Tips for AVVI/VCB/VC

[SoN_Forum_acct]

I just spent 3 hours with Tech Support and am writing this up hoping that it helps someone else.  Our environment:
 
2 esx servers (3.5)
1 virtual center server (2.5)
1 vcb proxy server (1.5)

1 backup exec media server (12.5)
 
The issue: Couldn't backup vm's using AVVI
Errors:  
"Error 0xe0009543 - Cannot get the configuration details of a VMware virtual machine"
or
"0xe000955b - Cannot run the VMware VCB command 'vcbmounter.exe'. Ensure that the VMware VCB framework is installed. Final error category: Resource Errors"
 

The source of the issue was two-fold.  First, the account we were using to run our backups was a Domain user account that was a member of the Domain Administrators group - this account works for all other backups - but not the AVVI job.  Second - the account was a member of the VMWare Consolidated Backup User role - this needed to be elevated to the Adminstrators role (this is done in Virtual Center).

The solution:

Create a local account on the Virtual Center server, add this user to the local administrator group on the VC server.  In VC add this user accout to the Administrators role.  Create the job and run the job using the credentials of the account that you just created. Remember, in the properties of your backup job to specify the remote VCB server name and directory where to store the vmdks.

I'll try to follow this thread so if you have any additional, related questions, please post them and i will try to answer  to the best of my ability (there is shockingly little documentation for AVVI).

[nickfrost88]

Thanks for the posting!

I just upgraded from 12 to 12.5 to try and make use of AVVI for my VM's (currently using vRanger).  My enviornment is essentially the same - seperate servers for BE, VC 2.5 and VCB Proxy 1.5.

I was also using a Domain Admin account but have since created a different as you had listed in your post.  Unfortunately I am still getting the 0xe000955b error.

If you don't mind my asking, did you install VCB onto your BE server as well as your remote VCB proxy server?  I read somewhere that you are supposed to do that for GRT to work, but not sure about if not using GRT. If so how did you go about configuring the config.js file for VCB...the whole purpose for having a remote VCB proxy is so that it itself can do the mounting.  

I appreciate the help.

[SoN_Forum_acct]

I did install VCB on my BE server (as part of a shotgun approach to get it working...) but now that i have it working i am sure that the VCB exe's are only used on my VCB server and not my BE server.  Do NOT mod the config.js file - if you mod'd it then i suggest 1. uninstall VCB from your VCB server 2. Reboot 3. Install VCB 4. Reboot - a PITA i know.

Also, ensure that the local account that you created on the VC server is a local admin and also make sure that the same user is an Administrator in the VMWare Infrastructure (using the VIC).

HTH 

[SoN_Forum_acct]

UPDATE: I heard back from the Advanced Technical Support Engineer Group and they will be updating the Best Practices documentation to reflect what i outlined above.  2 key issues to remember.

1. The job must run under the user credentials of a user that is a Local User account in VC and also a member of the Local Admins group. 

2. This local user does NOT have to be a member of the Administrators Role in VC.  It can be a VMWare Consolidated Backup User BUT you must add the following permission to that role "Browse Datastore".  I have confirmed that this works.

Again HTH 

[nickfrost88]

I followed what you said regarding the local account to a tee but I'm still having the same issue.  Need to do some more digging, thanks again for the posts!

[SoN_Forum_acct]

Here's the KB article as a result of this issue.

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/316467.htm 

[ddavis]

I'm confused.  Do you need a seperate VCB server?  I've installed VCB on my BE server.  The only thing I'm backing up are virtual machines.  I thought it was ok for the two to co-exist on the same server?

[teiva-boy]

 Yes, they can co-exist on the same server.  That is the simplest installation method.  

If you have too many VM's, or large VM's, you may need a dedicated VCB Proxy server.  You do that when you have performance issues.

[ddavis]

Great, thanks for the response. 

I'm still having some problems.  I've made the user that runs backup jobs a local admin on the Virtual Center server as well as my vcb proxy (which is also my backup exec server).  I've also given that user the role of VMWare Consolidated Backup on VC as well as having rights to browse the datastore.  I can manually run vcbmounter successfully (which means my backup exec server/vcb proxy have access to the iSCSI luns).  I made sure that under the VVI settings, it is set to use the local media server as the vcb proxy.  When I try to run my scheduled job, I get this error:  

Final error: 0xe000955b - Cannot run the VMware VCB command 'vcbmounter.exe'. Ensure that the VMware VCB framework is installed. Final error category: Resource Errors

Any ideas why backup exec can't run vcbmounter.exe?