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Unable to quiesce an application and granularity of logs

glum
Level 4

Hi!

 

When I try to make backups of VMware virtual machines (guests), it always fails with the following error:

Final error: 0xe000959a - An attempt to take a snapshot of a virtual machine failed because it was unable to quiesce an application.

I have had an active support case with Dell for nearly a year due to this instability, without getting any further.
Since the jobs seem to abort when one machine fails to make a snapshot, I divided my jobs into three groups -
such that I have a backup job for Windows-guests, Linux-guests and FreeBSD-guests. They all fail with the same
error message. One of my problems is that the log doesn't tell me which particular guest it was unable to make
a snapshot of. Is there a simple way to find this? I can browse through all my VMware guest logs in vCenter, but
that takes a lot of time.

Whether it fails or succeeds is random, and I can't find any pattern in which machines cause the job to fail.

So, my question is whether this is a known issue, and if there's a way to quickly find which guest caused the job
to stop?

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Backup_Exec1
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Hi ,

If it is failing on random guest intermittently please try doing the following

Try taking a snapshot by using the vSphere client as (quiesce checked, snap memory unchecked) and check for logs. You can continue to test this way. No need to run backups.

2 You can also look in the Summary tab of the virtual machine in the vSphere client and it will tell you whether the VMware Tools are up-to-date or not. If VMware tools are not upto date please update them.

Moreover if it is random & if on most of occasion if it is working , then looking logs on vsphere for those random failure should help you with some information ,but looking at this I don't think could be an issue with backup exec

 

Thanks

View solution in original post

11 REPLIES 11

Backup_Exec1
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Hi

Can you verify are you able to take snapahot of virtual machine from vcenter or vclient you are not able to take snapshot from there itslelf it would be an issue from Vmware side

 

Thanks

glum
Level 4

Yes, I am always able to make snapshots from within Virtual Center.

 

Botvitnik
Level 3

Hi Glum.

There are no information about NetBackup version and VMware version and OS version.

I installed backup VMware I hope so version 4.1 by NetBackup 7.0.1 and 7.1.0.2 on Windows 2008R2.

For off-host backup VMware machine I was using snapshot technology. I need VMware Centrum.

Configuration backup VMware:
From NetBackup Administration Console is need follow settings:

- In NetBackup management \ Host Properties \ Master Server \ pbc1 we choice
'Properties' a VMware backup hosts. Here we set name of the 'master backup server' as name VMware backup host and press OK. This set for master server who will backup all snapshost from VMware Centre.
- From menu 'Media and Backup Management' \ Credentials \ 'Virtual Machine
   Servers' we set choice new 'name VMware centre' VMware Centre on port 443, as management for all VMware machines.
- Next we create policy for backup VMware machines

Policy has to set:
• Typ 'FlashBackup-Windows',
◦ Some storage for backup
◦ Pool

◦ Mark 'Perform block level incremental backups'
◦ Mark  'Perform off-hosts backup'

◦ Use: VMware backup hosts
◦ Machine: 'name master backup server'
◦ Options: ▪ Client name selection: VM hostname
▪ Virtual machine backup: Mapped full VM backup
▪ Transfer type: Try all types
▪ Virtual machine quiesce: Enabled
▪ Exclude unused and deleted blocks: Enabled
▪ Existing snapshot handling: Ignore
▪ Next is for VCB and it is left default  'Disabled'.
Press button OK.
• Schedule as Full and time windows.
• In Backup selections is put parametr ALL_LOCAL_DRIVES
• Clients: Press New we got windows with 'Browse and Select Virtual Machine' . After some time we will see client tree and we can choice some clients

- Press OK.
 

Good luck.

Frantisek

 

Backup_Exec1
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Hi

Please ensure as per the link below you have got the things configured

 http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH129724

Also ensure you have vstorage API is licensed on ESX

 http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH158667

Thanks

Kiran_Bandi
Level 6
Partner Accredited

Query is about Backup Exec not Netbackup

glum
Level 4

Hello, and thanks for your feedback.

The first link mostly concerns agents and registry settings, which are Windows-specific.
The majority of my machines are Linux or FreeBSD-machines, and I have exactly the same
quiesce-issues on those. I did review those settings and they appear correct.

For the second link - yes, I have provided an administrator account (the job completes
on most of my guests most of the time, but sometimes fails on a random guest).

I was unable to figure out how to check whether my ESXi is licensed for vStorage API, however.

Backup_Exec1
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Hi ,

If it is failing on random guest intermittently please try doing the following

Try taking a snapshot by using the vSphere client as (quiesce checked, snap memory unchecked) and check for logs. You can continue to test this way. No need to run backups.

2 You can also look in the Summary tab of the virtual machine in the vSphere client and it will tell you whether the VMware Tools are up-to-date or not. If VMware tools are not upto date please update them.

Moreover if it is random & if on most of occasion if it is working , then looking logs on vsphere for those random failure should help you with some information ,but looking at this I don't think could be an issue with backup exec

 

Thanks

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

...you already asked the OP in your first post to verify whether taking a snapshot in VMware was possible, and he stated all was OK...

glum
Level 4

Ah, you are absolutely right. When I was testing this, I didn't have quiesce checked.
The only message I can find in logs, however, is:

"The guest OS has reported an error during quiescing. The error code was: 4 The error message was: Backup aborted."

Perhaps there's some place I haven't looked? I better browse some VMware forums for that.


 

Backup_Exec1
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

Hi

 

Yes I had asked OP in my first comment but in this comment though I am asking the same , I have asked that in detail and by selecting specific option as below

 Try taking a snapshot by using the vSphere client as (quiesce checked, snap memory unchecked)

Thanks

 

 

 

Moved:

Marianne
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified