Is VSS required for the following VM's

[samuk]

Hi,

Need to know if i need to use VSS backup option for backing up the following two servers:

Microsoft TMG & Microsoft Forefront for Exchange Server

Our ESX server is located in the DMZ, and we are not allowed to open RPC \ NetBios ports.


I spoke to Microsoft, and they said that online line Databases such as exchange & sql require vss or snapshot backups.

Now veeam can take a snapshot backup with or without VSS..


any thoughts?

[Cokovic]

As far as i can see they are VSS-aware. So i would recommend to enable application-aware image processing. But can't tell you for sure cause we dont use these products.

[samuk]

They applicaitons are VSS aware..

our issue then is that backups fail when enabled..

The ESX server is in the DMZ. The customer does not want to open RPC due to security risks.

Any thoughts?

[J1mbo]

Could always schedule service shutdowns to coincide with specific jobs perhaps? Would only need to be a couple of minutes (service would need to be shutdown when the snapshot is taken).

EDIT - to add, doesn't the VMware Tools quiesce request free via VSS?

[Cokovic]

What is exactly the error you get when you enable application aware imaging?

[samuk]

the backup server can communicate with the ESX host in the DMZ over ports 443 & 902 at present.

[Vitaliy S.]

Sam, please avoid posting log snippets as it is described when you click New Topic.

As to your initial question, then I would definitely recommend using "application aware image processing" (aka VSS) for all Windows servers, no matter what role they are configured with.

Secondly, please be aware that network connection is NOT required for VSS-aware backups, see this topic for more details:
VSS without direct network connection possible or not?

That being said, I do not believe you issue is somehow related to network connection unavailability, it have to be something else. Please contact our support team for further debug logs review.

Thanks!

[EBoucq]

[merged]

Hi,

I have to backup VMs using VSS but I have a network issue: my Veeam backup server is in our vlan (172.XX.9.XX) but the VMs of our client are on the internet (192.XXX.6.XX)
We have translated IP addresses for those VMs: 172.XX.84.XX.
I can give Veeam backup access to these translated IP addresses but not to the one on the internet.

Is there a way to force Veeam to use the translated addresses instead of the "real" IPs set in the guest OS ?

Thanks.
Regards,

Eric.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Eric, if you want to use "application aware image processing" direct network connection is not required at all, please see our explanation above. Thanks!

[EBoucq]

Hi Vitaly,

I don't understand your answer: once you checked "Enable application aware image processing" and you entered the User / pwd information for the agent and as soon as you run the job, you can see in the network log that the veeam backup server is trying to access the VM via its IP address.

Could you please give me a link to a documentation ?

thanks a lot.
Regards,
Eric

[foggy]

Eric, you can review the link given in this thread above for explanation. Network connection is attempted first but, in case of failure, the guest interaction API is used to deploy runtime agent into VM.

[EBoucq]

Hi foggy,

Thanks for this explanation.
So I set up my job anyway and ran it.
I get this error:

4/2/2012 6:31:53 PM :: Failed to prepare guest for hot backup. Error: Failed to connect to guest agent. Errors:
'Cannot connect to the host's administrative share. Host: [XX.XX.XX.X.X]. Account: [xxxxxxxx\veeam].
Win32 error:The network path was not found.
Code: 53

Does that mean the guest interaction API doesn't work ?
Thanks !

Eric

[Gostev]

Unlikely, never seen it not working. Might be permissions, DNS or host connectivity issue, please open a support case and they will assist you with troubleshooting. Thanks!

[astrium-fdh]

Hi Eric,

i have the same issue. If it is solved, can you please post the solution ?

Lutz

[foggy]

What kind of issue do you have exactly and do you have a case open for it?

[astrium-fdh]

Hi Alexander,

after the update from vSphere 4.1 to 5 i got the same error as Eric. Strange is: with V4.1 i had 2 VMs and the message was only a warning. After the update in one VM the message is gone, in the other it's now an error (no backup). Today i found a KB-entry for this error... i'm testing....
I open a case if i can't fix it.

Lutz

[EBoucq]

Hi Lutz,

The case is still open.
No solution so far. I was asked to disable IPv6 on my machine. So I did.
Still the same problem...(My veeam backup server and the vm are in a complete different network)

They keep talking about the fact you don't need network access to install the agent but I can't find any document about that and the vmware api they're supposed to use to install it via the vmware tools.

Regards,
Eric

[Gostev]

You can Google for VIX API for info on that.

[MaartenK]

Got the same problem with a TMG2010 server in a DMZ.

First time backup always fails. with the second attempt the backups runs without any problems. The message I receive the first time is

VMware Backup job: TMG01
Created by domain\admin at 9-2-2012 11:49:20. Error
1 of 1 VMs processed
woensdag 18 april 2012 8:00:08
Success 0 Start time 8:00:08 Total size 40,0 GB Backup size 0,0 KB Failed to save backup meta to '\\storage\VEEAM\TMG01\TMG01.vbm' [BACKUP01] Failed to save file content. The network path was not found
Warning 0 End time 8:00:54 Data read 0,0 KB Dedupe 0,0x
Error 1 Duration 0:00:46 Transferred 0,0 KB Compression 0,0x
Details
Name Status Start time End time Size Read Transferred Duration Details
TMG01 Error 8:00:39 8:00:54 40,0 GB 0,0 KB 0,0 KB 0:00:15 Job has failed. See logs for details.

[EBoucq]

Hi Lutz,

Do you still have your problem ?
I found the solution for mine: not only you have to disable IPv6 on your Veeam backup server but you also have to disable the User Account Control (on your W2K8 VM), otherwise your veeam agent account won't have the rights on the machine.

Regards,
Eric

[peske]

I've had a "RPC function call failed" issue whenever I've tried to backup TMG 2010 VM with Veeam Backup and Replication. I've resolved the issue in a somewhat strange way, so I want to share it here.
1. Of course, you should create a TMG rule which will allow Veeam to access the TMG VM. I've created allow rule for all outbound traffic, from Veeam Server to TMG Server. Backup failed with "RPC function..."
2. I've thought that problem can be in the fact that Veeam Proxies can't access TMG, so I've created a "Computer Set" with Veeam Server and all Proxy Servers inside, and I've changed the "From" part of the rule to "Veeam Computers". Backup failed again with "RPC function..." But log file has showed me something very strange part: "Target machine: [10.1.10.151]"! My TMG has LAN IP 10.0.10.2, and addresses showed in the log is the first address from VPN clients scope (in my case 10.1.10.151-200). I've opened 10.1.10.151 with remote desktop - and the TMG is also available at this address! It surprised me.
3. I've extended "To" section of the rule by adding Address Range 10.1.10.151-200 (my VPN clients scope) - and BACKUP SUCCEEDED!

I hope that it'll be helpful for someone...

B cool

Fat Dragon

[peske]

Just to apologize.. Stupid me.. It was enough to use "Local Host" network instead of FQDN of the TMG in "To" section, and everything works again. ISA (and TMG also) likes to be called "Local Host" in a firewall rule.

Sorry!