v9.5 - Problems backing up CentOS 7 with Docker container

[FloG]

Just wondering if someone else already ran into the same problem and has found a solution for this:

We're running a VM on vSphere 6.0 U1 with CentOS 7 as guest OS that runs our ERP software. Veeam backups with VMware Tools quiescing were running fine since the VM was set up and backups were consistent after configuring the VMware pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts with the appropriate commands to quiesce the ERP software. Two days ago the manufacturer of the ERP installed an Add-on that is running in a Docker container on this VM. Since then whenever Veeam tries to back up the VM it fails with an error indicating that the guest OS could not quiesce the filesystem.

The error message (roughly translated from german) reads:

Code: Select all

11.02.2017 21:45:02 :: Creating VM Snapshot
11.02.2017 21:45:02 :: Error: Error saving the snapshot: Failed to quiesce the virtual machine.

The corresponding error messages in the vSphere client (also roughly translated from german) reads:

Code: Select all

11.02.2017 21:45:02  Task: Create virtual machine snapshot.
11.02.2017 21:45:05  Warning for VMNAME on HOSTNAME in CLUSTERNAME: The guest OS reported an error while quiescing. The error code is: 3 The error message is: Error when enabling the sync provider.

This is the first time we're using Docker so we don't have any experience with backing up Docker host VMs with Veeam. Anybody ran into this before ? Any advice or hints on how to solve this ?

Thanks,
Florian

[PTide]

Hi,

First of all I'd double check if the pre-freeze/post-thaw sripts that you use work fine with that Add-on in place. Also I'd contact VMware support directly and open a case with them regarding the problem.

Thank you

[tsightler]

This is most likely a problem within the FIFREEZE/FITHAW functions within the guest OS (these are the functions used by the VMware tools quiescence functions). There might be some hints within the guest in the /var/log/messages file but I'd suggest opening a case with VMware to investigate why the sync provider is not able to perform its function (it may simply be that it is not Docker aware).