Failed to index guest file system. Session operation has timed out

[tigerblue77]

Hello guys,

Veeam support case ID : 04313295

For several months I have had this alert on my backup task: "Failed to index guest file system. Session operation has timed out"

My installation, completely up to date, is very basic: my Veeam Backup&Replication v10a server (hosted on a dedicated Windows Server 2019 VM) backs up my Debian 10 VM by connecting to my VMware ESXi v7.0 (standalone).

This error appears systematically and I can't get rid of it. I tried to recreate the job and pointing the new one to the old backup repository, it didn't change anything...
I think the problem comes from my Debian 10 VM but the packages needed for indexing are well installed so I don't see the problem...

I tried to open a ticket with Veeam support twice but, being a user of the Community version, they were closed without answer (probably because support is too busy).

Thanks in advance for your help
Tigerblue77

[soncscy]

Hey Dylan,

Personally two lines of thought on this -- since with anything *nix veeam goes over ssh and uses /tmp heavily, you maybe want to check and see that you can copy stuff to /tmp over like pscp or something, and also check your execution privileges on /tmp.

However, if you're really just using community edition, I am guessing you don't have Enterprise Manager set up, which is the only reason you'd use guest indexing. If you don't have Enterprise Manager, just turn indexing off. It won't affect your file level restores in the slightest or even your search-ability during restores. This might just be trying to fix a problem you don't even have

[tigerblue77]

Hello soncscy,

I just checked and yes, I can write & execute on /tmp using veeam user. I never changed the rights of this directory so they are : d rwx rwx rwt

Exactly, I don't have the Veeam Enterprise Manager set up (because not available in community edition right ?)
Ok I understand the logic but... What's the link between indexing and Enterprise Manager ?
Only the 1-click restore as explained here : https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... exing.html ?

Thanks

[PetrM]

Hi Dylan,

because not available in community edition right ?

Yes, that's right.

What's the link between indexing and Enterprise Manager ?

Index data will be used by EM to represent file system of the guest OS and to provide browsing and search during file level restore.

Thanks!

[tigerblue77]

Hi PetrM,

Okay so I disabled the indexing last night and no warning appeared. Thank your for the solution & explanation !

Have a nice day
Tigerblue77

[Etb82715]

I disable the indexing function also and this error stops showing up. But Can someone explain the implication of stopping the indexing?

[veremin]

Are you using Enterprise Manager? If not, you can leave indexing option disabled, cause it's used only for searching and easy restoring of VM guest OS files in Enterprise Manager. Thanks!