Avamar: An incorrect ddboost user role causes Instant Access restores to fail
Summary: An incorrect ddboost user role causes Instant Access restores to fail with the following error: "Create NFS datastore failed to start with error: Failed to add NFS directory on Data Domain system" ...
Symptoms
The following error occurs when trying to perform an Instant Access restore:
Create NFS datastore failed to start with error: Failed to add NFS directory on Data Domain system
The avtar logs show the following when trying to restore:
...
2025-04-11 12:00:40 vmir Info <0000>: Virtual Machine Name: cinvwbkpt_DD_Test
2025-04-11 12:00:40 vmir Info <0000>: Creating NFS datastore: Avamar-MOD-1490390439454
2025-04-11 12:00:45 vmir Error <0000>: Create NFS datastore failed to start with error: Failed to add NFS directory on Data Domain system.
2025-04-11 12:00:45 vmir Error <0000>: Failed to create NFS datastore
...
(Avtar logs can be found in the activity window in the Avamar UI, or in the /usr/local/avamar/var/client directory on the proxy.)
The Data Domain /ddr/var/log/debug/ddfs.info file shows the following:
...
04/11 11:59:06.952 (tid 0x2abc91179db0): NOTICE: ddboost-: Avamar: Restore begin. Handle[1] LSU[avamar-1367945869]
04/11 11:59:07.208 (tid 0x2abc903ffa00): NOTICE: ddboost-: Avamar: Restore complete. Handle[1] LSU[avamar-1367945869]
04/11 11:59:07.208 (tid 0x2abc903ffa00): NOTICE: ddboost-: Avamar: Close and Logoff. Handle[1] LSU[avamar-1367945869]
04/11 11:59:07.208 (tid 0x2abc903ffa00): SSL_read get error 5 [None 0]
...
Cause
The admin role is required to mount Network File System (NFS) datastores.
If the DD Boost User does not have the correct role to mount an NFS datastore on to the Data Domain, instant access fails.
This can be confirmed by using the user change role command to verify the DD Boost User role:
user show detailed <ddboost-user>
Example and sample output:
(For this example, the DD Boost User is ddboost-av)
user show detailed ddboost-av
User: ddboost-av
Uid: 502
Role: user
Last Login From: management-station1.customer.com
Last Login Time: Mon Apr 11 13:08:04 2025
Status: enabled
Password Last Changed: Dec 31, 2024
Disable Date: never
Minimum Days Between Password Change: 0
Maximum Days Between Password Change: 99999
Warning Days Between Password Change: 7
Disable Days After Expire: never Resolution
Change the DD Boost User role to admin:
1. Log in to the Data Domain with an account that has admin privileges (for example sysadmin).
2. If the DD Boost User is unknown, run the following command:
ddboost user show
Example output:
DD Boost user Using Token Access
------------- ------------------
ddboost-av -
------------- ------------------
3. Use the user change role command to verify the DD Boost User role:
user show detailed <ddboost-user>
Example and sample output:
(For this example, the DD Boost User is ddboost-av)
user show detailed ddboost-av
User: ddboost-av
Uid: 502
Role: user
Last Login From: management-station1.customer.com
Last Login Time: Mon Apr 11 13:08:04 2025
Status: enabled
Password Last Changed: Dec 31, 2024
Disable Date: never
Minimum Days Between Password Change: 0
Maximum Days Between Password Change: 99999
Warning Days Between Password Change: 7
Disable Days After Expire: never
If the role is already admin, stop using the article.
4. Use the user change role command to change the DD Boost User role to admin:
user change role <ddboost-user> <role>
Example and sample output:
(For this example, the DD Boost User is ddboost-av)
user change role ddboost-av admin
Role changed for user "ddboost-av"
5. Review and confirm that the role is admin:
user show detailed ddboost-av
User: ddboost-av
Uid: 502
Role: admin
Last Login From: management-station1.customer.com
Last Login Time: Mon Apr 11 13:08:04 2025
Status: enabled
Password Last Changed: Dec 31, 2024
Disable Date: never
Minimum Days Between Password Change: 0
Maximum Days Between Password Change: 99999
Warning Days Between Password Change: 7
Disable Days After Expire: never