Error connecting to /vmfs/volumes

[KRMC]

I am trying to back up a normal windows server 2003 SP2 R2.
This server is only running Meditech. This only runs an application that just proccesses information. No data is written to any database or hard drive.

Veem backup crashes the server. I had to reboot the ESX server that it crashed on. This has happend twice now. Not happy about this at all.

here is what I get.

Job has failed unexpectedly

0 of 1 VMs processed (0 failed)

total size of VMs to backup: 20.00 GB
Processed size: 2.55 KB
Avg. performance rate: 0 KB/s

Start time 12/31/2008 3:16:09 PM
End time 12/31/2008 3:37:20 PM

VM Summary

2 of 13 files processed

total VM size 20.00 GB
Processed size 2.55 KB
Avg. performance rate 0 KB/s

Start time 12/31/2008 3:16:13 PM

Releasing VM files

This causes a lock on the vmimage and will not let go. We tried everything even from the service consol to kill the job. we had to migrate all our images except the vm image that had the lock and reboot the esx server..

What is going on here?

Thanks.


Update. I just tryed to run this again on a fresh server build and after a few sec it crashed the server. The console goes black. cant ping it. I get the following error:

Error connecting to /vmfs/volumes/48ce7208-625260c0-411b-001018394cbe/kalx-bg3/windows server 2003 standard edition.vmx because the VMX is not started.

What can I do here???????? HELP!

[Gostev]

Hello, because this looks like technical problem it would be best for you to contact our support instead, and provide all logs from Help | Support information (there's little we can say without having all logs).

As for the issue you are experiencing, I do not recall similar problems reported before. From your description it looks like VM snapshot creation is failing, leaving VM in the locked state. I think it is unlikely that this is caused by Veeam Backup because it uses standard VMware API call to create a snapshot. But again, I am just guessing, please send all logs to our support and they should be able to tell more.

For troubleshooting, I would try the following (to investigate possible snapshot issue):
- disable VSS integration in Veeam Backup job properties (this is the only thing which may affect guest OS during backup)
- try creating snapshot for the same VM manually with VMware Infrastructure Client
- try to reproduce this issue on another ESX using another storage (problem could be specific to particular ESX)

Thank you!

[Gostev]

Also, please note that due to the public holidays (New Year), Veeam forums are not currently being constantly monitored. Please expect delayed responses to any forum posts, and for fast resolution, please submit your issues directly to our support at support@veeam.com!

[tim.matheson]

I am having the same issue. I called support and they told me to stop the veeam services. that did not help. finally after a couple of hours, the lock was removed or timed out on its own. I believe this is a problem with veeam interaction with VMware. this only happens on one VM but it is rather large.