instant disk recovery kills my veeam-server

[mcz]

Hi guys,

just wannted to test the new instant disk recovery functionality and got a big surprise... I've choosen the veeam-server as attach-target when during the restore process the server didn't respond anymoore. vcenter told me that there's an ongoing snapshot for that vm but it didn't proceed at all and finally it aborted and powered off my veeam-server (target)!!!

I assume that this is a situation where the cat bites it's tail - vcenter was told to add a disk which is emulated on the veeam-server and shipped via the NFS-service... If it fails, ok, but it shouldn't switch off the whole vm. Also I'm aware that the power off is maybe executed by vmware which was then desperate because it couldn't use the disk.

So the real question is: Is veeam aware about that situation, should it be supported (or not) and will the ugly "outcome" be changed for future releases?

Thank you very much!

[Gostev]

Hi, Michael. You should investigate what happened with support, as currently there are no known issues with instant disk recovery functionality that would match your description. Perhaps the answer to what happened can be found in VMware logs. Thanks!

[mcz]

Thanks Anton, will let you know.

[mcz]

Case #04564193

[mcz]

ok, received the following message from support:

In the meanwhile, I have discussed the issue with my senior colleagues and we realize that there can be something to improve in this logic.

[mcz]

OK Anton, it seems to be bad practice to do a instant disk recovery to the VBR server and I've got told that it will be documented. However, when you and your collegues are at work, nobody really reads bad practices before starting and operation and so it will for sure lead to the same result here and then - the restore operation kills your server. I think it would be enough to just show a warning message in the GUI that it was a bad idea but only a documentation online is not enough. Do you agree? How do you see this case?

[Gostev]

Is your backup server a VM and you're using it as a target VM for instant virtual disk recovery?

[mcz]

Yes.

[Gostev]

@Egor Yakovlev may be we could do a check in the wizard? The backup server should be able to identify its own VM.

[Egor Yakovlev]

On it.
Thanks!

[Egor Yakovlev]

To summarize:

Case:
Instant Disk Restore where Target VM selected is a VBR Server

Problems:
1. If Target VM(read, "VBR Server") is an active vPowerNFS server from that recovery operation(default VBR configuration), disks mounting will cause VBR server failure.
2. If Target VM(read, "VBR Server") is not currently hosting an active vPowerNFS for that recovery operation, there is still a chance to cause VBR server failure, for example by clicking Migrate option.

Changes for upcoming update:
- product will restrict Instant Disk Restore to VBR Server VM
- documentation will reflect overall scenario, to emphasize how bad of an idea it is to mount IDR on a machine with running vPowerNFS service

/Thanks!

[mcz]

great, thanks!

[mcz]

Hi guys,

just stumbled over the same situation again. Will it be adressed in the next update? When could that be?

Thanks!

[Egor Yakovlev]

Will be changed with 11a.

/Thanks!