Avamar: Avamar VMware Backup Randomly Fails with ERROR: 0237 Cannot create thread (11) Resource temporarily unavailable

Summary: Avamar VMware Backup Randomly Fails with ERROR: 0237 Cannot create thread (11) Resource temporarily unavailable after upgrading to proxy 19.3.

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Symptoms

  • Deploying proxy version 19.3 using proxy deployment manager.


  • When Using proxy version 19.3, random VM image backups fail showing below error messages: 
    [VcbImageBackupAssistThread]  ERROR: <0237> Cannot create thread (11) Resource temporarily unavailable
avvcbimage Info <43574>: vcApiVersion 6.5
avvcbimage Info <43575>: VSphereHTTP::vcVersion65 will be true
avvcbimage Info <42137>: job type = 4
.
avvcbimage Info <16041>: VDDK:VixDiskLib: Advanced transport plugin /usr/lib/vmware-vix-disklib/lib64/libdiskLibPlugin.so was successfully loaded into vixDiskLib.
avvcbimage Info <16041>: VDDK:VixDiskLib: Enabling advanced transport modes.
[VcbImageBackupAssistThread]  ERROR: <0001> threadimpl::runthread Exception Resource temporarily unavailable
avvcbimage Info <9772>: Starting graceful (staged) termination, MCS cancel (wrap-up stage)

Cause

  • Proxy tasks count exceeded the value (512) set for "TasksMax" , even if the value is set to "infinity" in the file "/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/avagent.service" as below: 
    <Proxy_Name>:~ # less /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/avagent.service
.
[Service]
ExecStart=/etc/init.d/avagent start
ExecStop=/etc/init.d/avagent stop
KillMode=process
Restart=on-abort
RemainAfterExit=yes
TasksMax=infinity
  • Also when checking task counting from Service "vami-sfcb.service", it shows the correct tasks count as below: 
    <Proxy_Name>:~ # systemctl status vami-sfcb.service
  vami-sfcb.service - LSB: Small Footprint CIM Broker Service
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/vami-sfcb; disabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (running) since <DAY> <yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss UTC; # days ago
     Docs: man:systemd-sysv-generator(8)
    Tasks: 16 (limit: 512)
   CGroup: /system.slice/vami-sfcb.service
              6873 /opt/vmware/sbin/vami-sfcbd -d
              6878 /opt/vmware/sbin/vami-sfcbd -d
              6882 /opt/vmware/sbin/vami-sfcbd -d
              6883 /opt/vmware/sbin/vami-sfcbd -d
              6892 /opt/vmware/sbin/vami-sfcbd -d
              6901 /opt/vmware/sbin/vami-sfcbd -d
             11366 /usr/local/avamarclient/bin/avagent.bin --listenport=28009...
  • But when checking task counting number from "avagent.service" , it shows "0" value, which means it is not counting tasks correctly as below: 
    <Proxy_Name>:~ # systemctl status avagent.service
  avagent.service - Avamar Unix backup/restore agent (avagent)
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/avagent.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (exited) since <Day> <yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss UTC; # ago
 Main PID: 1286 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Tasks: 0
   CGroup: /system.slice/avagent.service
             1476 /usr/local/avamarclient/bin/avagent.bin --listenport=28009 ...

Resolution

  1. On the proxy, verify that "TasksMax" value is set to "infinity" in the file "/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/avagent.service" as below: 
    <Proxy_Name>:~ # less /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/avagent.service
.
[Service]
ExecStart=/etc/init.d/avagent start
ExecStop=/etc/init.d/avagent stop
KillMode=process
Restart=on-abort
RemainAfterExit=yes
TasksMax=infinity
  2. Enable Service "vami-sfcb" on the proxy as below: 
    <Proxy_Name>:~ # systemctl enable vami-sfcb
Synchronizing state of vami-sfcb.service with SysV init with /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install...
Executing /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable vami-sfcb
Created symlink from /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/vami-sfcb.service to /usr/lib/systemd/system/vami-sfcb.service.
  3. Reboot the proxy using 'reboot' command.
  4. Verify that the service "avagent.service" is showing the correct task counting and not zero as below: 
    <Proxy_Name>:~ # systemctl status avagent.service
  avagent.service - Avamar Unix backup/restore agent (avagent)
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/avagent.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: active (exited) since <Day> <yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss UTC; # ago
 Main PID: 1286 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
    Tasks: 16
   CGroup: /system.slice/avagent.service
             1476 /usr/local/avamarclient/bin/avagent.bin --listenport=28009 ...

Affected Products

Avamar

Products

Avamar, Avamar Client for VMware
Article Properties
Article Number: 000173642
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 07 Nov 2025
Version:  3
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