Cannot run the VMware VCB command 'vcbmounter.exe'

[Benji]

Hi,

We're receiving this message when we try run a VM backup, we're just trialing the agent, we've installed the VCB Framework, VMware Converter. We've uninstalled and reinstalled the Framework with no luck. Is there some simple configuration that we've missed as the only help we can find is reinstalling the framework.

Thanks

Ben

[Tobi_Langer]

Hi Benji,

I had the same problem when I was testing with this new agent.

Whitch transport mode do you want to use? SAN, NBD or HOTADD?

Is your VCB Proxy server a virtual or physical server?

In my case the VCB Proxy is a virtual machine so I can't use the SAN mode.

NBD mode goes over network and is slow. I take the HOTADD mode.

HOTADD mode uses the I/O Stack of the ESX SERVER and so is the best joice.

To run a backup in HOTADD mode you have to make a new so called helper machine.

If your virtual VCB Proxy server is for example called "backupserver" then you have

to make a new virtual server called "backupserver(VCB-HELPER)".

The settings of this virtual helper machine only needs to be so small as possible.

For example 2003 Server, no network, 1MB HDD, 4MB RAM.

Try to use the helper machine and the error message of backupexec should go away.

Regards,

Tobi

[Benji]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, I'll try what you mentioned. The VCB Proxy and Backup Exec are on the same physical server, I've tried both SAN and NBD both with the same results, I'll give the HOTADD mode a go.

Thanks

Ben

[fl]

Tobi,

I tried what you said about creating a vcb-helper vm but I'm not sure what you mean by 'use the helper machine'.  Currently both SAN and NBD mode works for me but is very slow including the SAN mode.  I like to try the HOTADD mode but I just can't get it to work at all.

My BE 12.5 server is my VCB proxy unless for the HOTADD the VCB proxy needs to be a VM? I have transport mode of HOTADD and 'use the local media server as the VCB proxy' select. The VMs are on a iSCSI volume which I have also attached to the BE server where the VCB proxy is.

Any idea what I am missing?

[Benji]

Solved, was the user account I was using.

Thanks

Ben

[OSJF]

Hi,

I'm struggling with this error message too.

Here is what I do:

1x ESXi 3.5u3 Evaluation

1x Backup Exec 12.5 Evaluation

1x Virtual Infrastructure Client

1x Virtual Machine Win2003 R2 with BE 12.5, VCB and VM Converter installed.

1x Virtual Machine Win2003 - This is the machine I'm trying to backup.

There is no SAN, NAS or iSCSI. I'm working with Test Hardware here. This means I'm trying to backup to local storage within the BE 12.5 VM (Backup-To-Disk-Folder).

As you can see (Evaluation) I'm new to BE and ESXi.

I followed the "Integrating Symantec Backup Exec 12.5 for Windows Servers with VCB Proxy Server 1.5" Guide. Avaliable HERE

I'm NOT using Virtual Center wich is optional according to the BeAdmin_en.pdf

So VCB Proxy, Staging Server and BE 12.5 Media Server reside on the same VM. According to the BeAdmin_en.pdf this configuration is supported.

My ESXi Server is named "ESXi01", the VM with BE 12.5 is named "BACKUPEXEC", the VM I'm trying to backup is named "WSUS".

BACKUPEXEC and WSUS are Members of the domain OS.INTERN wich has a physical Win2003 Domain Controller with DNS Services.

On ESXi Console / DNS Configuration is set the hostname to "ESXi.OS.INTERN"

I added A records on the DNS Services OS.INTERN Zone. And also added these entrys to the hosts file on the BE 12.5 VM.

192.168.1.152 - WSUS.OS.INTERN

192.168.1.153 - BACKUPEXEC.OS.INTERN

192.168.1.154 - ESXi01.OS.INTERN

I can resolve all three by using nslookup from within the VM wich is running BE.

All three are have their primary DNS pointed to the DC DNS Service.

Here are my configuration steps: (sorry wasn't able implement the pictures here)

[img]http://xs135.xs.to/xs135/09045/settings_01908.jpg[/IMG]

[img]http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs135&d=09045&f=settings_02658.jpg[/IMG]

when I browse the ESXi Server for the first time BE asks for credentials since the default System Logon Account doesn't work of course. So I enter in the ESXi root user and select the WSUS VM.

[img]http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs135&d=09045&f=settings_03413.jpg[/img]

Under "Devices" I choosed a Backup-To-Disk Folder named VMBACKUPES  I created before.

(NOTE: I'm trying to backup to local storage!!!)

"Run Now"......

After 2minutes the Backup Job quits with a warning:

This backup set may not contain any data.
Backup of "VMVCB::\\ESXi01\VCGuestVm\(DC)ha-datacenter(DC)\vm\WSUS " 

And an Error:

VMBATEST -- The job failed with the following error: An error occurred while running the VMware 'vcbMounter' command to back up a virtual machine. See the job log for details.

 

Job-Logs:

Final error: 0xe000954c - An error occurred while running the VMware 'vcbMounter' command to back up a virtual machine. See the job log for details.
Final error category: Resource Errors

For additional information regarding this error refer to link V-79-57344-38220

Backup- VMVCB::\\ESXi01\VCGuestVm\(DC)ha-datacenter(DC)\vm\WSUS 
V-79-57344-38220 - Backup of the virtual machine 'WSUS' failed. VMware VCB framework reported the following error 
 Error: Could not find virtual machine specified by name:BACKUPEXEC(VCB-HELPER)

nslookup before the job:

nslookup BACKUPEXEC
Server:  os-server2.os.intern
Address:  192.168.1.10

Name:    BACKUPEXEC.OS.INTERN
Address:  192.168.1.153

Another thing, when I configured the Job I did a test under "Resource Credentials" see this screen:
[img]http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs135&d=09045&f=test_01274.jpg[/img]

What is that supposed to mean? I mean I was able to browser the ESXi and select the WSUS VM using the ESXi root credentials before, huh?

I'm struggling with this for two days know. I tried tons of things, googled and all that stuff. 

What am I doing wrong?

I have a confirmed budged for new hardware/software and I really need the tasks to work before I give the money to my reseller :)

Sorry for my bad english, any help would be greatly appreciated!

OSJF

EDIT: Ok, I added the BACKUPEXEC(VCB-HELPER) machine as recommended by Tobi Langer.

Job Log is different now:

Backup- VMVCB::\\ESXi01\VCGuestVm\(DC)ha-datacenter(DC)\vm\WSUS V-79-57344-38220 - Backup of the virtual machine 'WSUS' failed. VMware VCB framework reported the following error 
 Error: Could not locate device nodes for new disks.

Followed by a ton of Information messages:

The device, \Device\Harddisk4, is not ready for access yet.The device, \Device\Harddisk5, is not ready for access yet.The device, \Device\Harddisk6, is not ready for access yet. I 

From VMWare Website: HERE

Hot-add fails with "Could not locate device nodes for new disks"Some applications install a virtual adapter in the guest operating system. These virtual adapters could interfere with the ability of Consolidated Backup to detect a disk that has been added while the machine is running (or "hot" added) in the proxy virtual machine when performing a mount operation. If the error, "Could not locate device nodes for new disks," occurs during a hot-add mount operation, check the Windows device manager to see if any SCSI controllers other than those for LSI Logic or Buslogic are installed. 

But there is now SCSI controller other then the virtual LSI Adapter?

Message Edited by OSJF on 01-23-2009 10:25 AM

[Jonathan_Koutst]

One other reason for this error to occur is the simple fact that BE can't find the vcbmounter executable. I ran a filemon trace during a backup job and it seems BE just searches a few subfolders under Program Files and in Windows\system32. It skips the obvious location, which is the default install directory for VMware VCB:

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework\

The quick 'n dirty workaround would be to copy the executable to C:\Windows\System32\ and restarting all BE services. At least this error has gone away now. On to the next couple of bugs.

I had hoped Symantec's product quality would have improved somewhat by now, but this is just bad programming. It's not that hard calling VCB executables. Even I can write a script in five minutes to backup a vm, using just VCB framework. It's the GRT features in BE 12.5 I'm interested in, but so far I've already spent two days getting frustrated and asking myself why I fall for the same old trick every time a new version of BE arrives. Nice new features, want those, get incredibly frustrated trying to use them.

[OSJF]

I share your thoughts.

The solution for me was to switch  from Hotadd to NDB Mode.

[Jonathan_Koutst]

I've done some testing and as it turns out making backups of vm's without using Backup Exec's VCI option while still enabling simple file level restores is quite straight forward:

To backup a single vm, you can directly call vcbmounter.exe like this:

Vcbmounter –h <fqdn of virtualcenter server> -u <username> -p <password> -a ipaddr:<fqdn_of_the_vm> -r <path_to_backupfolder> -t fullvm -m san -M 1

Which puts the vm in snapshot mode, copies the contents of the vm's directory to the vcb proxy through the san and leaves you with one vmdk file per virtual disk. Obviously, restoring single files from any of those vmdk files could take quite a while when dealing with larger volumes. Fortunately, there's another option:

 Vcbmounter –h <fqdn of virtualcenter server> -u <username> -p <password> -a ipaddr:<fqdn_of_the_vm> -r <path_to_backupfolder> -t file -m san

Using the -t file option, the output comes as a folder containing the complete NTFS directory structure of the vm's disks, including files. So now you can backup that folder like you would normally backup the vm file-by-file using an agent. This enables you to quickly perform file level restores.

A simple backup strategy for a file server with several large disks would be something like this:

- Run a scheduled task on the vcb proxy using vcbmounter to perform a snapshot of the vm's drives and export as VDMK files (vcbmounter -h virtualcenterserver.domain.com -u backupuser -p somepassword -a ipaddr:fileserver.domain.com -r D:\vmbackups\fileserver -t fullcm -m san -M 1)

- Have Backup Exec (or any other backup software) perform a pre-job command to do the same, only this time export the disks as NTFS readable data (vcbmounter -h virtualcenterserver.domain.com -u backupuser -p somepassword -a ipaddr:fileserver.domain.com -r D:\vmbackups\fileserver -t file -m san)

- In BE's selection for the backup job, include any vmdk files on the vcb proxy you want to keep in case you mess up the vm itself, plus the directory structure containing actual data from the vmdk's

- As a post-job command, have Backup Exec dismount both the exports and remove the snapshot from the vm (vcbmounter -h virtualcenterserver.domain.com -u backupuser -p somepassword -U D:\vmbackups\fileserver)

What you end up with on (virtual) tape is one or more vmdk files (for when the entire building goes up in flames and you have to restore the machine to another ESX host), plus the entire directory structure of the vm (in case someone deletes his junk very important work related document and wants to have it back asap). Meanwhile, you haven't put any stress on the ESX host, the vm or the network and probably cut  backup times in half (assuming your vcb proxy can stream files more quickly than your vm).

So far I've only found two drawbacks:

- Independent disks. You can't make snapshots of disks that are in independent mode. So if they are, you'll have to shut down the vm and change that.

- Independent disks. So far, there's no option to tell vcbmounter which vmdk's to backup, so it automatically picks all those that are not in independent mode. So that's you only selection method. Of course you could always leave out the vmdk's you don't need in the job selection for the Backup Exec job.

One more tip: if you're just about to invest in some new backup equipment (tape drives, libraries, B2D), have a good look at disk-based virtual tape libraries with deduplication (Quantum, DataDomain). Those boxes enable you to store the same data in different forms without requiring any extra disk space. So you can have a vmdk backup and a file-level backup without the need for twice the space. Call you local Quantum and DD dealers and ask for evaluation boxes. Seriously.

[DannyBoy]

Hi

I used the VCB-Helper and it works for me. I create a clone of the vmware server with the name backupserver(VCB-HELPER), this machine not needs to be power on.

Thanks

[bjash]

 I just add the "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework\" path into the system environment PATH variable so I can run VCBMounter on any command line.

[bjash]

Here are the commands that we run during our full image backups: 

vcbmounter -h VIRTUALCENTERESXHOST -u USERNAME -p PASSWORD -a ipaddr:VMGUESTIP -r D:\VMBACKUPDIR -t fullvm

vcbmounter -h VIRTUALCENTERESXHOST -u USERNAME -p PASSWORD -a ipaddr:VMGUEST IP -r D:\VMBACKUPDIR -t fullvm -m nbd

The first one is for VMs that are hosted from our SAN (attached via iSCSI to our ESX host).  The second one is for VMs that exist on the local disk of the ESX host.

[Symanticus]

Hi All,

After knowing that ther e is CLI after installing vCenter Server 4,
So in this case, vcb can be use without using 3rd party apps. for example BE 12.5 ?
CMIIW

[bjash]

Yes, VCB can be used separately from 3rd party apps.

VCB will create VMDK files of your disk files from your VMWare server.  You can then choose how to back these files up (through BE, etc.). 

[Symanticus]

OK, in this case i can use vcbmounter command line to create another exact copy of the VM in the backup proxy server and then i can restore it back to the server as whole new VM using vConverter, CMIIW

thanks for the reply.

[bjash]

 Correct.  This is how I use it to perform disaster recovery testing (in a crude sense).

[Symanticus]

Thanks for the reply man, I really appreciate it.

the reason I asked you this question is that I'd like to know the difference in using VCB script vs. BE 12.5 AVVI

[bjash]

 We don't use the AVVI--just VCB and RALUS, so I can't say the differences between the two of them.  I also can't say, in my setup, that I can argue a case for me using AVVI because VCB and BE with the RALUS does everything that I need it to do.

[Symanticus]

:) cool, in this case i can only say that using BE 12.5 AVVI is good for the scheduling and managing large ESX environment, while I'm currently running on 2x ESXi servers I'm pretty sure that VCB script should be sufficient for me to handle the backup process.

[bjash]

 We backup 2 ESX servers and 3 ESXi servers without AVVI, but I could see where you would want it in a larger environment (to make it easier--especially with ESX hosts with a large number of guests).