Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
Post Reply
danswartz
Veteran
Posts: 264
Liked: 30 times
Joined: Apr 26, 2013 4:53 pm
Full Name: Dan Swartzendruber
Contact:

Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by danswartz »

Running 9.5. I have a backup copy job set to run at 4AM. Anytime the 2008r2 VM server reboots due to windows updates, I get an email saying the job failed. But if I look at the job status, all the VMs were in fact copied, and the 'error' is flagged at the very end when it is waiting for new restore points. I can confirm the copy is actually working, by looking at the disk copy view, and seeing up to date restore points. Is this a known bug? Or am I confused here? Happy to open a case, if need be...
foggy
Veeam Software
Posts: 21069
Liked: 2115 times
Joined: Jul 11, 2011 10:22 am
Full Name: Alexander Fogelson
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by foggy »

Hard to tell without seeing the actual error, knowing copy interval setting, what restore points do you actually have on disk, and whether they contain all the VMs. You'd better ask support engineer to look closer at your setup to verify the behavior (if there's an error message, something is most likely wrong).
danswartz
Veteran
Posts: 264
Liked: 30 times
Joined: Apr 26, 2013 4:53 pm
Full Name: Dan Swartzendruber
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by danswartz »

I'm not sure I understand your point. When I look at the history (the "log" in the GUI console), I can see all the VMs had been copied, and it was waiting for new restore points ("idle"?) So, there was literally nothing going on. I've seen this every time the server has rebooted for updates.
danswartz
Veteran
Posts: 264
Liked: 30 times
Joined: Apr 26, 2013 4:53 pm
Full Name: Dan Swartzendruber
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by danswartz »

Opened case #02036129.
danswartz
Veteran
Posts: 264
Liked: 30 times
Joined: Apr 26, 2013 4:53 pm
Full Name: Dan Swartzendruber
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by danswartz »

So, support engineer tells me this is normal. Because the job is constantly running, any termination is considered a failure. I regard this as specious. The job is not actually doing anything, and veeam B&R should certainly be able to detect this and not consider it an error. I have asked if instead of having the job specified as running constantly, I could specify a timeframe an hour or so long that doesn't conflict with when windows updates occur. While I understand from a very narrow point of view (literally), the job is 'running', it pretty clearly isn't actually doing anything, but is waiting for new restore points to copy. So, every time my windows veeam proxy reboots, I need to look at the history for the copy job to make sure it didn't *really* fail. Sigh...
danswartz
Veteran
Posts: 264
Liked: 30 times
Joined: Apr 26, 2013 4:53 pm
Full Name: Dan Swartzendruber
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by danswartz »

And apparently there isn't even a way to avoid this (other than disabling the job, which is not realistic.) Very non-intuitive and non user-friendly behavior, and I guess I just have to deal with it. Fooey...
jdavidson_waters
Service Provider
Posts: 43
Liked: 15 times
Joined: May 07, 2013 2:50 pm
Full Name: James Davidson
Location: Northeast UK
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by jdavidson_waters » 1 person likes this post

Dan,
I agree with you here. I think the success/warning/failed logic requires some work in Backup Copy Jobs.
I was just discussing this with colleagues earlier today.

Another example is when a merge operation times out but succeeds on a retry. The job sends a failure notification but if you review the job then the merge actually completed on retry and all other tasks were completed successfully. - at worst this is a warning, not a failure.

Image
@jam_davidson
foggy
Veeam Software
Posts: 21069
Liked: 2115 times
Joined: Jul 11, 2011 10:22 am
Full Name: Alexander Fogelson
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by foggy »

Dan, an assumption is that since the job waits for the new restore points, then the new interval has already started and in case the server reboots, the job fails since it copied nothing within that interval. I wonder whether it fails if you change the interval start time so that reboot occurs after copying the data but within the same interval.
danswartz
Veteran
Posts: 264
Liked: 30 times
Joined: Apr 26, 2013 4:53 pm
Full Name: Dan Swartzendruber
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by danswartz »

Two things: looking at the state of the job, veeam B&R should certainly be able to tell the job is in fact idle, since it shows as 'waiting for next restore points' (or whatever the text was. Secondly, the support engineer told me that changing the start time won't help, since the job is 'perpetually running'.
foggy
Veeam Software
Posts: 21069
Liked: 2115 times
Joined: Jul 11, 2011 10:22 am
Full Name: Alexander Fogelson
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by foggy »

danswartz wrote: Secondly, the support engineer told me that changing the start time won't help, since the job is 'perpetually running'.
It should help. In case of a regular reboot after data is already processed within the current interval, the service will properly stop the job and failure should be logged.
danswartz
Veteran
Posts: 264
Liked: 30 times
Joined: Apr 26, 2013 4:53 pm
Full Name: Dan Swartzendruber
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by danswartz »

Okay, I will change it and see. If it does resolve the issue, you might want to update the SE in question...
foggy
Veeam Software
Posts: 21069
Liked: 2115 times
Joined: Jul 11, 2011 10:22 am
Full Name: Alexander Fogelson
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by foggy »

Sure, please keep us updated on your testing.
danswartz
Veteran
Posts: 264
Liked: 30 times
Joined: Apr 26, 2013 4:53 pm
Full Name: Dan Swartzendruber
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by danswartz »

Hmmm, so I changed it to only run from 8AM to 8PM. Hit save and finish and it asked about restarting the job to apply new settings. Said "yes". It is still showing '<Continuous>' in the "Next Run" column in the Backup Copy job view?
foggy
Veeam Software
Posts: 21069
Liked: 2115 times
Joined: Jul 11, 2011 10:22 am
Full Name: Alexander Fogelson
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by foggy »

I meant not limiting the time the job is allowed to run, but configuring the copy interval start time so that possible reboot occurs after copying the data. Basically, it is recommended to have it configured to start 5 minutes after the source backup job starts, so that it wait for the new restore points to appear and start copying immediately. After all the data is copied, the job sits in the idle state and in case reboot occurs during that stage, it shouldn't log a failure.
danswartz
Veteran
Posts: 264
Liked: 30 times
Joined: Apr 26, 2013 4:53 pm
Full Name: Dan Swartzendruber
Contact:

Re: Backup copy job says it failed but it didn't?

Post by danswartz »

Ah, ok. I could have sworn I had the server VM set to install updates early in the morning, but I see now, it's 7AM, which also happens to be when the backup copy job is supposed to run :( I will change the update time so they don't conflict and see what happens...
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Baidu [Spider] and 71 guests