06-01-2011 08:46 AM
Hello,
We are implementing a new backup solution to replace our current solution (Backup Exec 12.5) so I built this system from scratch. The new server is an HP BL460 G1 (8GB / 2 x quad-core) with a Q-Logic mezzanine fiber card for SAN connectivity. The server was built using the latest HP SmartStart CD 8.70 and Windows 2008 R2 Standard was installed, then the server was updated to SP1. A fresh ISO of Backup Exec 2010 R3 was downloaded and installed and I am currently running in trial mode so we can test features that we are not currently licensed for in the event we decided to buy them.
Our VMware environment consists of one Windows 2008 SP2 Standard server running vCenter 4.1 Update 1 managing six ESXi hosts (4.1.0-348481 Update 1) across two clusters, installed on BL460 and BL680 servers. The most important aspect of our new solution will be our VMware environment backups, on 12.5 we are currently still doing backups the old fashioned way on our VM's (RAWS agent installed and backing up through network).
A few months back in our lab environment I had tested Backup Exec 2010 R2 with VMware backups using both SAN transport mode and the NBD transport mode, both worked great (SAN transport mode was insanely faster) and I had no issues configuring the environment to make everything work. In the new solution, I have reconfigured everything and Im currently testing the environment configuration with the backup of a single VM (Windows 7 workstation) but it keeps failing with either SAN transport mode or NBD transport mode with the following error:
V-79-57344-38277 - Unable to open a disk of the virtual machine.
VixDiskLib_Open() reported the error:
From all the reading I am doing, the "VixDiskLib_Open()" always seems to report an error message but in my case it does not and I can't seem to find anyone else with this exact issue. I have verified the article (http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH77785) with no success. The server is properly zoned and connected to the fabric as I can see the SAN LUN's and they are not marked as offline (I even disabled automount as per a suggestion I read on here), I can ping the ESXi hosts by name and resolve their names/IP's and the user account for vCenter has proper privileges. As per the article I also enabled debug logging on the RAWS/Job Engine services and checked the logs after running the job and I couldn't detect any errors in the logs and nothing looked even close to what I might be expected to see when the job fails using the SAN transport mode.
Since the exact error also occurs also using NBD I suspect a problem with Backup Exec itself and not an environment configuration issue, if anybody has any suggestions and/or help they can provide that would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Pascal
06-01-2011 09:42 AM
Is the remote agent installed on the 'failing' vm in question ?
And is it possible for you to update to Backup Exec 2010 R3 (same license keys apply) or did you update BE 2010 R2 with all available patches ?
06-01-2011 09:53 AM
You can also check this article:
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH135858
It mentions 2008/2008R2 but as the codebase of 2008R2 and Windows 7 is shared the tips may solve your issue aswell.
06-01-2011 11:21 AM
The RAWS agent was not installed because I was not trying to use any GRT (system or applications). I installed it just for fun and the problem remains. As for my version, I started with a fresh installation of R3.
06-01-2011 11:25 AM
I just went through that article and tested with a Windows 2008 R2 that is no longer used and will soon be decomissioned, no success...
I tried to first run the backup on that Windows 2008 R2 VM in the state the VM was, same error as above...
I installed the RAWS agent and tried again, same error as above...
I disabled the Application Quiescing as per the article, still the same error as above...
Im waiting on our procurement person to get back in the office at which point ill be able to get a hold of our contract information with Symantec so I can place a support call directly with them, in the meantime im on my own...
06-01-2011 04:12 PM
Have you tried to remove the Vmware VSS provider (run the setup of the vmware tools) and remove the vss provider. After that, install the Symantec VSS provider (there is an MSI and ISO of this setup on the installation media), and then try the backup again.
I have had a lot of trouble with the AVVI backups, but they were all gone after these steps.
06-02-2011 05:53 AM
I had done that on my Windows 7 VM before because I was having snapshot/quiescing issues and it fixed that issue but then I started getting the current error I am having now...I just tried it this morning on my Windows 2008 R2 VM as well and still no success...
06-03-2011 05:55 AM
If you run a backup, open the vSphere client, connected to your vCenter server. At the start of the backup, do you see that a, sucessfull, snaphot is taken of the VM in question ?
06-03-2011 06:22 AM
Yeah the snapshot is taken successfuly on the VM...this is what I see in vCenter within the 30-45secs from when the job starts to when it terminates with the error after vCenter removes the snapshot...
Reconfigure virtual machine
Create virtual machine snapshot
Reload virtual machine
Remove snapshot
06-03-2011 06:35 AM
Just read a thread with the same issue:
Unfortunately no solution.
Since you have the problems only with 1 VM, is there something special to this machine, compared to other VMs ? Like thin provisioning or another VMFS datastore ?