Avamar - Backup or Restore of Oracle fails with error "error contacting avoracle"

Summary: Avamar - Backup or Restore of Oracle fails with error "error contacting avoracle"

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Symptoms

There is no change observed. The backup/restore could fail intermittently. 

You may see Avamar backup or restore using the Avamar GUI fails with ORA-19511 error - 
"error contacting avoracle":

channel c0: ORA-19870: error while restoring backup piece TEST1_qgtscam1_1_1
ORA-19507: failed to retrieve sequential file, handle="TEST1_qgtscam1_1_1", parms=""
ORA-27029: skgfrtrv: sbtrestore returned error
ORA-19511: Error received from media manager layer, error text:
   sbtrestore: error contacting avoracle
In the Oracle sbtio log,  avoralce timed out after 1 minute: 
SBT-387809 03/19/19 15:47:00 args:libid avoracle
SBT-387809 03/19/19 15:47:00 args:param TEST1_qgtscam1_1_1
SBT-387809 03/19/19 15:47:00 args:code2str startavtar
.
.
SBT-387372 03/19/19 15:47:41 args:libseq 4
SBT-399866 03/19/19 15:47:41 sbtrestore: The avtar command is: /opt/avamar/bin/avtar "--ctlusessl=false" "--cacheprefix=TEST1_c0" "--sysdir=/opt/avamar/etc" "--bindir=/opt/avamar/bin" "--vardir=/opt/avamar/var/clientlogs" "--logfile=/opt/avamar/var/clientlogs/MOD-1552974230429-1002-Oracle_RMAN-avtar0.log" "--ctlcallport=13140" --ctlinterface="1054-MOD-1552974230429#2"
SBT-399866 03/19/19 15:47:41 sbtrestore: tokened_cmd = /opt/avamar/bin/avtar
SBT-387372 03/19/19 15:47:44 sbtclose2: start
SBT-387809 03/19/19 15:48:01 couldnot recv length
SBT-387809 03/19/19 15:48:01 msg_len 0
SBT-387856 03/19/19 15:48:01 sizeof len 4
SBT-387856 03/19/19 15:48:01 error 7501: sbtrestore: error contacting avoracle

Cause

This issue may happen when the Oracle server is busy and does not have enough resource available. The Media management library has a fixed time interval to hear from avoracle before it times out during backup and restores. While for most cases the default time interval is sufficient, in some cases it is too short and the backup or restore fails.

Resolution

A new flag "libobk_timeout" has been introduced to control the timeout in the libobk_avamar library. It takes the value of time in minutes. If a value of 0 or no value is provided it defaults to 1 minute. 
This value can be set in the following ways:

 1) In avoracle.cmd:  

 --libobk_timeout=10

 2) From MC GUI:
   Backup command line options-> More -> Enter Attribute as [avoracle]libobk_timeout -> Enter value=10

The above will set the libobk_timeout to 10 minutes. If you receive the same error, increase the value and check again.   

Note: Hotfix is needed to recognize the new flag. Depending on the OS type and Avamar client version, please open a support request and ask for the following hotfixes accordingly:
 
  • Avamar client 7.2.101-32, OS RHEL 7 x64 or Solaris x64  ---hotfix 301835
  • Avamar client 7.4.101-58, OS RHEL 6 - x64    ---- hotfix 294157
  • Avamar client 7.5.101-101, OS HP_UX ia64  --- hotfix 299433
  • Avamar client 7.5.101-101, OS RHEL 7.6 - x64  --- hotfix 308164

Affected Products

Avamar
Article Properties
Article Number: 000053946
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 29 Jul 2025
Version:  4
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