Avamar: Replication Failing with Code 7: Argument List is Too Long

Summary: Replication running between Avamar or Integrated Data Protection Appliance servers fails with the message: Aborted due to avspawn::spawn after execve errno:7 code 7: The argument list is too long. ...

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Symptoms

Checking the Activity Window in Avamar server user interface (MCGUI or AUI), the replication job fails. The replication log shows the following in the WID-Replicate.log:

root@avamar:~/usr/local/avamar/var/client>: less MOD-1234567890123-1008-Replicate.log

/vcenter.avamar.com/ContainerClients/vmclient1_Manager_2UzYMLLIMtKkrNfbPRqcAQ /.avamar_metadata /vcenter.avamar.comcom/AvamarDevTest/DevTest/.avamar_metadata /vcenter.avamar.comcom/DevTest/.avamar_metadata /vcenter.avamar.comcom/ContainerClients/.avamar_metadata /vcenter.avamar.com.com/VirtualMachines/.avamar_metadata /vcenter.avamar.com/.avamar_metadata aborted due to avspawn::spawn after execve errno:7 code 7: Argument list too long

2023-10-11 14:33:24 avrepl Info <42100>: Final summary generated subwork 0, canceled/aborted 0, exitcode 157

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- END avrepl log 2023-10-11 14:33:29 EDT  (0 warnings, 2 errors, 0 fatal errors)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cause

The cause of the failure is due to the replication group having more members than the avrepl process has a limit for.

The limit for the avrepl plug-in is the avspawn which has a limit of 1023 arguments. This in turn means that only a maximum of 1023 clients in a membership per replication group are allowed.

Resolution

The workaround for this issue is to lower the number of members in the replication group. This is accomplished by selecting either the client membership to not surpass 1023 or moving clients into domains not to exceed 1023 clients per domain. 

Check the number of clients per domain with the following command:
admin@avamar:~/>: avmgr getl --path=<path to domain> | wc -l

Example:

admin@avamar:~/>: avmgr getl --path=/vcenter.avamar.com/ContainerClients | wc -l
2654

Affected Products

Avamar Server, Integrated Data Protection Appliance Family
Article Properties
Article Number: 000219842
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 14 كانون الثاني 2026
Version:  2
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