PPDM: DR Backup Fails with "Unable to perform SearchNode Agent operation backup"

Summary: Disaster recovery (DR) backup failed with "Unable to perform SearchNode Agent operation 'backup'."

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Symptoms

A PowerProtect Data Manager DR backup completes successfully, but the search node DR backup fails.

Below is the error from serverdr.log. 
Unable to perform SearchNode Agent operation 'backup' on VM xxx (vm-8948):  SearchNode Agent: Operation: Create snapshot; Status: Failed; Description: Failed
to set Boostfs lockbox for <DD host>:<storage unit>.

Cause

Get the Search Node credentials by running the following command on PowerProtect Data Manager as root. 
source /opt/emc/vmdirect/unit/vmdirect.env
/opt/emc/vmdirect/bin/infranodemgmt get -secret
Log in search node, cd to the lockbox folder 
cd /opt/emc/search/data/lockbox
Find the boostfs.lockbox file under this folder is zero size which means it is corrupted.
We can find the boostfs.lockbox file under this folder is 0 size which means it's corrupted.

Resolution

Rename the boostfs.lockbox file. 
mv boostfs.lockbox boostfs.lockbox.old
Run server DR backup again, it automatically re-creates the boostfs.lockbox file.

The backup should then work.

Affected Products

PowerProtect Data Manager, PowerProtect Data Manager Software, PowerProtect Software
Article Properties
Article Number: 000214787
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 18 مارس 2026
Version:  3
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