NetWorker: How to use health check tool ProxyHC on vProxy appliances

Purpose:

Utility provides an automated, efficient, and human-readable way to perform first-step or basic self-diagnostic for vProxy appliances. The ProxyHC utility can be copied to the vProxy and run from the NetWorker Troubleshooting.

The ProxyHC utility is not included on the vProxy by default. The ProxyHC utility can be downloaded from the following support tools page: https://central.dell.com/solutions/Networker-Tools (You must sign-in with your Dell support account)

For vProxy 4.3.0.x (SuSE 12 SP5) you can use ProxyHC-2.7.19.
Starting vProxy version 4.4.0.x (SuSE 15 SP4), you must use ProxyHC-2.7.19.v2.

The utility can be copied using the following methods:

• WinSCP:
  • Host: vProxy Hostname
  • Protocol: SCP
  • Username: admin
    (root login over SSH is typically blocked by default)
  • Path: /home/admin/
     
• Windows Server 2019 (and later) has SCP command line capabilities:

scp ProxyHC admin@vProxyHostname:/home/admin/ProxyHC

Figure 1. ProxyHC Utility Interface

How to Use:

1. Connect to the vProxy appliance using SSH, log in as admin.
2. Switch to root user:

sudo su -

3. Make ProxyHC executable:

chmod +x /home/admin/ProxyHC

4. Run ProxyHC:

/home/admin/ProxyHC flags

Usage examples:

my-vproxy:/home/admin # /home/admin/ProxyHC vCenter --help
usage: ProxyHC vCenter [-h] --name NAME --user USER [--pwd PWD] [--vm VM]
                       [--nsruser NSRUSER] [--nsrpwd NSRPWD]
                       [--nsrauthc NSRAUTHC] [--allproxies ALLPROXIES]
                       [--DDhost DDHOST]
                       {auth,port,perm,disk,hotadd,migration,listsession,annotation,cleanup,kb524127,all,layout,tasks,datastore,vmsnapchain,vmdisksize,termsoapsession}
                       ...

positional arguments:
  {auth,port,perm,disk,hotadd,migration,listsession,annotation,cleanup,kb524127,all,layout,tasks,datastore,vmsnapchain,vmdisksize,termsoapsession}
                        sub-command help
    auth                test authentication against vCenter server
    port                check open ports to ESXi hosts in cluster and data
                        domain systems
    perm                check vCenter access permissions
    disk                check & release extra disks from vProxy
    hotadd              check for hotadd access to provided VM
    migration           check vCenter for stale migration locks
    listsession         print login session list to log
    annotation          check vCenter for stale backup locks(annotations)
    cleanup             remove left over artifacts(extra disks,
                        locks/annotations) and find migration locks.
    kb524127            check for invalid state of vProxy VM
    all                 All vCenter tools(combination of port, perm and
                        cleanup)
    layout              check for description of files that make up VM
    tasks               check orphaned tasks in vCenter
    datastore           look for datastores with unsupported names
    vmsnapchain         check if any protected VM has excessive child disks
    vmdisksize          check if any protected VM has irregular disk size i.e.
                        trailing .5 KB
    termsoapsession     terminate soap session to vCenter from NWS

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --name NAME           hostname of the vCenter server
  --user USER           user name for login to vCenter server
  --pwd PWD             password for login to vCenter server
  --vm VM               DNS name of VM(as shown in vSphere)
  --nsruser NSRUSER     user name for login to NetWorker server
  --nsrpwd NSRPWD       password for login to NetWorker server
  --nsrauthc NSRAUTHC   Remote AuthC server
  --allproxies ALLPROXIES
                        specify to do work on peer vProxies registered
  --DDhost DDHOST       provide DD IP/hostname for port connectivity tests

You can use multiple flags in one ProxyHC command, for example: /home/admin/ProxyHC auth port perm tasks disk cleanup hotadd


5. The log file is generated under /tmp/proxy-hc.log.

Alternative Usage and Collection:

After performing steps 1-3 above, you can use the vproxy_log_collector tool to run ProxyHC while collecting system logs for a support case. vproxy_log_collector is also available through https://central.dell.com/solutions/Networker-Tools
Instructions are available through: NVP-vProxy: Log Collection Processes for VMware Protection Issues

While running the tool, you will see the following if ProxyHC is available on the vProxy:

[*] Searching for ProxyHC utility …
	Found: /home/admin/ProxyHC
	Do you want to run ProxyHC?
	WARNING: This should only be done if the vProxy is not currently performing backup or restore operations (Check from NMC/NWUI or jobkill command)?

	Proceed with ProxyHC? [y/N]: y

	Executing ProxyHC with vCenter credentials (non-interactive)
	vCenter: vcsa.amer.lan
	User: networker_user@vsphere.local
	─── automated execution ───


Info: Checking OS account status -------> Passed
Info: Checking configuration files
...
...ProxyHC test output...
...
Info: Checking vCenter for stale migration locks -------> Passed

	─── end of ProxyHC session ───

	Copied /tmp/proxy-hc.log into bundle.

The ProxyHC output and log file, alongside other standard vProxy logs and configuration files are zipped into a bundle. If ProxyHC is not available on the vProxy, it is skipped while using vproxy_log_collector.

• NVP-vProxy: How to use the vmconfig utility
• NVP-vProxy Triage Guide: NetWorker VMware Protection vProxy Triage and Log Overview
• NVP vProxy: Troubleshooting Network Connectivity For Backup and Restore Operations
• NetWorker: NVP vProxy Troubleshooting VM Backup and Restore Performance and Throughput
• NVP vProxy: NetWorker vProxy Version Information