in an infrastructure environment is the technology a team has already paid for but has never deployed. The November change does not make recovery automatic. It does make it worth asking a new question: Is the disaster recovery orchestration we’ve been postponing now within reach?

Official references and further reading

Last reviewed November 9, 2026. Published product plans, release windows, and entitlement instructions may change. Confirm current Broadcom documentation and applicable contractual terms before making production changes. This article is independent technical guidance.

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