Netbackup and VMware

[tarmizi]

Hi all,

As a start, in my customer production environment, they have :

1) 2 Netbackup master backup server (clustered) with Netbackup version 7.6.1.2 installed

2) 1 Netbackup Appliance with version 2.6.1.2 installed

3) 1 VMware vCenter server with (as per shown below):

     a) Cloud cluster

     b) Non-cloud cluster

     c) Non-cluster

Now, my colleague added the credential for vCenter server for Virtual Machine Servers and created a test policy for the backup and selected a vm client for the backup with Accelerator. 

However, the backup failing with error code 6 and 23 (please refer below)

11/4/2015 3:16:46 PM - Info bpbrm(pid=16881) clientA is the host to backup data from     
11/4/2015 3:16:46 PM - Info bpbrm(pid=16881) reading file list for client        
11/4/2015 3:16:46 PM - Info bpbrm(pid=16881) accelerator enabled           
11/4/2015 3:16:46 PM - Info bpbrm(pid=16881) There is no complete backup image match with track journal, a regular full backup will be performed.
11/4/2015 3:16:47 PM - Info bpbrm(pid=16881) starting bpbkar on client         
11/4/2015 3:16:47 PM - Info bpbkar(pid=16892) Backup started           
11/4/2015 3:16:47 PM - Info bpbrm(pid=16881) bptm pid: 16893          
11/4/2015 3:16:47 PM - Info bptm(pid=16893) start            
11/4/2015 3:16:47 PM - Info bptm(pid=16893) using 524288 data buffer size        
11/4/2015 3:16:47 PM - Info bptm(pid=16893) using 128 data buffers         
11/4/2015 3:16:49 PM - Info bptm(pid=16893) start backup           
11/4/2015 3:17:40 PM - Error bpbrm(pid=16881) from client clientA: ERR - Error opening the snapshot disks using given transport mode: nbd:nbdssl Status 23
11/4/2015 3:17:41 PM - Critical bpbrm(pid=16881) from client clientA: FTL - cleanup() failed, status 6    
11/4/2015 3:17:43 PM - Error bptm(pid=16893) media manager terminated by parent process       
11/4/2015 3:18:10 PM - Info Appliance(pid=16893) StorageServer=PureDisk:Appliance; Report=PDDO Stats for (Appliance:( scanned: 3 KB, CR sent: 0 KB, CR sent over FC: 0 KB, dedup: 100.0%, cache disabled
11/4/2015 3:18:11 PM - Info bpbkar(pid=0) done. status: 6: the backup failed to back up the requested files 
11/4/2015 3:18:54 PM - Info nbjm(pid=9916) starting backup job (jobid=1096001) for client clientA, policy VMware_test2, schedule backup_test  
11/4/2015 3:18:54 PM - estimated 0 Kbytes needed
11/4/2015 3:18:54 PM - Info nbjm(pid=9916) started backup (backupid=clientA_1446621568) job for client clientA, policy VMware_test2, schedule backup_test on storage unit stu_disk_Appliance using backup host Appliance
11/4/2015 3:18:56 PM - started process bpbrm (16881)
11/4/2015 3:18:59 PM - connecting
11/4/2015 3:18:59 PM - connected; connect time: 0:00:00
11/4/2015 3:19:04 PM - begin writing
11/4/2015 3:20:23 PM - end writing; write time: 0:01:19
the backup failed to back up the requested files (6)

We have been reading the netbackup for VMware guide but since it not that straight forward as we think, it lead us here for an idea what was missing. Also, is there any different to backup the vCloud and non-vCloud and do we need to specify the VMware backup host to our Netbackup appliance?

Thank you in advance

[revarooo]

So the backup host is unable to open the disks. Is the Datastore shared to the backup host?

[Nicolai · Accepted solution]

it does not look like required network connections are avaiable:

Error opening the snapshot disks using given transport mode: nbd:nbdssl 

Mastert and media server must connect to Vcenter server at 443 and ESX server at port 902

[Marianne]

- Which server did you select/specify as backup host in Host Properties -> Master Server -> VMware Access Hosts?
You can specify the Appliance as backup host - select Backup Media Server option in the  policy.

Have you confirmed that VMware credentials are sufficient?

What are the minimum permissions needed to properly backup and restore using vStorage api?
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000007351

What are the permissions required for the user configured in NetBackup to logon to vSphere cloud to perform vStorage API based backups and restores?
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000006549

With nbd or nbdssl transport method only network connectivity is needed. 
Ensure ports 443 and 902 are open.
- Port 443 to access the vCenter server
- Port 902 between backup server and the ESX/ESXi hosts.

[tarmizi]

Hi guys,

Thank you for the prompt reply. As for the vCenter server credential, I presume that it was correctly insert and the port 443 is used and we able to browse through the VMs as well. But is it the best practice to add all of the ESX available? 

As for Marianne question, do need to put the FQDN of our appliance in  Host Properties -> Master Server -> VMware Access Hosts or in the VMware backup host for VMWARE tab in the policy?

As for revaroo question, do we need to have the datastore shared to our appliance if we are going with LAN backup?

Thank you

[Marianne]

Port 443 is to access the vCenter server when browsing for VM discovery.

TCP port 902 is required between backup host and the ESX servers when you use NBD/NBDSSL transport for backups (and restore).

Have a look at this blog:
Nuts and bolts in NetBackup for VMware: Transport methods and TCP ports 
https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/nuts-and-bolts-netbackup-vmware-transport-methods-and-... 

and this TN:

VMware Transport Modes: Best practices and troubleshooting 
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000094725

Where you add the Backup Host is your choice - Host Properties and/or Policy.
If Appliance, use the same naming convension as when you added the Appliance as Media server on the master and in Storage Unit properties.

No need for datastore zoning if you are using nbd or nbdssl transport.

[tarmizi]

Hi gus,

Thank you for the reply. I am going thru all the link given. But there is a dumb question, do we need to install the netbackup client on the VMware vCenter server? 

Thank you

[Marianne]

No. There is no NBU Client software for vCenter. All that is needed for LAN based backup is credentials (with sufficient permissions ) and port connectivity to vCenter and ESX servers.

[Nicolai]

Netbackup and Vcenter exchanges data using http - 443 is the secure port for web traffic. Ergo - no client needed to  run VMware backups

[Charli007]

VMware announced Tuesday a major flaw in its latest hypervisor update that prevented customers become virtual machines enterprise applications in virtualized environments in the data center problem, which appear generalized, run began when clocks systems cross coupling Tuesdays . The time change has caused the product license for ESX / ESXi 3.5 Update 2 expires, preventing customers from becoming virtual machines or moving virtual machines

[Marianne]

I have removed the URLs from above post as it had nothing to do with the text in the post.

Any more such posts will be unpublished.