Hello,

we use ARCserve 15 SP1 to backup some virtual machines on 2 ESX 4.1U1 hosts. ARCserve uses the VDDK 1.2.1. If we want to backup 2 virtual machines at the same time the creation of the 2nd snapshot take a litte bit longer and we got a timeout.

This happens:

ARCserve reports:

3/20/11  3:22:28  [38.144] Calling SnapshotVM module ...

The VCenter server starts at the same time with the creation of the snapshot and was finished at 03:24:11.

But ARCserve reports this a few seconds earlier:

3/20/11 3:24:09 [38.144] SnapshotVM returned -110.

3/20/11 3:24:09 Err_code: -110 SnapshotVM: Exception Raised - Timeout für Vorgang überschritten
3/20/11 3:24:09 [38.144] An unexpected error occurred while creating snapshot for the VM having UUID 42224d2a-fb43-04f1-7f30-288f893c4c6a.
3/20/11 3:24:09 [38.144] DoSnapshotVM : Exception raised - 42224d2a-fb43-04f1-7f30-288f893c4c6a

It seems that the SnapshotVM in the VDDK a 100 second timeout has.

How can we modify this timeout? Or who defines this timeout?

Best regards

Stefan

Hi to all ,

we have been taking backups with VMware Data Recovery with version  1.2.1.1616.The destionation for the Data recovery appliance was a network NFS server with 900gb storage ,After the site failure we had setup  our ESX cluster again ,and new virtual center and again installed Vmware Data recovery ,And then we had added the 900gb storage to our esx system with the same method ,Then added the  virtual disk to the Vmware Data recoveryy aplliance and we had seen the previosuly taken backups all .But when it comes to restoreing them it gives some errors ,as  (4/14/2011 12:14:45: Can't initialize destination, error -3948 ( vcb api exception)) .

When we try to restore virtual machine i can see their backup versions ,vmdk files ,but could not restore.And also the file level restore appliance also can not login to the Data recovery appliance and Virtual center.

So i am confused about the data recovery..My question is can we restore our virtual machines to  a new virtual center and a new esx cluster system ,or the appliance somehow depends on the previous datastore names or something else.

Thanks a lot...

Hi gurus,

we currently encounter problems with one of our Windows 2008 64bit machines (not R2!).

The server is backuped with VDR 1.2.0.1131. At the beginning the snapshot is taken - everthings fine so far. But after the snap completed and the backup is running, disk D inside the guest system becomes readonly!

This RO flag isn't remoed anymore, even after the backup completed and the server is not usable anymore. The following errors are displayed in the logs of the windows server:

System Log:

• The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may occur.
• Application popup: Windows - Delayed Write Failed : Exception Processing Message 0xc000a082 Parameters 0x000007FEFD1A722C 0x000007FEFD1A722C 0x000007FEFD1A722C 0x000007FEFD1A722C
• {Delayed Write Failed} Windows was unable to save all the data for the file D:\Notes\data\pid.nbf; the data has been lost.  This error may be caused if the device has been removed or the media is write-protected.

Application Log:

• Volume Shadow Copy Error: VSS waited more than 40 seconds for all voumes to be flushed.  This caused volume \\?\Volume{6e198479-c63d-11df-b53f-806e6f6e6963}\ to timeout while waiting for the release-writes phase of shadow copy creation.  Trying again when disk activity is lower may  solve this problem.
  
  Operation:
     Executing Asynchronous Operation
  
  Context:
     Current State: flush-and-hold writes
• Volume Shadow Copy Service error: The I/O writes cannot be held during the shadow copy creation period on volume D:\. The volume index in the shadow copy set is 0. Error details: Open[0x00000000], Flush[0x00000000], Release[0x00000000], OnRun[0x80042314].
  
  Operation:
     Executing Asynchronous Operation
  
  Context:
     Current State: DoSnapshotSet
• The VSS service is shutting down due to idle timeout.

Does anybody has seen this error before and can assist to fix this?

Thanks and best regards

Marco

Dear friends,

My backup cunsultant is continously report the VCB Bakup failures to me;

The error messages for once server is as follow;

1 retry attempted Mount point already exists for: E:\mnt\"name of virtual machine" exit code 19.

for other server it gives below error message;

savegrp: suppressed 2 lines of verbose output [2011-05-11 23:33:06.424 'BlockList' 3684 error] [2011-05-11 23:33:06.861 'vcbMounter' 3684 error] Error: Failed to open the disk: Cannot access a SAN/iSCSI LUN backing this virtual disk. (Hint: If you are using vcbMounter you can use the option "-m nbd" to switch to network based disk access if this is what you want.) If you were attempting file-level access, stop the vmount Service by typing "net stop vmount2" on a command prompt to force vmount to re-scan for SAN LUNs and re-try the command. [2011-05-11 23:33:06.861 'vcbMounter' 3684 error] An error occurred, cleaning up... Deleted directory E:\mnt\"server name" External command failed. See error above. Exit Code: 1

For many other servers backup is successful.

Please suggest on above errors.

Hi,

I am using VDR and getting this error for one of VMs. Failed to create snapshot for vmname, error -3960 ( cannot quiesce virtual machine)

Taking the sanpshot manually with quiesce enabled works just fine.

Any ideas?

I backup my vmdk's through Backup Exec 2010. I am running vCenter 5.0 with ESXi 4.1.

Does VMware or anyone have any tools available for me to restore a vmdk back to its datastore?

Thanks

Hi,

I am just trying to do my homework on this mechanism so I can understand VDR. I am hoping a pro can help me where I have got it wrong and fill in the details!

As far as I understand it, once CBT is enabled on a VM and its disks (Either manually or by the backup application), and the VM is stunned in order to insert the CBT filter into the storage stack (Various ways of doing this, taking a snapshot seems most common). We then get a ctk file for each VMDK which basically maps the entire VMDK into blocks. Each time a block is changed, the ctk file is updated to show when the block was changed.

So first question! What consitutes a block? (Is it a fixed size segment, or a group of disk sectors etc?)...

OK, so now the backup application launches, and takes a snapshot to free up the underlying VMDK's. For the first backup, it looks like it uses the * parameter to backup all blocks. At this point it stores the timestamp of this backup. Then next time (From looking at the VMware API), it appears that it is the backup application's job to send a parameter called ChangeID which as far as I can tell is simply the afforementioned timestamp of the last CBT backup performed?

At this point the API simply returns all blocks which have a later date than the ChangeID and the backup application backs these up, stores the newer ChangeID and then removes the snapshot?

From this I conclude that the ctk file is not actually amended in anyway (AKA A typical differential backup would mark the file or write in sections of the map to say the blocks have been backed up - I am saying CBT does not do this at all)

I also wonder how all this works when a VM is being backed up that has a snapshot or two already on it?

I'm looking at using Veeam for a DR solution. It looks like I am not the first to experience this issue http://communities.vmware.com/message/1900559#1900559

Problem: I am unable to successfully backup a VM via the management server using Veeam. I am however able to backup via a specific host in the cluster.

The Veeam support guys rightly said it's a VMWare issue highlighting that we can backup directl from a host but not from the vcenter server...

Thanks for any input!

Brendan

*********************

After running a few tests, we are now sucessfully backing up via Veeam.

Our management server was not presented any of the LUNs when it was originally configured. So I created a test LUN and presented to hosts and the management server, created a couple of vms and the backup went through fine.

I was also able to install a virtualized vCenter 5 server and all jobs processed fine.

It makes sense that the management server needs to be ‘LUN aware’

Searching the web after a backup software that are able to make consistent backups of a Windows Server 2008 environment. SQL, Sharepoint, Exchange and AD, the standard MS softwares.

All software found up to date wants to install its own agents on the VM in order to support quiche for pausing the VM making it possiblem for the backup software to backup VMDK-files which are consistent is a known state.

Is there any software that utilizes the VMware tools to do this? Or arent  VMware tools able to do this kind of magic?

Dear team,

in the VI environment many esx host are connected to the Production vcenter server, we have VCB server to take VMs backup.  Once image backup completed at last it wil commit snapshot, snapshot removal process also completes sucessfully, then also i m getting this error "Re: Error: Could not open local disk: The file specified is not a virtual disk". i m getting this error on one of the specific esx host where 5+VMs are running. whereas other ESX server VM image backup gets completed sucessfully.

help me how to resolve this permanently.

regards

Mr VMware

Hi,

I'm using VMWare Data Recovery tool (VDR 2.0 -with Vsphere 5). I'm tried to back up a VM and the VDR said the backup was successfull. But I can't restore the VM. When I checked the log I found that the vmdk is not backed up.

7/26/2012 10:22:31 AM: Normal backup using Backup1
7/26/2012 10:23:18 AM: Created snapshot "_datarecovery_"
7/26/2012 10:23:19 AM: Copying "vm1" to destination "/mnt/"
7/26/2012 10:23:19 AM: Independent disk "vm-153.[datastore1] vm1/vm1.vmdk" is not backed up
7/26/2012 10:24:13 AM: Removed snapshot "_datarecovery_"
7/26/2012 10:24:14 AM: Task completed successfully
7/26/2012 10:24:14 AM: Completed: 3 files, 26 KB
7/26/2012 10:24:14 AM: Performance: 0.1 MB/minute
7/26/2012 10:24:14 AM: Duration: 00:01:43 (00:00:48 idle/loading/preparing)

I'm using the default backup appliance provided with the VDR. (Cent OS 5.5). I'm backing up these VMs to a mounted NFS in this centos machine(VDR).

Can someone help me to figure out the problem??? any help would be appriciated.

We have VMware Data Recovery 4.1. We have Integrity Check errors listed under Events, and no matter how many times we mark the problem items under Restore, they still remain. We haven't had backups run in weeks due to the errors. Would anyone know what could be causing that issue? Thanks

Hi,

Having discovered that VDR was being replaced with VDP, I was disappointed to learn the new solution doesn't support writing to remote CIFS shares.

I understand they were problematic for many people with VDR, but we have been having some success with it and it allowed us to easily commit the dedupe store to tape as part of our normal backup routines.  Because of this, we not only could have quick day-to-day restore times, we'd have a complete disaster recovery solution too.

I know VDP is not meant to be an enterprise class vm backup solution, but I wondered how VDP users would go about backing up the appliance's local dedupe data store to a remote device?   I guess we'd have to run the appliance from a remote NFS data store, and commit that to tape?

Any suggestions?

Alex

Hi everybody,

i couldnt help myself starting this conversation.

i was very suprised for VDR being shutdown.

i knew VDR would be updated, but was not expectng so soon, since the latest 2.01 was released not so long ago.

i found out VDP was out when updating to vsphere 5.1 and there was no VDR plugin to vcenter.

Anyway i am really dissapointed in VDP, to say the least!

First it depends on SSO and the vmware web client. i couldnt believe: i had to use the slowest gui i have ever used, (not as slow as backup exec 2012 thought!) so much more complicated.

second, you cannot choose the partitions to backup! This is unbelievable! the use i gave VDR was to backup the boot partitions of windows vms!

the other partitions usually have data, that are daily backed up to tape.

so at this time with VDP i have to backup a vm with 700GB in disks, when with vdr i only backup up C: partition with 50GB! hilarious

third, i am obliged to choose between aplliances, that cannot be expanded. In VDR you could mount a partition with any size, anytime!

now i must choose the 2TB VPD appliance because i didnt want to risk not having enough storage in the future, and didnt want to bother having to install more VDP appliances ( they come configured with 4 CPU!)

fourth, it is way harder, not to say impossible, dont know for sure, to reuse a damaged VDP disks, to recover all previous backups.

in VDR all you need was to keep the data partition intact, run a new vdr appliance, mount the data partition from the previous VDR, check integrity and ready to go! VDR lets you use a external disk to store in a safe, using it like tapes!

fifth, minor issue: when backing up, VDP inserts VM costume field "com.vmware.vdr.is-protected" as true

for these reasons, i am forced to use backup exec, without the miracle of deduplication to backup only boot partitions.

i hope vmware solves these major issues very soon, dedup is precious, and VDR was just right.

thanks

Hi,

Our department is converting to an virtual environment. We have two servers, both IBM System X 3650 M2, running vSphere hypervisor 5.1 (free license). We also have a contract with Symantec and use Backup Exec as our backup solutions.

Being new to vSphere, I would like to know what packages do I need from Symantec, and if I need to buy anything from VMWare, to be able to use Backup Exec to backup the guests on our servers.

Thanks.

I'll say sorry up front if this topic has been talked about to death but i need/want to ask for any best practices and include my current setup

I will preface to say i work in a public library and we are on a budget.

Currently i have 3 ESXi boxes on ThinkServer T440 boxes 2 production one backup. All the same gear, 500GB internal drive for ESXi and 32GB ram.

I am using a netgear ReadyNAS 2200 8TB over 4 drives unit... and presently all is well, and running nice.

My concern is what to do if the readynas fails i currently am exploring many options but wanted to ask if anyone had any suggestions, maybe close application etc..

I am currently toying with the idea of getting another readynas 2200 with same specs and attempting their backup feature which should bascially mirror the two nas but i am still looking for any research to see how that has worked for other people.

Another option is to take down the vms manually and then copy them to another large store on a weekly basis, i will do this for piece of mind if this is my only option but a more active or automated solution would be preferable.

I am running 2 AD 2008 servers, 1 windows 2008 web server, 5 ubuntu 12.04 servers (backing up core folders), and 2 windows xp machines.

Where i sit is if two drives fail in the Readynas i'm SOL. Otherwise this has been the most wonderful experience as a sysadmin.

Thanks for your time

Hello All,

I would like to know how we could take a backup of a physical RDM ?

Kindly share ideas and features of the product VDP that would allow or provide a workaround for the backup of the RDM in physical mode.

Also anybody with the knowledge of IBM TSM could provide some steps for TSM backup for RDM in physical mode.

I am looking at VDP or TSM for backup.

Thank you in Advance !

Hi

I've just recently started to use the VDP and am trying to test the file level restore functionality.

I'm unable to login to the restore client however.

On a VM I have a backup of, I open IE and type https://"IP of vdp:8543/flr/"

As credentials I have tried both basic and advanced login. On the basic login I try to log in with the domain administrator (domain\administrator, which is also a local administrator) . It then seems to try to connect to the vdp but after a couple of seconds a message appears:

"Login failed. HostSession is NULL"

If I try the advanced login instead and try to use the vCenter Credentials I get "Login failed. Invalid credential format"

I try to login with the same user (SYSTEM-DOMAIN\vdp) I created for vCenter Registration. I have tried to use both SYSTEM-DOMAIN\vdp and only vdp as a username but with the same result.

Any thoughts as to what might be wrong? I have tried this with the same result on several VMs, and also tried to restart the file restore service on the configuration page.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a backup alternative to VDP?  I tried deploying the VDP appliance on our HA cluster and even VMWare doesn’t know what’s wrong.  DNS is resolving on the VDP, the vCenter, and on the DNS server, but I can’t get past the initial setup from the web interface.  It’s been passed up the Dev so I  don’t know when/if it will get resolved.

We have a small cluster 4 IBM blades in a Bladecenter H.  20 to 30 VM’s and I don’t expect that to go over 50 by the end of the year.  To backup on, I have an IBM x3550 m3 with 2 TB of space.  I had deployed an ESXi box on it so if can run from a VM appliance that would be great.  Any help would be appreciated.