One Solution to "NFC storage connection is unavailable"

[paallergy]

I'm posting this in case someone else runs into the same problem. Hopefully this solution will work for them as well. I searched the forums for this problem but didn't find it; however, I may have missed it.

Twice now I have had the same backup job fail with the same error ("NFC storage connection is unavailable" and "Failed to create NFC download stream"). The first time I ended up reinstalling ESXi, then contacting Veeam support to clean up some issues. The second time I contacted Veeam support right away. Veeam support asked me to try to browse the datastore and download a vmx file. When that failed (see error below), Veeam support first referred me to a VMware KB article. Unfortunately that KB article was for ESX, not ESXi. Veeam support then referred me to VMware support. I contacted HP VMware support who found an easy solution: restarting the ESXi management agents.

SYMPTOMS

• The Veeam B&R backup job error message contains "NFC storage connection is unavailable" and "Failed to create NFC download stream".
• ESXi and all the VMs continue to run.
• Browsing the datastore in vSphere Client and trying to download a vmx file results in an error "Failed to log into NFC server"

SETUP

• ESXi 4.1.0
• Veeam Backup & Replication 5.0.0.179 (running in a VM)
• No vCenter (just vSphere Client)

SOLUTION

• Restart ESXi Management Agents
• ESXi Console > Troubleshooting Options > Restart Management Agents
• Note: there may be a different solution for vCenter managed systems

Notes

• According to HP VMware support this problem can be cause by vCenter or the vSphere client.
• I'm not sure if the above solution works for vCenter
• It sounded like this was a known issue. I didn't think to ask when it would be fixed. It was late and I was happy for an easy solution

[Alexey D.]

Hello Jonathan,

Thanks a lot for contributing this solution to the community!