Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
pufferdude
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Backup Replicate vCenter VM?

Post by pufferdude »

What is the best practice for backing up a vCenter VM with Veeam? Based on other topics here it looks like you should not point the job at the vCenter and then select the VM, but instead point directly at the host the vCenter is running on. However, this seems like it would make it necessary to manually edit the job every time you happen to vMotion the vCenter VM to another host. Is this correct, and just a fact of life using veeam to back up the vCenter, or am I missing something obvious that would let the vCenter move around and veeam could still find it?
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by Gostev »

Hello Jim, yes this is "the fact of life" right now, if you are using Veeam VSS.
tsightler
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by tsightler »

pufferdude wrote:What is the best practice for backing up a vCenter VM with Veeam? Based on other topics here it looks like you should not point the job at the vCenter and then select the VM, but instead point directly at the host the vCenter is running on. However, this seems like it would make it necessary to manually edit the job every time you happen to vMotion the vCenter VM to another host. Is this correct, and just a fact of life using veeam to back up the vCenter, or am I missing something obvious that would let the vCenter move around and veeam could still find it?
Nope, you're not missing anything, you have to edit the job every time. It's super annoying but we've learned to leave our vCenter alone and documented a procedure if it ever needs to be moved which includes updating the Veeam job.
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by TheVirtualDude »

In my environment we have three hosts and I keep mine on the first host and disable the vmotion on that particular server. This way I don't have to modify the VBR job everytime. If I ever need to do maintenance, I could manually vmotion the server off to another host and bring it back when Im done. Just a thought.
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by TrevorBell » 1 person likes this post

HI,

I backup my Vcentre with its own job with Network Mode without vss...works 100% for me no matter what host it is on i dont change any settings it just backs up from any host vmotion friendly you could say... having vss isnt too mission critical i feel for my business ...aslong as i have a backup copy..i do not put my vb sql database elsewhere i keep it on the vcentre vm too.

But if you need a transactioanlly correct vcentre vm then above is what you need to do..but maybe just think if you have your VB sql db elsewhere why do you need to use VSS with Vcentre vm :?:

i admin i run only 42 vms so configuring vb from scratch takes 20 mins in larger environments you may have a different view :)
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by shearingc »

Hi,

We are just looking into our vCenter backup again after moving to vSphere 4.1.

Could you not create multiple vss jobs for each server that vCenter could vMotion or DRS to?

Each night 1 backup should succeed and the others fail, no matter which server the vCenter is on

When restoring you just choose the latest file (or can you point multiple veeam jobs at the same file?)

Worst case seems to me is that you could have multiple backup files for vCenter (but it tends to be pretty small anyway? At least it is for us - 12 hosts)
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Yes, you may create each job for corresponding host to backup vCenter Server. But please note that you will be using standalone host connection and in order to add vCenter Server to the job you should have it presented on the host, meaning that you should wait till your vCenter migrates to a particular host and then create a backup job. Having said that, it sounds a bit complicated for me, don't you think? But it was a nice try :wink:

Basically, each job corresponds to its specific backup file, in other words, you cannot point multiple jobs at the same file, but you may use Enterprise Managers console to view the summary info about all your recent sessions and available backup files with creation dates displayed.
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by tsightler »

shearingc wrote:Hi,
We are just looking into our vCenter backup again after moving to vSphere 4.1.
Could you not create multiple vss jobs for each server that vCenter could vMotion or DRS to?
Each night 1 backup should succeed and the others fail, no matter which server the vCenter is on
When restoring you just choose the latest file (or can you point multiple veeam jobs at the same file?)
Worst case seems to me is that you could have multiple backup files for vCenter (but it tends to be pretty small anyway? At least it is for us - 12 hosts)
The problem with your theory is that the only way to backup the vCenter VM is to do it directly via the ESX host. This means that you're using the VMID from the perspective of the ESX host, not the vCenter server. While the Veeam GUI uses the hostname (or a folder) to select hosts for backup, underneath the covers it's actually selecting the VMID of the host. When vCenter migrates a VM from one host the another, the VMID of the VM does not change from vCenter perspective, however, the VMID from the ESX host perspective may very well be different.

Or, in other words, even if you vMotion your vCenter host back to the original VM, the Veeam job may very well still be broken because the VMID changed. You have to run through the properties on the job and remove and readd the vCenter host before the job will work again. You would have this same issue if you had jobs for every ESX host.
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I cannot backup the vCenter Server

Post by RumataRus »

[merged]

Our vCenter Server and Veeam Backup & Replcation Server are VMs.
I use Virtual Appliance mode and "Enable application-aware image processing".
At the beginning of backup process Veeam Backup & Replcation says "VSSControl: Failed to freeze guest, wait timeout".
Is it possible to backup the vCenter Server running in VM?
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by VMNewbie »

We have a similar setup where our vCenter server is a VM. Our main SQL server (also a VM) is hosting our vCenter database and Veeam databases. I understand that I'll need to backup the vCenter VM through a direct host connection. I'm a little confused as to why we may be required to do the same for our SQL server. Can anyone explain why we wouldn't be able to backup our SQL server through vCenter?
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Jeffrey,

If you have a remote SQL server hosting vCenter server database, then most likely you wouldn't need standalone host connection to back it up, though I haven't tried that as my vCenter server is running on the local SQL server.

I guess the behaviour might be the same, as we had while backing up Veeam configuration database: Backing up the SQL Server that Veeam uses

Thanks!
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by J.Leeflang »

I think it should be possible for Veeam Backup & Replication to have a special vCenter job option containing only vCenter Server.

I would suggest the following:
Add a job creation option for vCenter.
Let the user select the VM containing vCenter en configure it like any other job.
At the moment the job starts Veeam checks with vCenter for the host vCenter is running on.
Next Veeam dynamically creats a subjob in the background for the vCenter VM on the proper host using all settings provided by the main job.
It than runs the backup of vCenter without any problems.
The subjob is maintained and will be automatically modified if the vCenter VM gets moved to another host.

I don't know if it is possible to use the incremental and/or deduplication function because of a change of VMID, but I rather see a properly backup of my vCenter with an extra use of diskspace than a non-consistant backup with less diskspace.

Regards
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Hello Jeroen,

Thanks for the suggestions.
J.Leeflang wrote:I don't know if it is possible to use the incremental and/or deduplication function because of a change of VMID, but I rather see a properly backup of my vCenter with an extra use of diskspace than a non-consistant backup with less diskspace.
The CBT option wouldn't work in this scenario, as vCenter Server VM will have a new ID assigned after migration.
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by J.Leeflang »

That shouldn't be the worst thing. As I said, rather a good full functioning large backup that is vMotion compatible than saving on diskspace but with lots of user interaction or a non-consistant backup.

Hope you can implement something like this very soon!
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by Rick.Vanover »

Must it only be add host? Can not the add datastore option be used?
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Yes, you need to add host with vCenter Server to the backup console. Datastores can only be added to the backup/replication job, which wouldn't help here.
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Can't back up vCenter Server, VSSControl: Failed to freeze g

Post by turmoil »

[merged with existing discussion]

Hello,

I haven't been able to back up my vCenter machine for the past 6 days and I would really appreciate your help in resolving my issue.

Our setup:
-5x VMWare 4.1 hosts
-Veeam Backup & Replication 5.0.0.179 (64-bit) running on a Windows Server 2008 SP2 x64 virtual machine
-vCenter running on a Windows Server 2008 SP2 x64 virtual machine
-vCenter server is hosting the vCenter database on a local SQL 2005 Express instance (can't tell which version, but definitely pre-SP4)


My background:
Zero experience with Veeam
Basic experience with vCenter

My simple and short story:
Last Friday we changed the passwords for our domain user account and for the account that Veeam uses to connect to vCenter. All Veeam jobs started failing immediately but I was able to resolve this by recreating the backup jobs. All jobs are successfully backing up except for one: the vCenter Server job. This job backs up the vCenter Server only.

This is the error I get:

Code: Select all

Backup: vCenter Server (Full)
Created by (domain)\(user) at 6/04/2011 6:13:24 PM. 
Session Details 
Status Error Start time 7/04/2011 1:14:52 PM Details
   
Total VMs 1 End time 7/04/2011 1:17:42 PM   
Processed VMs 1 Duration 0:02:50    
Successful VMs 0 Total size 80.00 GB 
Failed VMs 1 Processed size 0.00 KB 
VMs in progress 0 Processing rate 0 KB/s 
 
Processed Objects 
VM name Status Start time End time Total size Processed size Processing rate Duration Details 
ic-pra-wsv-08 - vCenter Error   7/04/2011 1:15:45 PM 7/04/2011 1:17:41 PM   80.00 GB 0.00 KB 0 KB/s 0:01:56    
Freezing guest operating system
VSSControl: Failed to freeze guest, wait timeout
As a result of the Veeam job failure, the following issues occur on the vCenter server:
1. SQLWriter, MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM and SQLVDI errors are logged:

Code: Select all

Level,Date and Time,Source,Event ID,Task Category
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLWRITER,24583,None,"Sqllib error: OLEDB Error encountered calling ICommandText::Execute. hr = 0x80040e14. SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3013
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.
SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3271
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: A nonrecoverable I/O error occurred on file ""{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}2:"" 995(error not found).
SQLSTATE: 01000, Native Error: 4035
Error state: 1, Severity: 0
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: Processed 0 pages for database 'msdb', file 'MSDBData' on file 1.
"
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLWRITER,24583,None,"Sqllib error: OLEDB Error encountered calling ICommandText::Execute. hr = 0x80040e14. SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3013
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.
SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3271
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: A nonrecoverable I/O error occurred on file ""{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}3:"" 995(error not found).
SQLSTATE: 01000, Native Error: 4035
Error state: 1, Severity: 0
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: Processed 0 pages for database 'VIM_UMDB', file 'VIM_UMDB_dat' on file 1.
"
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLWRITER,24583,None,"Sqllib error: OLEDB Error encountered calling ICommandText::Execute. hr = 0x80040e14. SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3013
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.
SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3271
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: A nonrecoverable I/O error occurred on file ""{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}1:"" 995(error not found).
SQLSTATE: 01000, Native Error: 4035
Error state: 1, Severity: 0
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: Processed 0 pages for database 'model', file 'modeldev' on file 1.
"
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLWRITER,24583,None,"Sqllib error: OLEDB Error encountered calling ICommandText::Execute. hr = 0x80040e14. SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3013
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.
SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3271
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: A nonrecoverable I/O error occurred on file ""{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}4:"" 995(error not found).
SQLSTATE: 01000, Native Error: 4035
Error state: 1, Severity: 0
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: Processed 0 pages for database 'VIM_VCDB', file 'VIM_VCDB_dat' on file 1.
"
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLWRITER,24583,None,"Sqllib error: OLEDB Error encountered calling ICommandText::Execute. hr = 0x80040e14. SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3013
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: BACKUP DATABASE is terminating abnormally.
SQLSTATE: 42000, Native Error: 3271
Error state: 1, Severity: 16
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: A nonrecoverable I/O error occurred on file ""{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}5:"" 995(error not found).
SQLSTATE: 01000, Native Error: 4035
Error state: 1, Severity: 0
Source: Microsoft SQL Native Client
Error message: Processed 0 pages for database 'master', file 'master' on file 1.
"
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,18210,(2),BackupVirtualDeviceFile::SendFileInfoBegin:  failure on backup device '{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}2'. Operating system error 995(error not found).
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,18210,(2),BackupVirtualDeviceFile::SendFileInfoBegin:  failure on backup device '{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}3'. Operating system error 995(error not found).
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=TriggerAbort. Desc=invoked. ErrorCode=(0). Process=1248. Thread=292. Server. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}2_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,3041,(6),BACKUP failed to complete the command BACKUP DATABASE master. Check the backup application log for detailed messages.
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,3041,(6),BACKUP failed to complete the command BACKUP DATABASE VIM_VCDB. Check the backup application log for detailed messages.
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,3041,(6),BACKUP failed to complete the command BACKUP DATABASE VIM_UMDB. Check the backup application log for detailed messages.
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,3041,(6),BACKUP failed to complete the command BACKUP DATABASE msdb. Check the backup application log for detailed messages.
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,3041,(6),BACKUP failed to complete the command BACKUP DATABASE model. Check the backup application log for detailed messages.
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=TriggerAbort. Desc=invoked. ErrorCode=(0). Process=1248. Thread=2700. Server. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}3_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,18210,(2),BackupVirtualDeviceFile::SendFileInfoBegin:  failure on backup device '{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}4'. Operating system error 995(error not found).
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=TriggerAbort. Desc=invoked. ErrorCode=(0). Process=1248. Thread=2720. Server. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}4_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,18210,(2),BackupVirtualDeviceFile::SendFileInfoBegin:  failure on backup device '{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}1'. Operating system error 995(error not found).
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=TriggerAbort. Desc=invoked. ErrorCode=(0). Process=1248. Thread=2780. Server. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}1_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,MSSQL$SQLEXP_VIM,18210,(2),BackupVirtualDeviceFile::SendFileInfoBegin:  failure on backup device '{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}5'. Operating system error 995(error not found).
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=TriggerAbort. Desc=invoked. ErrorCode=(0). Process=1248. Thread=2640. Server. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}5_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=SignalAbort. Desc=Client initiates abort. ErrorCode=(0). Process=2412. Thread=3168. Client. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}5_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=SignalAbort. Desc=Client initiates abort. ErrorCode=(0). Process=2412. Thread=3168. Client. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}4_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=SignalAbort. Desc=Client initiates abort. ErrorCode=(0). Process=2412. Thread=3168. Client. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}3_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=SignalAbort. Desc=Client initiates abort. ErrorCode=(0). Process=2412. Thread=3168. Client. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}2_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
Error,7/04/2011 4:41:30 PM,SQLVDI,1,None,SQLVDI: Loc=SignalAbort. Desc=Client initiates abort. ErrorCode=(0). Process=2412. Thread=3168. Client. Instance=SQLEXP_VIM. VD=Global\{1B33943E-8636-4D54-A20B-D3A9F8606A4D}1_SQLVDIMemoryName_0. 
2. VSS breaks forcing a restart to bring VSS back to an operational state:

Code: Select all

C:\Users\user>vssadmin list writers
vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool
(C) Copyright 2001-2005 Microsoft Corp.

Writer name: 'System Writer'
   Writer Id: {e8132975-6f93-4464-a53e-1050253ae220}
   Writer Instance Id: {5f746417-0701-4387-9e06-9b64da9a1403}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'SqlServerWriter'
   Writer Id: {a65faa63-5ea8-4ebc-9dbd-a0c4db26912a}
   Writer Instance Id: {86b82811-aba1-4eaa-963f-95677202f21c}
   State: [9] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'ASR Writer'
   Writer Id: {be000cbe-11fe-4426-9c58-531aa6355fc4}
   Writer Instance Id: {32443eb2-3527-4790-ad66-d2089679fa55}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'WMI Writer'
   Writer Id: {a6ad56c2-b509-4e6c-bb19-49d8f43532f0}
   Writer Instance Id: {063c4be6-7b23-41b3-9bb2-9e3537a0c13a}
   State: [9] Failed
   Last error: Timed out

Writer name: 'Registry Writer'
   Writer Id: {afbab4a2-367d-4d15-a586-71dbb18f8485}
   Writer Instance Id: {2b786c56-d1f3-4017-b1a6-2fc330b9b333}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'BITS Writer'
   Writer Id: {4969d978-be47-48b0-b100-f328f07ac1e0}
   Writer Instance Id: {6ef9d58e-b7d7-48de-84d8-6ef2cde5e018}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'COM+ REGDB Writer'
   Writer Id: {542da469-d3e1-473c-9f4f-7847f01fc64f}
   Writer Instance Id: {43723a54-d04f-41e9-b02a-a1b187d89a67}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'Shadow Copy Optimization Writer'
   Writer Id: {4dc3bdd4-ab48-4d07-adb0-3bee2926fd7f}
   Writer Instance Id: {6d484c62-f228-4e8a-949e-4ef1fbb50ae9}
   State: [1] Stable
   Last error: No error

Writer name: 'ADAM (VMwareVCMSDS) Writer'
   Writer Id: {dd846aaa-a1b6-42a8-aaf8-03dcb6114bfd}
   Writer Instance Id: {b06949ce-c507-48ef-83a1-a463c4e5073e}
   State: [9] Failed
   Last error: Timed out
So for some reason, every time I run the vCenter Server backup job, VSS fails to freeze the vCenter SQL database and breaks, forcing a restart of the vCenter server which only fixes VSS until the backup job is run again.

I have tried restarting both the Veeam and vCenter server to try and resolve the issue but I'm really at a loss and not sure how to continue troubleshooting.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance.
turmoil
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by turmoil »

Received a reply from Veeam Support and that has immediately resolved my issue:
VSS freezes the I/O of a VM, and in this case that is the vCenter. During the backup, we send a snapshot command to the vCenter, which then sends to the source ESX host, to create a snapshot for the virtual machine we are backing up. For VSS , it is required to have confirmation of the snapshot creation, which is not received because the I/O is frozen on the vCenter which is 'waiting' for the snapshot completion notification from the ESX host. It times out due to this each and every time.

There is a way to workaround this, by adding in the ESX host that is managing this vCenter VM into Veeam Backup by IP address. This allows you to communicate directly with the host, bypassing vCenter communication for operations in the job.
So to put it in layman’s terms:
1. Under Servers, add the ESX host (by IP address) that hosts the vCenter server VM.
2. Edit/create the vCenter backup job. Remove vCenter server if editing existing job.
3. Click to add a server.
4. When browsing for the vCenter server, make sure you add the vCenter server from the ESX host and NOT from vCenter.
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Yes, these are exactly the same steps as explained earlier this topic. :wink:
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Veeam 5 Backup issues with Virtual Center VM

Post by william-pkv »

[merged]

Hi,

we are using Veeam 5.0.1 to backup our vSphere 4.0 environment. I have issues to backup the Virtual Center VM with local installed SQL Database.
I got the the Message: "Freezing guest operating system VSSControl: Failed to freeze guest, wait timeout". I use VSS in this case.

I have no issues to Backup other Servers with local installed SQL Databases. Only the vCenter VM aborts the backup. What could i do?


Thanks,
William
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Re: Veeam 5 Backup issues with Virtual Center VM

Post by dybenko »

Hi,

uncheck "Enable application-aware image processing", "Enable guest file system indexing" and "Enable vmware tools quiescence"
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Re: Veeam 5 Backup issues with Virtual Center VM

Post by william-pkv »

Why i cannot backup the vCenter VM only? Other backup jobs with SQL Servers works with VSS.
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Re: Veeam 5 Backup issues with Virtual Center VM

Post by dybenko »

For comments - Trainsignal.com - VMware vSphere Pro Series Training Vol. 2 - DVD2, VeeamBackup, lesson 8 - "Backing Up vCenter with Veeam Backup and VSS". My english is bad, sorry.
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Re: Veeam 5 Backup issues with Virtual Center VM

Post by Gostev »

william-pkv wrote:Why i cannot backup the vCenter VM only? Other backup jobs with SQL Servers works with VSS.
Because frozen vCenter cannot process API calls which are needed to perform backup. Deadlock.
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by pageda »

Can someone explain why you can't backup the vcenter vm normally?..i.e why the host has to be directly added.

We use VSphere Essentials and thus don't vmotion our vm's. I've got Veeam backup currently backing up the vcenter server and haven't gotten any errors. Then again, I haven't tried a restore.
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by Vitaliy S. »

pageda wrote:Can someone explain why you can't backup the vcenter vm normally?..i.e why the host has to be directly added.
Gostev wrote:Because frozen vCenter cannot process API calls which are needed to perform backup. Deadlock.
You can backup your vCenter Server without adding it directly from the corresponding host but with "Application-aware image processing" disabled.
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vCenter VM Backup

Post by pcrebe »

[merged]

Hello,
i can't backup my vCenter VM with "Enable application-aware image processing" enabled, i've added the VM trought the Host where it's registred, but it always fails (VSS control: failed to freeze guest, wait timeout).

If i don't use VSS the job goes right.
Could it depend by the vCPU (1) used for my vCenter VM, because sometimes the same failure appends on another VM that have only 1 vCPU too.

Any idea?
Thanks
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Re: vCenter VM Backup

Post by cag »

you need to backup this VM using the source server as a ESXI host only. Adding the source via vcenter doesn't work because when VSS starts communication to the source is lost via vcenter. This is a simple explanation but other posts have also confirmed to same.
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Re: vCenter VM Backup

Post by pcrebe »

cag wrote:you need to backup this VM using the source server as a ESXI host only.
i did that (like i wrote with my word), but it doesn't work.
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Back up vCenter VM?

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Carlo, if you have any technical issues, please contact our support team directly as it is described when you click New Topic. Thanks.
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