Possible workaround for Rocky Linux 9.1 agent install?

[cwhitmore]

I'm new to Linux, but have been using Veeam B&R for years. I'm aware that Veeam currently does not support Rocky Linux, but has anyone gotten one of the other linux agents to install successfully on Rocky Linux?

[aj_potc]

What do you mean by other agents?

When I tested this, Veeam Agent for Linux 6 worked without any modifications. The blksnap module was compatible with my test VM, and no errors were produced when I tried to back it up.

What specific error or problem are you encountering?

[cwhitmore]

@aj_potc thanks for replying. The process I was using to install the agent was to create a backup job from my B&R server which then installs the agent automatically on the client if it doesn't exist. The problem is that when you install this way it checks the Linux OS and if it's not on the supported list you get the error "OS is not supported".
By other agents I meant downloading one of the various RHEL agents directly to the Rocky Linux server. You mentioned you installed RHEL/Oracle Linux 6. Why not the latest RHEL/Oracle Linux 9 agent?

[aj_potc]

Thanks for that clarification -- now I see what you mean.

As you found, you can't install the agent software via the VBR server because it does an OS check. However, you can install it directly on the system to be backed up and still manage it via the VBR server post-installation. Please see my post here:

post446499.html#p446499

Essentially, you set up a new repository on your system and use yum to install the Veeam agent. Next, you can add that system to the VBR server as part of a new backup job. It will then appear under Inventory > Manually Added.

I used Veeam Agent for Linux 6, which is the latest version available, and this worked fine on Rocky Linux 9.1.

[cwhitmore]

@aj_potc - Thanks for the information. I did download the latest rpm for RHEL which is veeam-release-el9-1.0.8-1.x86_64.rpm, but when I run:
rpm -ivh ./veeam-release* && yum check-update

I get "error: ./veeam-release-el9-1.0.8-1.x86_64.rpm: not an rpm package (or package manifest):"
I'm obviously a Linux noob. What am I missing?

[cwhitmore]

I was able to install the agent after getting some help from the Rocky Linux forum here https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/help-in ... age/9426/3
Now when I try to run a full backup I get the error "Neither [blksnap] nor [veeamsnap] module was found."

I've opened a case# 05989788

[aj_potc]

Hmm, that sounds like the RPM file is corrupted.

The rpm utility supports installation directly from a URL. Could you try this instead:

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rpm -ivh https://repository.veeam.com/backup/linux/agent/rpm/el/9/x86_64/veeam-release-el9-1.0.8-1.x86_64.rpm

That should set up the Veeam repository. Then you can move on with installing Veeam with the yum command.

[cwhitmore]

Thanks aj_potc. I was able to run that command. Just so I'm clear, after running that I need to go back to my B&R server and create the backup job?

[aj_potc]

Yes, after you finish the installation instructions on the page I linked, you should be ready to add a new job to the VBR server. You can point the VBR server to the agent by IP address and input the SSH login details.

Since you're using Rocky 9.1, Veeam should use the blksnap module to do volume-level backups. I don't recall the exact steps I used to ensure this module was installed on my test VM, or if yum installed that package as a dependency of the veeam package.

You can use this command to see if blksnap is installed:

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yum info blksnap

If it is already installed, then it will be listed under the header "Installed Packages". Otherwise, if it's not installed, then you'll see the header "Available Packages". In that case you can install with:

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yum install blksnap

[cwhitmore]

Ugh, now when I run a backup I get the error "Neither [blksnap] nor [veeamsnap] module was found."

blksnap shows installed, but veeamsnap is not. When I tried running sudo yum install veeamsnap it coudn't find it.

[aj_potc]

The blksnap module is what you need to use for your kernel version, so getting that to work should be your focus.

Unfortunately blksnap has very little documentation on the Veeam site when compared to the older module, veeamsnap. veeamsnap wouldn't work if you're using Secure Boot (UEFI) on your VM, but I don't know if blksnap has the same issue.

You might try checking /var/log/veeam/veeamsvc.log on the system to see if sheds more light on why it can't load the module. The message from the VBR server is a generic one.

Do you get any output from:

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modinfo blksnap

[cwhitmore]

I've decided to go with Ubuntu 22.04 instead. I can install the agent from the B&R console. Thanks for your help @aj_potc!

[aj_potc]

Oh, that's too bad. Probably some particular detail of your setup would need more investigation. This would require some log analysis.

There's nothing wrong with Ubuntu, but I'm sure Rocky 9.1 can be made to work with Veeam.

[PTide]

In order to make veeamsnap/blksnap work with secure boot you need to make sure the machine is prepared.

If you use dkms to build the module, then you need to sign the module yourself. Here is an example how it can be automated.

Thanks!

[PTide]

@cwhitmore,

You can try installing this kmod directly and see how it goes.

If that doesn't fly for some reason, try installing the noarch version.

If nothing helps, please send logs over (via some fileshare).

Meanwhile, if you use LVM on your machine, you might want to try this package. It does not have a dependency on blksnap/veeamsnap and can use LVM snapshots.

Thanks!

[cwhitmore]

Thanks @PTide. I'll try it over the weekend.

[aj_potc]

In order to make veeamsnap/blksnap work with secure boot you need to make sure the machine is prepared.

Thanks for the confirmation that blksnap is also affected by the presence of Secure Boot.

@cwhitmore:
Pavel has offered some good tips, and working on this will help you build more Linux sysadmin experience.

Are you running your tests on a VM? If so, Secure Boot can be configured via the hypervisor. On a physical server, you can usually turn it on and off in the BIOS.

[cwhitmore]

Good point @aj_potc. Any chance I can get to learn more about Linux I'll take it.
When I create a test VM I usually turn on secure boot w/o thinking about it. I'll make sure that's not on for my test.

[ITP-Stan]

I'm running on Rocky Linux 9.1 with LVM and the veeam-nosnap agent fine.
See: post482772.html#p482772

[RubinCompServ]

Oh, that's too bad. Probably some particular detail of your setup would need more investigation. This would require some log analysis.

There's nothing wrong with Ubuntu, but I'm sure Rocky 9.1 can be made to work with Veeam.

Most of this thread is over my head (I'm a Linux neophyte), but I do use a cut of Rocky Linux 9 (9.3? 9.5?) for our hardened Linux repos with no issues.

[aj_potc]

Repositories need only a few standard packages in order to work just fine with Veeam. So this is why you wouldn't have trouble using the latest Rocky Linux (9.1 at the moment) as a repository.

In this thread, the question was about installing the agent on a Linux system to be backed up. Unlike repositories, the agents require a special kernel module that allows Veeam to do changed block tracking (CBT) on the Linux OS. This module is the sticking point that makes it difficult (or impossible) for the Veeam agent to back up unsupported Linux distros.

In the future, we hope that the module needed by Veeam agent will become a standard part of the Linux kernel.

[frueter]

I just updated one of my machiens from Centos 7 to Rocky 9.2 and now I can't get veeam back up jobs to run anymnore.
The job says:
14:48:44 Job BackupJob1 started at 2023-06-09 02:48:44 UTC
14:48:44 Preparing to backup
14:48:44 [error] Failed to create volume snapshot 00:00:07
14:48:51 [error] Failed to take volume snapshot
14:48:51 [error] Failed to perform backup
14:48:51 [error] Failed to load module [veeamsnap]
14:48:51 [error] Processing finished with errors at 2023-06-09 02:48:51 UTC

Secure boot is disabled.
How can I debug this? The above info is not all that helpful.

Cheers,
frank

[Mildur]

Hi Frank

Rocky Linux is not supported by Veeam Agent for Linux.
But you may find an answer in this topic.

Best,
Fabian

[frueter]

Thanks, will read up

[aj_potc]

I don't think Rocky Linux has anything to do with your problem here, but rather the fact that you're running version 9.2.
According to Veeam's documentation, the latest RHEL version they support is 9.1.

I'd guess that either the blksnap module isn't compatible with the kernel used in 9.2, or Veeam's software is doing a version check on the kernel and is refusing to load the module.

Also, I have no idea why your error message mentions veeamsnap. That module is used only for RHEL 8 and earlier systems, and it shouldn't be in play for any kernels after 5.3.18. It certainly sounds like Veeam is confused. You may want to try reinstalling the agent, just for good measure.

[aj_potc]

I just tried installing and running Veeam on RHEL 9.2 in my home lab, and I had no trouble.

To get it to work, you first need to install the EPEL package, which allows dkms to be installed later:

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yum install epel-release

Then, download and install the RPM to enable the Veeam yum repository:

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wget https://repository.veeam.com/backup/linux/agent/rpm/el/9/x86_64/veeam-release-el9-1.0.8-1.x86_64.rpm

Install it:

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rpm -iv ./veeam-release-el9-1.0.8-1.x86_64.rpm

And finally install the blksnap and veeam packages provided by the new repository:

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yum install blksnap veeam

I just did a test backup, and it worked without issues.

[Klaus-Uni]

Good afternoon,
I have installed the latest veeam linux agent on a rocky linux 8.7 using these instructions. Everything has worked so far. Only when installing blksnap I get errors and the module does not compile. I honestly don't know what else to do. Perhaps someone here can help me.

modinfo: ERROR: Module blksnap not found.


Error in make.log
/var/lib/dkms/blksnap/6.0.3.1221/build/tracker.c: In function "tracker_submit_bio_cb":
/var/lib/dkms/blksnap/6.0.3.1221/build/tracker.c:163:3: Error: Implicit declaration of function "submit_bio_noacct_notrace"; did you mean "submit_bio_wait"? [-error=implicit-function-declaration.]
submit_bio_noacct_notrace(new_bio);
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
submit_bio_wait
cc1: Some warnings are treated as errors
make[1]: *** [Scripts/Makefile.build:317: /var/lib/dkms/blksnap/6.0.3.1221/build/tracker.o] Error 1
Make: *** [Makefile _module_/var/lib/dkms/blksnap/6.0.3.1221/build] Error 2
make: directory "/usr/src/kernels/4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64" is exited

Thanks Klaus

[aj_potc]

Hi Klaus,

This topic is about the 9.x branch of Rocky/RHEL/Alma. That uses a very different kernel version than the 8.x branch, so pretty much everything in this topic is not relevant to you, I'm afraid.

It is possible for Veeam to work in the Rocky 8.x branch, but you will need to use a workaround to fool it. Please see the next to last message in this post: topic85087.html

In addition, you will not install or use the blksnap module with Rocky 8.7. You'll need to use the older veeamsnap module instead:

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yum install veeamsnap veeam

[Klaus-Uni]

Thanks, it works now!