Avamar: NetApp Backup Completing With Exceptions Volume Offline

Backup Completion with Exceptions

The NetApp backup completes with exceptions, indicating issues with accessing certain volumes.

The following error messages are observed in the avndmp log: 

2017-06-15 18:18:43 avndmp Error <0000>: [snapup-/vol/list_man_data] Volume: /vol/list_man_data is offline and cannot be accessed. (Log #3)
2017-06-15 18:18:43 avndmp Error <0000>: [snapup-/vol/list_man_data] Nothing to backup. Target list is empty. (Log #3)
2017-06-15 18:18:43 avndmp Error <0000>: [snapup-/vol/list_mail_archive] Volume: /vol/list_mail_archive is offline and cannot be accessed. (Log #3)
2017-06-15 18:18:43 avndmp Error <0000>: [snapup-/vol/list_mail_archive] Nothing to backup. Target list is empty. (Log #3)
2017-06-15 18:18:44 avndmp Error <0000>: [snapup-/vol/list_data] Volume: /vol/list_data is offline and cannot be accessed. (Log #3)
2017-06-15 18:18:44 avndmp Error <0000>: [snapup-/vol/list_data] Nothing to backup. Target list is empty. (Log #3)

Root Cause of the Issue

The root cause of the issue is related to how NetApp volumes are handled when they are taken offline but still visible to the Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP).

With NetApp, volumes can be taken offline but volumes can be seen by the NDMP protocol. When Avamar NDMP browses the NetApp data mover, both online and offline volumes are returned.

When NDMP requests the dump for the offline volume, an error is returned, as seen in the avndmp log messages:

2017-06-15 18:18:43 avndmp Error <0000>: [snapup-/vol/list_man_data] Volume: /vol/list_man_data is offline and cannot be accessed. (Log #3)
2017-06-15 18:18:43 avndmp Error <0000>: [snapup-/vol/list_man_data] Nothing to backup. Target list is empty. (Log #3)

Key Factors Contributing to the Cause.

• Volumes being taken offline but still visible to the NDMP protocol
• Avamar NDMP browsing the NetApp data mover and returning both online and offline volumes
• NDMP requesting the dump for offline volumes and returning an error

Resolving Avamar NDMP NetApp Backup Exceptions

To resolve the issue of Avamar NDMP NetApp backup completing with exceptions due to offline volumes, the NetApp administrator must take specific steps.

The NetApp admin has to completely remove the volumes that do not exist, not just take them off line. Alternatively, they can modify the configuration so that the offline volumes are not presented to the NDMP protocol.