Cannot create a quiesced snapshot

Question

I get this error message when i try to perform a proxy image level backup with Networker.

Cannot create a quiesced snapshot because the snapshot operation exceeded the time limit for holding off I/O in the frozen virtual machine

I've tried reinstalling Vmware tools making sure VSS was installed correctly. The VM itself isnt being used for anything so the I/0 is very little.

I use Networker 7.6.3 and everything on the Networker side seems to be configured properly. When i start the backup job it sends the snapshot request

to Vitrual Center and i get the error above instantly everytime.

Storage node VM proxy machine/VADP

DATA DOMAIN (no DDboost)

VMware ESXi 4.1.0 (348481)

Vsphere 4.1 (345043)

Any help would be great thanks.

SB

CarlosRojas · Answer

Hi Shane, Take a look at the following KB: https://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg122135 Thank you. Carlos.

northvibe · Answer

I have this same issue. The KB listed though pretty much says it affects networker 7.6.2 and ESX 4.0.

Our environment is the same as ACTSHANE's. ESX 4.1 w/ networker 7.6.3. Even doing a manual snapshot can fail though. So then EMC engineers didn't think it may be networker related.

Thierry101 · Answer

HTH http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1018194

Bebo2k · Answer

Adding my vote to Thierry101, The root cause of the issue is a malfunctioning VSS on the host managing the VM being backed up, There is an article for that issue on Powerlink:

https://solutions.emc.com/emcsolutionview.asp?id=esg121746

Thanks,

Ahmed Bahaa

actadmin1 · Answer

I wanted to give everyone an update on this. The solution was actually something very simple but not very well documented IMO.

When you create the networker backup job the name of the VM needs to match what you have set in Vcenter. For example,I have a server named DC01 but in Vcenter console i renamed it DC01 (domain controller) for informational purposes only.

Once i figured this out the snapshot was perfectly fine.

VADP_VM_NAME=DC01 (domain controller)

Bebo2k · Answer

This has been documented in the VMware Integration guide:

If VM lookups are done by name instead of IP address, you must add the VADP_VM_NAME variable in the Application Information attribute of each NetWorker virtual Client resource. The variable format is entered as VADP_VM_NAME=vm1 where vm1 is the display name of the VM used in the vCenter.

VADP_VM_NAME is case-sensitive. For example, if the VM host name is upper-case (such as SUSE11-X86), the value of VADP_VM_NAME must be set to SUSE11-X86. Also, if the name entered for VADP_VM_NAME contains spaces, the name must be contained within quotation marks (for example, VADP_VM_NAME="this is my vm name")

Thanks,

Ahmed Bahaa

NetWorker

Cannot create a quiesced snapshot

Was this post helpful?