Unable to obtain list of backup Images using specified search criteria. ERROR: invalid error number

[weegs]

I am getting "Unable to obtain list of backup Images using specified search criteria. ERROR: invalid error number" on several Win2008 R2 VM servers when trying to view the restores.

Backups appear to run fine and finish fine, but I can't view restores.

I have confirmed Policy, client name and DNS Forward/reverse lookups are all lower case for the server name.

Other blogs are close, but not quite the same as my issue.

Thanks,

Terry

[Born2rise]

Hi weegs,

Check the Source name. This is case sensitive so make sure your are putting the correct source name as you used while backing up the client. 

Check the master server name.

Check the policy Type for restore: MS-Windows ( i am assuming this is not a restore of VMs backing up using VMware policy). You  should verify what is selected in the policy type which is backing up the server.

Check the retetion of the backup. If backup is immediatly exiping then you will not get any output of browse list in restore tab.

[Marianne]

Are you starting the NBU GUI with 'Run as Administrator'?

The next thing to carefully check is your search criteria as explained in above excellent post.

If you show us what the backup policy looks like, we should be able to help you with search criteria.

[Born2rise]

Are you still facing issue or is this resolve?

[weegs]

Sorry, I've been away for a couple days....

Yeah, the source name of the Master & Media servers is all lower case, same as it has been for a while and same as many servers that aren't having this issue. I've quadruple checked the spelling and I can't see any errors there. I even tried adding the source name again (in case there was a space in there or some silly thing) and it took both server names as the same, when I hit OK, it only showed one server in the list, so I'm thinking it was the same name.

yes, policy type is MS-Windows.

The Policy type on the master server side of things is a large one that houses 50+ servers, so I don't thik that would be an issue either.

I'm not sure where to check the retention.... I'm the Windows guy but not part of the backup Group. So I can go into the NBU Master settings and look at things there, but not going to chnage too much on the fly.

Yes, I've tried to "Run as admin".... Same error msg.

[Born2rise]

Hi weegs what are putting in source server? Is it master server name/media server?

[weegs]

I'm running Ver 7.6.0.4

The "Server to use for backups and restores" is the master server.

The "Source client for restores".... is the client server itself.

I feel I'm kinda getting "is it plugged in?" help questions here.

To give an idea of our layout, we have over 2000 Windows servers backing up in our environment, I have about 50 that reside on this particular policy and only 3 or 4 are having this particular problem (I'll double-confirm, but I believe I have other servers with this issue that are using different policies). All the "problem servers" are VM's and relatively recent builds (within the past 6 months or so). So I'm leaning towards a NBU/VM setting that's affceting things here.
The rest of the servers in the environment are backing up fine to the same master/media servers (as are these servers, except I can't see the restores).

Also pertinent is that the error states, "Unable to obtain a list of backup images using specified search criteria. ERROR: Invalid error number"
So doesn't the very last sentence (ERROR: Invalid error number) kinda lend itself to the fact that this is an unknown problem for NBU?.... Since there is no error number?

Is there a bpbkar or other logfile I can send somewhere for analysis?

Thanks.

[Marianne]

We can only help if you show us what you see.
Everything.

From Policy config to search criteria in the GUI.

You are new to this forum and we have no idea of your background and skill level.
So, unless you give us all relevant info, you will get "is it plugged in?" questions.

To know how the master server is interpreting search criteria, you need bprd log.

If this folder does not exist on the master server, you need to create it, restart NBU, retry the browse/restore, and then look for clues in bprd log.

[weegs]

Thanks.

Parsing the bprd log on the NBU Master was a useful piece of info and I think I can see some errors there.

I created the error (3 times) on the client, but would prefer not to send the IP's and Hostnames of the servers in question in this Forum.

Is there a way I can send this info securely?

If we can nail down the indicative error, I'm happy to "sanitize" the results and re-post.

[Marianne]

I hope someone else will offer to look at bprd log privately. I usually don't mind, but it is late night in my part of the world and I will be attending a training course tomorrow. Another option would be to log a Support call with Symantec where engineers have the time and tools to sift through logs.

[weegs]

Sorry.... I've read many posts by you, so I assumed you were "working" for Symantec on these forums and that they were paying you for your reply and you had the ability to use their resources.

I'm going to delve into the bprd log a little more.... I can see a few "16" errors like the one below, so hopefully that will give me a good starting point.
14:16:48.760 [4016.2544] <16> process_request: UNSUPPORTED REQUEST

I'll log a call with Symantec if I can't get it sorted and I'll try and close this post if we can find what it is.

[Born2rise]

Go to the master server host properties, check for "client attributes", is that client in the list? If not, add it in, make sure "allow client browse" and "allow client restore" are checked. Run a "bprdreq -rereadconfig" on master server, then try launching this GUI again.

[Marianne]

UNSUPPORTED REQUEST says to me that something may be wrong with your search criteria. Hopefully Support can help with Webex session to see where it's going wrong. Any possibility that you can post screenshots of the steps that you follow? (You can blank out hostname or replace it with something like Client1.) PS : Everyone trying to help here are doing so in there own time. Nobody is getting paid for this (other than the points we get for Solutions). Even Symantec employees are helping in their spare time.

[weegs · Accepted solution]

We found the problem......

Turns out our Master/Media servers in this geographical location are still at NBU Ver 7.5 and in most of our other locations, they're at Ver 7.6.

So we had updated our new client install procedures to install 7.6.0.4 and I guess 7.5 (Master and Media servers) don't like that much. Backups would run fine, but any restores would have to be initiated from the NBU Master end of things (which I don't have access to).

Anyways, I uninstalled NBU Ver 7.6.0.4 and re-installed Ver 7.5.0.6 on the client side and things are now working as expected and I can see restores available on the client side.

Thanks for all your help.

Terry