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Nate_D1's avatar
Nate_D1
Level 6
10 years ago

VMhostname/displayname not matching up, errors backing up

Hi All,

I searched around for this and couldnt find anything that led me to resolution. I have 6 VMs that have a 'client name' in the policy view window (not 'new client' selection window) and in the activity monitor window, that is NOT the same as their hostname in the new client selection window (like when browsing the VMhosts for guests to add).

I think this could have something to do with reverse DNS, I have had some issues with that before, but none of the hostnames listed that are erroring out - are present on the reverse records of either DNS server.

I also have 2 that are listed as vmhostname 169.254.x.x addresses, and I have no idea why on that either. I can't figure out exactly which VM's are causing this issue becuase they dont have the same name listed when I go to the VM selection window.

I have had off and on issues like this and I want to get it all squashed and working properly. It looks like backing up via vmware display name could possibly get around this (we are very good about display names matching hostname) but I am not sure of what issues this could present.

Backup and Recovery
NetBackup
Troubleshooting
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • RiaanBadenhorst's avatar
    RiaanBadenhorst
    10 years ago

    Its pulling that information from vCenter, so I would guess the vmx file must have that information in it. Maybe the SQL server has 2 NIC's and the one has an IP and the other not. The order of binding might be incorrect so the 169 is listed instead of the correct one. Look at vcenter and the configs of the vm's.

     

    NBU does not generate the info.

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  • RiaanBadenhorst's avatar
    RiaanBadenhorst
    Level 6
    10 years ago

    Hi,

     

    Check the info below for an explanation of the 2 methods. I suspect your vm has more than one IP listed which is resulting in the inconsistencies.

    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH147535

    Issue

     
     

    This is a brief description of how NBU validates VM's for backing up using VStorage backups.

     

    Solution

     
     
     
    Background:  When backing up vm’s with Netbackup Vstorage or VCB methods, Netbackup has no real-time communications with the VMWare environment.  Because of this Netbackup must rely on VMWare to provide Netbackup a up-to-date list of vm’s and their properties. This information is written in the form of cache files located on the backup host at \\netbackup\online_util\fi_cntl. These cache files are static and only update when certain conditions are met. Since they are static, NBU needs away to ensure that the VM listed in the policy is the correct VM that that needs to be backed up.   This is done through a validation procedure. There are 2 main methods that can be selected by the user (set in the policy) for this validation – Display Name or Host Name. (There is a 3rd selection; UUID.  This just reverses the Display Name process.)
     
    Hostname:  When the backup kicks off if or when the client is modified Netbackup does a NSLOOKUP on the IP address as seen in the cache file.   The result is then compared against the hostname in the cache file.  If this varies in ANYWAY, NBU will not validate this VM and the backup will fail.  This method also cannot correctly handle more than one IP address per vm.  The cache file will only record a single IP address in cache file and if this varies from the one recorded in the policy this will cause a failure.
     
    Display Name:  The validation process uses the DISPLAY name of the vm as seen by the virtual center.  The process of Validation relies on reading the UUID of the VM as seen in the policy and comparing it against the UUID recorded in the cache file for the VM with that Display name.   If UUID does not match, this will cause the backup to fail. 

     

       
  • Nate_D1's avatar
    Nate_D1
    Level 6
    10 years ago

    Hi Raain,

    Its possible they had a 169 address for a while but right now the servers in question only have a single address. I renamed the fi_cntl folder to fi_cntl_old and it recreated it but still keeps the old names on there.  Do you know how I can sort of 'force a recheck' or something where it will re-check the machines names and update them? I have tried removing them from the policy and re-adding, restarting services, etc. with no luck.

     

    Do you know if there are any gotchas or things to look out for when switching to backing up via display name after backing up via hostname for so long?

     

    Thank you

    Nate

  • RiaanBadenhorst's avatar
    RiaanBadenhorst
    Level 6
    10 years ago

    Hi,

     

    If you removed the content from (or renamed) the folder it would generate a fresh copy by talking to vcenter. So then it means its getting that info from vCenter

     

    Or, you've removed the folder from the wrong backup host (not the same as listed in the policy), and you're looking at the old data.

  • Nate_D1's avatar
    Nate_D1
    Level 6
    10 years ago

    Interesting. I did rename the folder (i only have one backup host, the master server) and it was recreated, but I have 2 SQL servers that still seem to want to use a 169.x as VM hostname, but they do not have more than 1 IP address listed. I appreciate the comments!

  • RiaanBadenhorst's avatar
    RiaanBadenhorst
    Level 6
    10 years ago

    Its pulling that information from vCenter, so I would guess the vmx file must have that information in it. Maybe the SQL server has 2 NIC's and the one has an IP and the other not. The order of binding might be incorrect so the 169 is listed instead of the correct one. Look at vcenter and the configs of the vm's.

     

    NBU does not generate the info.