Agent-based backup of Windows, Linux, Max, AIX and Solaris machines.
SteveElliott
Lurker
Posts: 2
Liked: never
Joined: Aug 16, 2012 2:17 pm
Full Name: Stephen Elliott
Contact:

Duplicate UUIDs

Post by SteveElliott »

I have 2 physical servers with identical BIOS UUIDs for this reason I cannot install the agent Ver 2.1. Has anyone else encountered this? I have the agent install on one of the server and am managing it under VBR; the other server is running independently.
Dima P.
Product Manager
Posts: 14396
Liked: 1568 times
Joined: Feb 04, 2013 2:07 pm
Full Name: Dmitry Popov
Location: Prague
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Dima P. »

Hello Stephen,

You tried to install agent on the second server via Veeam B&R server but recovered and error? Can you please share the text on this error? Any details regarding these servers are appreciated (configuration, how they were deployed etc). Thanks in advance!
Technogod
Expert
Posts: 150
Liked: 26 times
Joined: Apr 11, 2017 3:52 am
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Technogod »

Yes, I have the same problem. I have two computers that have the same UUID. I cloned the hard drive of computer 1 and installed it in computer 2. If you are managing agents with B&R this is definitely a problem. I don't have any problems when I'm managing agents.
Pat490
Expert
Posts: 170
Liked: 29 times
Joined: Apr 28, 2015 7:18 am
Full Name: Patrick
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Pat490 »

Technogod wrote:Yes, I have the same problem. I have two computers that have the same UUID. I cloned the hard drive of computer 1 and installed it in computer 2. If you are managing agents with B&R this is definitely a problem. I don't have any problems when I'm managing agents.
aren't you referring to Windows internal SID? Windows can be changed by Sysprep after clone.
SteveElliott was speaking about Bios UUID
Technogod
Expert
Posts: 150
Liked: 26 times
Joined: Apr 11, 2017 3:52 am
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Technogod »

Yes, it is Windows internal SID I'm referring to. I don't want to run Sysprep on my working computer just so I can manage my agents via B&R. I guess we are looking at two separate issues.
iqbalsajid
Lurker
Posts: 2
Liked: never
Joined: May 22, 2017 11:54 am
Full Name: Iqbal Sajid
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by iqbalsajid »

Hello SteveElliott,

Did you manage to resolve your problem?

I have the same problem: error text is:
No new hosts found.Unable to install backup agent: cannot connect to IP.xx.xx.xx Error: Known agent (DNS NAME) have the same bios uuid cb8f2e98-f2f4-d240-a027-4880673c83df but different connection point IP.xx.xx.xx.
FredMez
Influencer
Posts: 11
Liked: never
Joined: Feb 18, 2015 8:50 pm
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by FredMez »

i am in the process of upgrading from the free version of the agent to a licensed 2.1 version and am having the same issue with 2 servers. Any updates on this? otherwise i am opening a ticket.
FredMez
Influencer
Posts: 11
Liked: never
Joined: Feb 18, 2015 8:50 pm
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by FredMez »

We attempted to upgrade our 1.5 version free agent to 2.1 licensed versions and quickly ran into problems. It seems we have 12 Cisco server blades that have identical uuid's. At this time, the only way i can use the agent is in the free edition. Cisco TAC has not offered a resolution, and Veeam support states they require unique uuid. So here i am, with 20 agent licenses and no resolution.
Dima P.
Product Manager
Posts: 14396
Liked: 1568 times
Joined: Feb 04, 2013 2:07 pm
Full Name: Dmitry Popov
Location: Prague
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Dima P. »

FredMez,

Unfortunately there is no workaround at the moment.
FredMez wrote:It seems we have 12 Cisco server blades that have identical uuid's
Can you please clarify the model of these servers? Thank you.
FredMez
Influencer
Posts: 11
Liked: never
Joined: Feb 18, 2015 8:50 pm
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by FredMez »

They are Cisco UCS-E series.
RJI
Service Provider
Posts: 13
Liked: never
Joined: Jan 23, 2010 1:02 am
Full Name: Richard Ihmels
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by RJI »

Is there anyway to remove agents that have been orphaned? I am trying to add an agent and i receive the duplicate UUID error list a workstation that no longer exists.

Richard
Dima P.
Product Manager
Posts: 14396
Liked: 1568 times
Joined: Feb 04, 2013 2:07 pm
Full Name: Dmitry Popov
Location: Prague
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Dima P. »

Hello Richard.

You can remove host by modifying the scope of Protection Group (edit the group, go to Computers step and remove the desired host). Another option for Active Directory protection group is to add host to exclusion list.
FredMez
Influencer
Posts: 11
Liked: never
Joined: Feb 18, 2015 8:50 pm
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by FredMez »

Has there been any update on how to handle duplicate uuid's? I opened ticket # 2531324 and very abruptly told that the software requires unique uuid's period. i was then advised to open an enhancement request via the forums. We had to spend hours to get the free version reinstalled and operational. WHY cant this be addressed. We purchased numerous agent licenses for the additional features and support, but at this time, it was a waste of money. Not at all what i expected.
SteveElliott
Lurker
Posts: 2
Liked: never
Joined: Aug 16, 2012 2:17 pm
Full Name: Stephen Elliott
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by SteveElliott »

I apologize for not getting back here sooner. I can run the agent in free mode on the systems with dupe UUIDs (I have 3 of them); all are quantom systems with Supermicro motherboards. At this point one server is being backed up with a licensed server agent and the others are managed locally with the free agent.
mikeely
Expert
Posts: 224
Liked: 69 times
Joined: Nov 07, 2016 7:39 pm
Full Name: Mike Ely
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by mikeely »

Ouch. Between this issue and this related one here, I get the feeling the Veeam devs are wishing they'd picked something a little better for testing machine uniqueness.

Edit: it's interesting that the missing/duplicate UUID issue seems specific to Supermicro machines. Possibly there's some industry standard they aren't conforming to, which would be a shame as their hardware does provide really good value otherwise.
'If you truly love Veeam, then you should not let us do this :D' --Gostev, in a particularly Blazing Saddles moment
martin_zidu
Enthusiast
Posts: 29
Liked: 5 times
Joined: Mar 06, 2018 1:18 pm
Full Name: Martin Zidu
Location: Liberec
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by martin_zidu »

Had same issue on many machines since we have started Agent release worldwide...as soon as machines were installed with agent manually everything was working fine...but now, when we started with releasing them via VB&R we have found out, that many locations has PCs with BIOS UUID like "FFFF-FFFF-FFF..." instead of unique one....it´s obvious, that this is some issue with BIOS directly on machine...but we don´t have any issue with them...until tried to install Agent on them...

I think that PC uniquenes should be distinguished in different way since we are dealing now with a way, how to solve that...problem is, that there is no "general" tool for change UUID...you need to approach vendor to vendor to found out, if they have their own internal tool to change UUID.

Looks like small issue....but if you found out, that in every location in every test group is at least 2 machines which are not "working" because of missing or duplicate UUID....it´s quite a big deal at the end....
marcinK3
Service Provider
Posts: 7
Liked: 1 time
Joined: Dec 30, 2015 3:39 pm
Full Name: Marcin Dlugosz
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by marcinK3 »

Someone has solved the problem?

Unfortunately Veeam can't help.

Answer from support:
According to our requirements (https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95) each Veeam computer should have a unique bios UUID in order to be managed by Veeam Backup & Replication. This issue is rather common for virtual machines, but in your case physical machines have the same UUID.

In such cases we recommend contacting hardware vendors in order to change a UUID. E.g., AMI has a utility which allows to change a UUID.
martin_zidu
Enthusiast
Posts: 29
Liked: 5 times
Joined: Mar 06, 2018 1:18 pm
Full Name: Martin Zidu
Location: Liberec
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by martin_zidu »

Currently, by my opinion, there is only solution to request DMI tool directly from vendor. To change UUID to unique one.

I think that whole decision to use UUID as only identifier for machines is quite unfortunate.

I am rolling out Veeam Agents project in our environment with more than 30 Veeam servers worldwide and found out UUID issue in every location.

It seems to be quite fine to use DMI tool to change UUID to unique one, but there is one issue, that we are using Veeam agents mainly for production PCs and it´s quite hard to find timeslot to shutdown machine and repair UUID with bootable stick. It always cost us lots of money.

Therefore I would really apprecite, if there should be another identifier for Agent machines.

Another thing is, that if you restore machine to new hardware, it will of course get new UUID and machine is then duplicated in VB&R and it makes quite a mess in console.

It´s indeed nice solution...not a single word...but it has still so many issues to be solved, which is limitating us to use it for 100%.
cbc-tgschultz
Enthusiast
Posts: 65
Liked: 11 times
Joined: May 13, 2016 1:48 pm
Full Name: Tanner Schultz
Contact:

[MERGED] Duplicate UUIDs are not uncommon

Post by cbc-tgschultz »

Veeam Agent uniquely identifies hosts by bios UUID. This is an incredibly unfortunate decision since motherboard manufacturers routinely fail to grasp the concept of "Universally Unique". Veeam Agent should really use, or at least allow, some other mechanism of identifying hosts. As it is, we are now beginning to regret purchasing Veeam Agent licenses as the free Veeam Agent did not seem to require unique IDs to backup to a B&R server..
Dima P.
Product Manager
Posts: 14396
Liked: 1568 times
Joined: Feb 04, 2013 2:07 pm
Full Name: Dmitry Popov
Location: Prague
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Dima P. »

Hello Tanner.

Are you running Veeam B&R U3a? We enhanced the host detection and implemented special logic to fix the duplicated UUID issues in latest updated. Please install the latest version and if you see any issues - open a support case. Cheers!
Cesar
Lurker
Posts: 1
Liked: never
Joined: Jul 12, 2018 7:11 pm
Full Name: Cesar
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Cesar »

Hi Team,

I have the same case, specifically 2 windows servers

I use VBR 9.5 U3

I applied the following procedure:

* Install veeam agent (v2.2)
* On the windows server create the backup to register it in VBR server (Tab Unmanaged)
* In the VBE Server Inventory - Unmanaged - Client - Right click (Add to group)
* In tab Inventory - Group - Select client and create your policy

Note: Ensure the correct resolution of names. VBR Server to client, client to VBR Server

Regards.
scarnes@apex.com
Service Provider
Posts: 9
Liked: 1 time
Joined: Jun 06, 2017 5:24 pm
Full Name: Stephen Carnes
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by scarnes@apex.com » 1 person likes this post

You can change the installation ID by using the following SQL script. Save it as veeam_generateInstallationId.sql I tested this on a couple servers and so far no issues. Restart the server after you run.

use VeeamBackup
delete from dbo.Options where id = 'CA3F6C74-6FF1-4C3E-B618-0912BC68E6DD'
go

use VeeamBackup
DECLARE @row_id
UNIQUEIDENTIFIER set @row_id = 'CA3F6C74-6FF1-4C3E-B618-0912BC68E6DD' INSERT INTO [dbo].[Options] (id, name, value) VALUES (@row_id, 'InstallationId', CAST(NEWID() AS nvarchar(50)))
go


Run the following command to initiate the script
sqlcmd -S localhost\veeamsql2012 -i C:\veeam_generateInstallationId.sql
Dima P.
Product Manager
Posts: 14396
Liked: 1568 times
Joined: Feb 04, 2013 2:07 pm
Full Name: Dmitry Popov
Location: Prague
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Dima P. »

Guys,

Please do not touch the DB and open a case. This problem is being monitored QA team, so we would love to receive more debug logs. Thank you in advance.
bastiaenssenst
Novice
Posts: 5
Liked: never
Joined: Aug 02, 2018 1:14 pm
Full Name: Tim Bastiaenssens
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by bastiaenssenst »

I am having the same problem. I want to backup production computers but they all have the same bios uid. In investigated it, the only way to change it is through dmiedit from AMI which is unfortunately not available.
Veeam please change this detection method :(


2/08/2018 15:18:15 Error Unable to install backup agent: cannot connect to 10.x.x.x Error: Known agent 10.x.x.y have the same bios uuid 03000200-0400-0500-0006-000700080009 but different connection point 10.x.x.x.
cbc-tgschultz
Enthusiast
Posts: 65
Liked: 11 times
Joined: May 13, 2016 1:48 pm
Full Name: Tanner Schultz
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by cbc-tgschultz »

Dima P., as of this morning I have installed the latest update for B&R 9.5, Update 3a, Version: 9.5.0.1922. No noticable change in UUID behavior.
Dima P.
Product Manager
Posts: 14396
Liked: 1568 times
Joined: Feb 04, 2013 2:07 pm
Full Name: Dmitry Popov
Location: Prague
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by Dima P. »

Tanner,

Kindly check with our support team. There should be a special registry key to get the 'failover' logic enabled for agents with duplicated UUIDs. Please let me know how it goes.
bastiaenssenst
Novice
Posts: 5
Liked: never
Joined: Aug 02, 2018 1:14 pm
Full Name: Tim Bastiaenssens
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by bastiaenssenst »

I checked with your support team and they didn't mention this solution. Can you please reach out to me again on ticket number Request 03130089?
martin_zidu
Enthusiast
Posts: 29
Liked: 5 times
Joined: Mar 06, 2018 1:18 pm
Full Name: Martin Zidu
Location: Liberec
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by martin_zidu »

Support team provide me with an registry entry, which needs to be created on affected machine in order to switch mechanism to UUID failover...but tested in three locations and without success.

I have reopened case and got an answer, that they made a debug testing and there is indeed some other steps which needs to be done in order to make it running and they are working with QA team to define best mechanism.

So sorry to say that, but obviously they aren´t even sure, what the failover process is.

It´s sad, because at the end, I will find out, that manual change of BIOS UUID via AMIDMI-like tool is easiest way (and it´s obviously not easy at all).

So far I cannot imagine which settings needs to be adjusted on Agent machine side...because obviously Agent is not installed on affected machine at all (because of UUID issue itself).

I would definatelly prefer some more feasible and automated solution directly out of VB&R (to have possibility to allow "UUID Failover" for some protection groups ....)

Let´s see for an answer from helpdesk...
bastiaenssenst
Novice
Posts: 5
Liked: never
Joined: Aug 02, 2018 1:14 pm
Full Name: Tim Bastiaenssens
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by bastiaenssenst »

Thanks for your info @martin_zidu

We are also researching how to change the bios UID. We contacted AMI BIOS for that after manufacturers of mobo said they couldn't help.
They charge us about $150 per computer to change that.

A solution or reaction from Veeam would be appropriate.
NightBird
Expert
Posts: 242
Liked: 57 times
Joined: Apr 28, 2009 8:33 am
Location: Strasbourg, FRANCE
Contact:

Re: Duplicate UUIDs

Post by NightBird »

bastiaenssenst wrote:Thanks for your info @martin_zidu

We are also researching how to change the bios UID. We contacted AMI BIOS for that after manufacturers of mobo said they couldn't help.
They charge us about $150 per computer to change that.

A solution or reaction from Veeam would be appropriate.
On AMI Bios you can use AMIDEWIN tools or DMIEDITOR tools... I have had problems on some customers... it's time consuming and cost a lot to change all bios UUID...

I have had this issue at industrial customers on industrial workstations (panel PC, and fanless computer, all AMI BIOS...)
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests