Error 48 on virtual machines

[StuartBailie]

Ok this might be a simple answer but I can't find any reason why this might be happening.

Netbackup Server:

Windows 2008R2/SP0 Standard

Netbackup Server 7.5.0.6

VM Environment:

VSphere 5.1.0 bulid 1235232

Client:

Windows 2003/SP2 with Exchange 2000/6.5.7638.1

OR Windows 2000/SP4 with MS SQL 2000/8.00.760

OR Windows 2000/SP4

Now I know that all of the above clients are no longer in the supported list of OSes and Applications but does that prevent a system from being backed up at all?  I would figure in the VM environment at least an entire system backup could be done without problems.  But in all four of these cases, two SQL servers, all of them return a status 48: "client hostname could not be found(48)".  Now I know this shouldn't be the case as we have many other VMs running on the same server and none of them are throwing back this error and are completing their jobs as expected.

Any insight from the community as to why this would be happening?

[Marianne]

Are you backing up these VMs with VMWare policy type or as normal clients with NBU client software installed?

If VMware policy type - is your NBU server also the VMware backup host?

Can you test hostname lookup between backup server and clients at OS level?

The assumption is that DNS is in use in this environment and that nslookup should work. 
Please check and confirm.

[Jim-90]

Check for no DNS reverse lookup for the problem clients.  Run nslookup from the media & master servers as they may have a different DNS sever from your desktop.

[V4]

bpvmutil from backuphost should give you insights on what is causing this failure. Most of my cases i have faced were due to hostname methods. Try chaging your vm policy with use display name and check if it helps

Also ensure vmware credentials supplied are not expired or changed.

[StuartBailie]

Yes these systems are currently being backed up with the VMWare policy type using the "select through query" method.  All names are being resolved via query.

Our Netbackup server is a physical box that is not part of the VMWare environment.

DNS/nslookup and ping can both resolve the names without fail.

[StuartBailie]

Two of the servers are using the "VMDNSName Equal" method in the query while others are using "Displayname Equal".  All are failing because of a failed lookup.

[Kevin_Good]

Couple of questions:

What does nslookup <failing vm> from the master & media server return?

Does the master / media server have the vm's domain suffix in it's search order?

What happens if you add a host file entry for the client on the master & media server (not as a fix, but as a test)

[Mark_Solutions]

Although they backup via the vSphere API their name, passed to NetBackup via vCenter still has to be resolved by the VMWare backup host before the backup will run

Either ensure that the naming type in the policy is correct, correct it, use hosts file on the VMWare backup host or disable IP resolution (I think) (                http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH128037)