03-19-2012 09:16 AM
I am running 7.1.0.3 to backup up my virtual machines. When the policy executes, a majority of systems start and finish successfully, however, I have a few others that are having issues when it comes to creating the snapshot. Instead of a single snapshot for a machine, Vcenter starts trying to create like 5+ snapshots.
The jobs fail in NBU, while the snapshots just sit there.
07-30-2012 05:21 AM
Maybe the client itself then - perhaps having difficulty in quiesceing it - does it run SQL or Exchange or something?
The tools.conf can be edited to disable AppQuiesce
07-30-2012 05:44 AM
Heres a thing. You say some VM's backup OK and some don't.
I would start to rule out differences at the VM level.
{So here's the tip}
Good tool I use to inventory and check all VM Settings is RVTools
Download and Run RVTools http://www.robware.net/
Export to a Excel spreadsheet and compare contrast your working and non-working VM's.
Check VM Hardware version, OS version, Network adapters, SCSI adapters, Persistent disks... the whole nine yards of all your VM's
Run this as a Administrator of the vSphere infrastructure (uses passthrough)
From the command line:
C:\Program Files\RobWare\RVTools\RVTools.exe -passthroughAuth -s barney.bedrock.net -c ExportAll2xls -d c:\Temp\ -f RVTools.xls
(barney.bedrock.net is the name of the vcenter server)
Worth a try so ...reset Change Block Tracking.
Changed Block Tracking (CBT) on virtual machines
Enabling Changed Block Tracking (CBT) on virtual machines
I would also be interested at the VMware level.
Review the vmware.log of the problem VM's during the backups. Tells you a lot about the running of the VM and the snapshot operation.
Can get this file in the directory of the VM's Configuration (ie vmx file). So get the file through the Datastore Browser view of the vsphere client.
08-10-2012 02:15 AM
08-13-2012 05:39 AM
Got this last week, "The latest update from our engineering team is that the "VSSVC.exe" process is in a hung state for approximately two-three minutes. They're using debugging tools to analyze why this process is getting into this state."
08-13-2012 05:41 AM
In the end, this is where I may end up if VMware doesnt find a fix.
08-24-2012 05:23 AM
Finally got new direction from VMware and as a result, I am engaging Microsoft.
08-26-2012 10:39 PM
this looks interesting. Keep us posted and good luck with Microsoft :)
08-26-2012 10:48 PM
Well, You can also contact Symantec Support (Referencing ETrack 2892912 ) so that they can request option to set the number of times a snapshot is re-attempted.
i.e. if first snapshot fails, NetBackup by default tries it 9 more times. If in your environment, these left-over snapshots are a big concern (for me it will always be), please contact us through a case where we can provide a configuration to help you. Off course It won’t help with the problem that you are facing with snapshot failures, but you should be able to control the number of snapshots.
09-13-2012 08:35 AM
Thanks Pravs, in the short term this will help with speed since the 10 snapshots delay other backups from being able to start for over an hour, so this will speed the failure.
On a seperate note, Microsoft has told me not them and VMware says Microsoft, so I am working to make the two of them talk...we shall see.
The one VM that was failing for 3 months suddnely started to work, but now others that did work do not work, so this is most enjoyable to say the least...