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rafanto's avatar
rafanto
Level 5
2 years ago

VMware SAN Backups errors

Hello,

Please help with this query, we are configuring VMware backups over SAN, we have several Datastores presented to the Media Server/Backup Host, but for some reason some VM backups are being performed over LAN (NBD), the Activity Monitor log indicates that they are not was able to access the disk via SAN Transport.

Performing validations, the WWID of the DataStore is not shown for any of the 6 paths that the storage has.

Another behavior is that when restarting the backup host, the paths are updated and several WWIDs / paths that were previously active are now no longer active.

Could it be some type of parameterization or limit on the number of devices that the backup host can handle?

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  • davidmoline's avatar
    davidmoline
    Level 6
    2 years ago

    Hi rafanto 

    You don't mention the OS of the backup host. Even so if the OS is recent both Windows and Linux should be able to see many 1000's of LUNs without issue. 

    The usual problem I've seen is incorrect SAN zoning to the datastore LUNs. I'd review this side first. Then if the HBA adaptors have software tools installed, use those to scan the HBA for what it can see. 

    David

    • rafanto's avatar
      rafanto
      Level 5
      2 years ago

      Hello,

      It's Linux (Flex appliance container instance), I don't know if under Flex Appliance architecture exists any issue or tunning to do.

      Under the backup host we can see the disks and partitions (/dev/sda**) with the command lsblk for example, but with other command to view the WWID, this data don't show, for example:

      # /lib/udev/scsi_id --whitelisted --replace-whitespace --device=/dev/sdc

      It coincides that on disks in which the WWID cannot be seen, SAN backups do not work.

      At the Flex Appliance level, the WWID of the LUN is correct, the LUN is observed through all the paths that the Storage has (there are six), but at the media level they cannot be seen.

       

      • davidmoline's avatar
        davidmoline
        Level 6
        2 years ago

        Hi rafanto 
        As it is a Flex instance there are steps to follow (which you may have done of course). 

        From the Flex console, you need to assign the SAN ports to the instance and use them for VMware backups. After this is done, then the WWIDs should be visible to the instance. 

        The steps to assign the ports can be found in the Admin guide for the Flex. 

        David