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NVP-vProxy: vSphere Client shows orphan NetWorker backup tasks in various states

Summary: The VMware vSphere client shows several orphaned "NetWorker Backup" tasks in various states.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.

Symptoms

The NetWorker VMware Protection integration is configured with the vProxy Appliance. The vSphere Web Client shows NetWorker backup tasks in various states (Queued, In Progress, and percentage complete) after the scheduled backup window. The NetWorker backup sessions stay in the vSphere Web Client and must be manually canceled from the vSphere Web Client.  
 

vSphere Web Client 
Figure 1: vSphere recent tasks show various NetWorker Backup tasks when no jobs are running.

The symptom occurs intermittently against any VMware Protection Policy virtual machine (VM). The NetWorker backup may have completed successfully, so the NetWorker Management Console should be used to evaluate if there were any VMware Protection Policy failures.

Cause

Orphan NetWorker Backup tasks occur due to various conditions in the environment. 

Resolution

Clean up the orphaned tasks using the ProxyHC utility: NVP-vProxy: How to use health check tool ProxyHC on vProxy appliance

The syntax for this would be: ./ProxyHC tasks disk cleanup

This should be performed when no VM backups are running.

If the issue occurs regularly, ensure that the NetWorker server's NetWorker version and registered vProxies are up to date. Regular fixes are included for communication issues between NetWorker and VMware. 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/product-support/product/networker/overview

VMware support is recommended to further analyze why the tasks are left behind in VMware.

Workaround:


The NetWorker backup task events may be disabled in the vSphere Client during the NetWorker backup workflow. If the Backup Administrator is not monitoring the NetWorker backup tasks, this can be used as a workaround to prevent orphan NetWorker backup tasks. With the NetWorker backup tasks disabled the snapshot creation, reconfiguration, and snapshot deletion tasks during the NetWorker backup workflow.  

  1. Open a Windows Command Prompt Window or linux terminal session on the NetWorker server.
  2. Open the nsrdb database with the nsradmin command-line utility: nsradmin 
  3. Select the NSR hypervisor:. type : NSR Hypervisor
  4. Print the NSR Hypervisor details: print
  5. Update the NSR Hypervisor "console events" attribute: update console events : no
  6. Enter yes during the update confirmation prompt: yes
  7. Print and validate the NSR Hypervisor details: print
  8. Quit from the nsradmin command-line utility: exit

Example output from the Windows Command Prompt Window or Linux terminal session

 
C:\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr>nsradmin
NetWorker administration program.
Use the "help" command for help, "visual" for full-screen mode.
nsradmin> . type : NSR Hypervisor
Current query set
nsradmin> print
                        type: NSR hypervisor;
                        name: vm6133.plsupport.lab.emc.com;
                     version: 6.5.0;
                     comment: ;
                     service: VMware VirtualCenter;
                    endpoint: "https://vm6133.plsupport.lab.emc.com/sdk";
                    username: networker@vsphere.local;
                    password: *******;
                     command: nsrvim;
                       proxy: longboard.plsupport.lab.emc.com;
              console events: Yes;
              console cancel: Yes;
nsradmin> update console events : no
              console events: no;
Update? yes
updated resource id 170.0.164.12.0.0.0.0.13.71.18.88.10.8.66.121(48047)
nsradmin> print
                        type: NSR hypervisor;
                        name: vm6133.plsupport.lab.emc.com;
                     version: 6.5.0;
                     comment: ;
                     service: VMware VirtualCenter;
                    endpoint: "https://vm6133.plsupport.lab.emc.com/sdk";
                    username: networker@vsphere.local;
                    password: *******;
                     command: nsrvim;
                       proxy: longboard.plsupport.lab.emc.com;
              console events: No;
              console cancel: Yes;
nsradmin>exit
C:\Program Files\EMC NetWorker\nsr>
Article Properties
Article Number: 000032671
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 03 Oct 2025
Version:  5
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