AVE 7.3 - ave-config failing

Unfortunately there's not enough information here to identify the problem. I'd recommend reviewing the workflow.log for more information. This log file is located in the following directory on the Avamar server (where " " is the name of the AVP package for the installer) :

/data01/avamar/repo/temp/ /tmp/

Hi,

I think I found the problem. I was following the installation guide “Avamar VE 7.3 for VMware System Installation Guide” and, in this guide, they never talk about unlocking the padlock and don't give the password either. As I installed 7.2 about 6 months ago, I tried to unlock it with the previous password without success. I figured this part of the installation may have changed.

About an hour ago, I was looking at the Avamar 7.3 portfolio and found out in the upgrade guide that the password is there. I restarted the 7.3 installation, use that password to unlock the padlock and this time, everything worked as expected.

I’m pretty sure it is the reason of the problem as I did deploy the version 7.3 twice without success and then, a third time after unlocking the padlock and this time, it worked like a charm.

So, hopefully, it may help others that would encounter the problem while EMC update the Installation Guide properly.

ehfortin

Edit by Moderator: Removed confidential password.

The "unsupported curve" issue is a known issue. Please see the following KB article:

https://support.emc.com/kb/487555

You do not need the password to install AVE 7.3. The support password for the Avamar Installer is only used when you need to display a "support only" package. Since AVE is now customer installable, the AVE install package is no longer a support only package. If the package is visible when you log into AvInstaller, the support password is not required.

Well, if that's the case and the password is not required, it was not working at all here while everything work perfectly once I used the password. Did you successfully install it without using the password and without hacking behind the scene? If so, which username have you used to connect to the /avi page? I used "root". Is that correct?

I'll try the resolution regarding the unsupported curve issue. Hopefully this will be fixed soon as, per the documentation, the fix is presented as temporary.

ehfortin

Hi,

I did apply the resolution that is documented and I still get the same error message about curve being unsupported. I did the procedure two times (in case I did a mistake the first time) and get the same result. I tried restarting the service as documented but also rebooted the server and still have the same error which translate in not being able to deploy the proxy. Any suggestions about what I could have missed or something else that could interfere?

Thank you.

ehfortin

What method are you using for deploying the proxy? Are you using proxy deployment manager or deploying the proxy manually using the OVA / OVF?

I understand what you are saying. I'll start a new deployment and will have a look at workflow.log to see why it stop at step 3 of 65 when not using the password. Will let you know probably later today or tomorrow.

Regarding the proxy deployment, I'm using the proxy deployment manager that is in the Avamar GUI where it does recommandations.

ehfortin

Making restricted packages visible is literally the only purpose of that password. Entering it or not entering it will have no effect on the installation of the package itself. When you're initially installing the Avamar software, you do need to use the OS root credentials to log in because the Avamar accounts can't exist yet if the software isn't installed. However, if you've reached the point where the software is actually installing, you've already gone past the point where things like user accounts and passwords matter. The issue is not related. The only way to confirm what went wrong is to review the workflow.log.

As a follow-up, I've finally been able to have the ave-config scripts running properly without using the password. First time I succeeded, it was trying to use the default 3 drive setup. I redid the setup with 6 drives and this times (about 7th try), it worked. I have no idea what was the issue before or what changed as I'm using the same exact server, same exact storage and so on. Maybe there was some delay related to my machine being slower then a E5-26xx (I have an E3-1220). Anyway, it confirm that it can work so if you don't succeed at first, try again (I was erasing the whole VM each time to make sure).

The proxy deployment is still an issue even after applying the curve fix (https://support.emc.com/kb/487555) so... I'll revert back to 7.2 as Nothing will be backed up without a proxy (tried but got an error message about the lack of a proxy ).

If somebody has another fix/suggestion to remove the curve issue, that would be appreciated. Note that I've configured Avamar to not use MCS certificate authentication. Can it be related?

Thank you.

ehfortin

I decided it was Worth keeping 7.3 installed so I've deployed a proxy through the vSphere client which worked fine. I'm not trying to do a first backup. It is running without errors up to now but I'm still awaiting to see any progress in the activity screen. Will let it run for some time (the default group has 47 VM with 8 being "running" for backup as of now). Hopefully it will work. At least, the base stuff seems to be in place and ready to do it's job.

Hope the follow-up in this thread can help anybody getting around the glitches I got.

ehfortin

I was having active job the first time I did a backup but Nothing was ever backed up so I cancel the job in order to try on a smaller set. Since I've cancelled it, I never got it running. Each time I start a job (individual VM and group), I get a message that the backup request is initiated and then, Nothing more. If I look at the activity monitor, there is Nothing and in the summary, I can see the jobs that are started and immediately failed. No log, no détails.

Since, I removed the clients and the vcenter domain and recreated the whole thing without more success even if I'm following the admin guide.

Which log should I look at to find out what is going on in the backend? I look here and there Under /data01/avamar/var but without success until now.

Thank you.

ehfortin

We had an issue similar to that - would work when encryption was enabled, but would not when set to None.  Discovered that a different set of ports were used when not encrypting the data, and those ports weren't open.  EMC instructed us to either open additional ports in the firewall or just use encryption - any level.  We opted to just use encryption.